The Blackwell Companion to Sociology (86 page)

population of students who begin college actually obtain a college degree

(Resnick and Wirt, 1996). Those who fail to graduate from college are often in

an even more difficult position than new high school graduates, with respect to

the job market. They typically receive no special assistance from their colleges in looking for employment, and employers generally are unaware of students who

drop out of college to seek employment.

Moreover, many students fail to develop marketable skills through their

choice of college or of the courses they select in college. Recent research shows that students receive little direct help in selecting a college that matches their abilities and fits their ultimate career goals (Rosenbaum, 1996). As a result,

students often choose a college for which they are ill-prepared and that does not serve their future needs well. Without proper guidance, college bound students,

especially those with weak academic records, often experience disappointment

and failure in college and drop out without furthering their career objectives

(Schneider and Stevenson, 1999). The negative consequences of poor college

choices are seen most readily in the difficulties these individuals have when they enter the labor market.

Research in the Sociology of Education

371

Research in sociology of education has been an important source of informa-

tion about the challenges and difficulties of entering the labor market directly from school. Studies have documented the weak links in the transition from

school to work in the United States, and the consequences of an unstructured

transition for students' job opportunities. Supplementing this body of research

are a number of comparative studies that shed additional light on the way

institutional and organizational characteristics of schools and the labor market affect the transition from school to work.

Cross-national Comparison of Transition from School to Work

Comparative research on stratification and mobility processes shows that while

countries tend to be similar in the effects of social origin on occupational

attainment, they differ markedly in the effects of educational attainment on

job destination. Variation in the effect of educational qualifications on occupational attainment is usually attributed to the degree to which the transition

between school and work is structured. In some countries, like Switzerland

and Germany, students begin their preparation for the job market early in their

school careers and follow clearly specified steps leading them to a specific

occupation. In other countries, like the United States and Ireland, the path

from school to work is ambiguous, and students follow quite different trajec-

tories toward employment. The studies find that the more structured the transi-

tion, the greater the effect of educational attainment on occupational

destination.

Several characteristics of industrialized countries affect the transition from

school to work. The health of the economy determines the availability of work.

The extent to which women participate in the labor market affects competition

for jobs. Average level of educational attainment raises the level of skills required of new job holders. In addition to these general influences on the transition

process, Kerckhoff (2000) identifies three other factors that directly relate to the structure of the transition from school to work: the degree of stratification of the educational system, the degree of standardization of educational programs, and

the degree to which the educational credentials awarded are general academic

ones or specialized vocationally relevant ones.

Comparing the structure of the transition to work in France, Germany, Great

Britain, and the United States, Kerckhoff (2000) found that Germany is the most

structured of the four countries, while the United States is the least structured. In Germany, students are divided as early as fifth grade into one of three curricula, which channel them to higher education, advanced vocational training, or early

entrance into the labor market. This division marks students for particular kinds of employment and has a profound effect on their occupational attainment. The

United States is characterized by a low degree of curriculum differentiation,

despite the existence of tracks, and has virtually no points where educational

decisions are irrevocable. As a result, the linkage between educational creden-

tials and positions in the labor market is weak. Kerckhoff shows that countries

with more standardized transitions have lower rates of return to full-time school, 372

Maureen T. Hallinan

fewer increases in educational credentials, fewer job changes, and lower rates of early occupational mobility. In short, these countries exhibit a more orderly

transition from school to work.

Making a similar comparison between the transition from school to work in

the United States and Germany, Mortimer and Kruger (2000) found that the lack

of structure in the US transition results in American youth's spending a longer

period of time in trial and testing in the labor force than German youth.

