Social Origins and the Recruitment of American Lawyers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5634935 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joseph Zelan (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1967 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Pages | 45 |
| Publication date | 1967-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/588589 |
| OpenAlex | W2316854664 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This paper presents a report on the characteristics of persons planning a career in the legal profession in the United States. In the sociology of occupations and professions the legal profession has certainly not suffered neglect. Yet, although we have at our disposal reports of empirical research on career histories within the profession,' characteristics and activities of lawyers in different specialities,2 the political roles of lawyers,3 and other pertinent topics, little in the way of systematic empirical findings existed on the kinds of persons who are attracted to legal careers until the series of studies was undertaken from which the present report is derived. In the spring of 1961 the National Opinion Research Center embarked on a study of the factors which enter into the educational and career plans of college students. As part of this study N.O.R.C. collected pre-coded self-administered questionnaires from a national sample of college students who were due to receive the bachelor's degree in June, 1961. The study involved a two-stage stratified sample of institutions and their senior classes, and resulted in a return of 33,982 questionnaires, or approximately 85 per cent of the sampled students. When weighted to be representative of the entire June, 1961 graduating class, this resulted in a total of 56,664 cases. The initial study reports contained data on the social origins of prospective lawyers.' The present paper presents some of the results of a more extensive analysis of the role of background factors in the choice of a legal career and is drawn from a comprehensive analysis of the role of social origins, college experience and law school experience in the recruitment process.5 This analysis is based only on the 33,492 male cases in the N.O.R.C. study. Women have been excluded because they comprise a proportionately negligible part of the legal profession. Our presentation will involve showing the relationships between a series of social
Political science · History · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Occupational and Professional Licensing Regulation
| Citations per year | 0.05 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1968 - 1993 (26) |
| Highly cited | No |