Diversity, Opportunity, and the Shifting Meritocracy in Higher Education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4522679 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sigal Alon (0000-0003-2076-9178, Tel Aviv University), M Tienda (0000-0001-9660-8616, Princeton University) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 487-511 |
| Publication date | 2007-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/000312240707200401 |
| OpenAlex | W1976833585 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 142 |
| References cited | 42 |
This article uses four data sets to assess changes in the relative weights of test- and performance-based merit criteria on college enrollment during the 1980s and 1990s and considers their significance for affirmative action. Our results support the "shifting meritocracy" hypothesis, revealed by selective postsecondary institutions' increased reliance on test scores to screen students. This shift has made it difficult for institutions to achieve diversity without giving minorities a "boost" through race-sensitive preferences. Statistical simulations that equalize, hold constant, or exclude test scores or class rank from the admission decision illustrate that reliance on performance-based criteria is highly compatible with achieving institutional diversity and does not lower graduation rates. Evidence from a natural experiment in Texas after the implementation of the "top 10 percent" law supports this conclusion. The apparent tension between merit and diversity exists only when merit is narrowly defined by test scores
Affirmative action · Diversity (politics · Graduation (instrument · Mathematics education · Meritocracy · Political science · Race (biology · Rank (graph theory · Sociology · Standardized test · Test (biology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Studies · Higher Education Research Studies · Law · Mathematics · Psychology · School Choice and Performance · Social Psychology
Soziale Herkunft und die Umsetzung von Studienaspirationen
Race-centered initiatives as a targeted intervention
Connecting the Dots between Boundary Change and Large-Scale Assimilation with Zolbergian Clues
Education
Soziale Herkunft und die Umsetzung von Studienaspirationen
American Multiculturalism after 9/11
Running in Place
Onderwijs van hoge kwaliteit
From Housing to Admissions Redlining
The Impact of a University Approved Diversity Course on Undergraduate Students’ Multicultural Awareness
College Choice Revisited
Margins that Matter
A STEM Penalty from Affirmative Action Bans
Gouverner la sélection scolaire par un instrument
From Alien Labor to Meritorious Citizen
Degrees of ‘eliteness’ in higher education systems
Public Policy for Trans People
Senior-secondary vocational tracking and socio-economic inequality in student educational performance
When Holistic Admissions Review Is Not Enough
Overcoming stigma
Getting in the Door vs. Winning It All
Racial Inequalities in Access to Higher Education in Brazil Between 1992 and 2023
Evaluation Criteria and Women's Attainment of Elite STEM Education
Quota-Based Affirmative Action in Higher Education
Uncovering Habitus in Life Stories of Muslim Converts
Discourses, Cultural narratives, and Genre in Biographical Narratives
Inequality
Inequality
Family Socioeconomic Status, Peers, and the Path to College
Stymied Mobility or Temporary Lull? The Puzzle of Lagging Hispanic College Degree Attainment
Discrimination in the Credential Society
Raising the Stakes
Crossing the finish line? A review of college completion inequality in the United States by race and class
Agent-Based Simulation Models of the College Sorting Process
Are Skills Becoming an Increasingly Important Determinant of Life Outcomes
Income and Access to Higher Education
Opportunity without Equity
The Mere Mention of Asians in Affirmative Action
Investigating the Interplay Between Participation in a STEM-Focused Student Success Program and Workforce Participation on STEM Undergraduate Degree Completion
A third type of job search behavior
Does critical diversity pay in higher education? Race, gender, and departmental rankings in research universities
Out of the Education Desert
Learning Outcomes in an Introductory Sociology Course
College student racial and ethnic stereotype-based humor as a cultural domain
Navigating the Road to College
Manipulating diversity
Schools as racialized organizations in policy and practice
I have to play the game to get what I want’
Percepções de bolsistas ProUni acerca do pertencimento ao ensino superior privado
Paris/Texas
Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations
Socioeconomic Segregation in Higher Education
The walking dead
African American students’ college choice processes in a post 209 era
Psychological responses to reservation-based discrimination
Pipelines of schooling
Choosing fields in an expansionary era
Who benefits from elite colleges’ decreased reliance on high-stakes standardized tests? Evidence from a quasi-field experiment
Class origin and young adults’ re-enrollment
Unequal returns to academic credentials as a hidden dimension of race and class inequality in American college enrollments
Inherited and social factors explaining early skills inequality
Commentaries
Meritocratic lifelong learning
Foreign Students, Immigrants, Domestic Minorities and Admission to Texas' Selective Flagship Universities Before and After the Ban on Affirmative Action
Adaptation in action
Aiming high
Integration or Fragmentation? Racial Diversity and the American Future
Socioeconomic Segregation, Campus Social Context, and Disparities in Bachelor's Degree Attainment
Introduction. La formation des élites
The Effects of Auxiliary Variables on Coefficient Bias and Efficiency in Multiple Imputation
Rationalization and Student/School Personhood in U.S. College Admissions
Social Class and Parental Involvement in Transition Activities During High School
Shadow Education, American Style
Meritocracia y desigualdad económica
Auxiliary Variables in Multiple Imputation When Data Are Missing Not at Random
Exploring the Academic Benefits of Friendship Ties for Latino Boys and Girls
Merit in Meritocracy
Critical Diversity and Departmental Rankings in Sociology
Horizontal and Vertical Racial Segregation in Higher Education
Institutional Selectivity and Occupational Outcomes for STEM Graduates
Institutional and Ethnic Variations in Postgraduate Enrollment and Completion
Tuition Rich, Mission Poor
Between a “ROC” and a School Place
If You Show Who You are, Then They are Going to Try to Fix You”
The Role of College-Bound Friends in College Enrollment Decisions by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
Untested Admissions
Access Without Equity
Reckoning with Asian America and the New Culture War on Affirmative Action
Elites
Élites
Effectively Maintained Inequality in U.S. Postsecondary Progress
Sieve, Incubator, Temple, Hub
Discourses We Live By
American Multiculturalism after 9/11
Erfolg durch Leistung
The Academic Success of East Asian American Youth
Translating Authentic Selves into Authentic Applications
Test Participation or Test Performance
Measuring High School Curricular Intensity over Three Decades
When Advantages Disappear
Statistical analysis with missing data
Beyond College for All
The Shape of the River
A comparison of inclusive and restrictive strategies in modern missing data procedures.
Clarify
Schooling in capitalist America
Whom Must We Treat Equally for Educational Opportunity to be Equal?
Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys
Hispanics and the Future of America
Race and College Admissions
Journal of higher education
Choosing Elites
Social Background and Academic Determinants of Two-Year versus Four-Year College Attendance
Affirmative discrimination
The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities
Admission Preferences for Minority Students, Athletes, and Legacies at Elite Universities
Inequality by Design
America in Black and White
The Chosen
Buying and Selling Higher Education
The Case against the SAT
Trends
Making the Most of Statistical Analyses
The Black-White Test Score Gap
Revisiting Racial Differences in College Attendance
Changes in Access to Higher Education in the United States
Assessing the 'Mismatch' Hypothesis
Cognitive Skills and Noncognitive Traits and Behaviors in Stratification Processes
Social origin and college opportunity expectations across cohorts
Why test? Talent loss and enrollment loss
| Unique citing works | 142 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,49 |
| Citation span | 1969 - 2026 (58) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 139 |