Americans new to the job market change jobs often in an effort to find a good

fit between their skills and the requirements of a position. Similarly, employers view new graduates as an unstable workforce and tend to be unwilling to

provide training for them unless or until they have spent a certain amount of

time with the same employer. Often Americans react to the dissatisfactions they

experience in their first jobs by returning to school to train for a specific

occupation or career. Mortimer and Kruger claim that loosening the tight

regulation of school-to-work pathways in Germany would make it easier for

individuals to change careers or occupations in order to find greater job satisfaction and economic opportunity. Likewise, providing greater integration of

school and work in the United States would make schooling more relevant to

students, encourage them to attain further educational credentials, and create a better fit between educational training and job requirements.

One of the most ambitious cross-national studies of the transition from school

to work was undertaken by Shavit and Muller (2000). Working with researchers

from 13 industrialized nations, they investigated the association between educa-

tional qualifications and occupational attainment in Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland,

Taiwan and the United States. The researchers found marked differences in the

degree to which the 13 countries exhibited four institutional features: educa-

tional stratification, educational standardization, occupationally specific vocational training, and a low percentage of students obtaining post-secondary

education. These institutional characteristics were strong predictors of the

strength of the association between educational and occupational attainment.

For example, in countries exhibiting these characteristics, such as Germany,

Switzerland, and the Netherlands, the effect of educational preparation on

occupational destination was twice as large as in countries without these fea-

tures, including Britain, Japan, and the United States.

The policy implications of these comparative studies for curricular reform are

profound. The findings indicate that vocational education facilitates occupa-

tional attainment in those countries where training is directed toward a specific occupation but is of little value otherwise. Moreover, a more formalized transition process facilitates job acquisition, but decreases job mobility and a return to school.

Further research is needed, of course. Comparative analysis of survey data is

limited by the few variables that are comparable across countries. The institu-

tional data that are available need to be supplemented by contextual data

describing the workplace, including characteristics of employers, employees,

the structure of the workforce, and the involvement of other organizations that

Research in the Sociology of Education

373

assist in job placement. Also needed is information about school context and the involvement of school personnel with students who are beginning a job search.

In addition, an understanding of the transition from school to work would be

informed by individual-level data, particularly students' ascribed and achieved

characteristics. Finally, this body of research should be extended beyond new

entrants to the labor market to further specify how schooling affects occupa-

tional attainment throughout the life cycle.

Conclusions

The two research traditions described in this chapter are similar in two ways.

First, both the organizational analysis of schools and the study of the transition from school to work are grounded in theoretical perspectives that provide a solid foundation for empirical studies in these traditions. The study of school as an

organization rests on general sociological theory about the structure, function, and processes of organizations, as well as their impact on their members and

non-members. Research on the transition from school to work is located in

broad sociological theories of stratification and social mobility, and its consequences for individuals' well-being and societal functioning.

Second, both research traditions have amassed a large body of empirical work

that flows directly from and further expands the conceptual ideas that generated it. Informed by powerful sociological theories, the empirical studies in these

areas tend to be systematic, integrated, and rigorous. Current empirical work

can be related easily to previous studies, leading to the accumulation of a

systematic body of research that broadens and deepens our understanding of

the social processes that govern schooling.

In general, a strength of sociology of education is that it is grounded in

comprehensive and powerful sociological theories of societal processes. These

broad theories have had a major influence on the conceptual and empirical

developments that characterize the sociological analysis of schools. At the

same time, sociology of education has been slow to formulate its own more

specific theories to explain schooling. While broad macro-level and micro-

level sociological theories are valuable in providing ideas and direction to the study of schooling, a gap exists between these general formulations and the

social processes that occur in the specific context of the school. Middle range

theories and more contextualized conceptual frameworks that take into account

the unique characteristics of schools and the populations they serve would lead

to even greater progress in our understanding of the educational process. More-

over, conceptualizing the links between macro-and micro-level processes would

increase our understanding of how school organization affects student learning

and how youth culture influences student engagement.

Schools assume a major role in the transmission of knowledge and culture

across generations and in the socialization of youth to their roles in adult life.

The sociological analysis of schools reveals the various contributions schools

make to society and how they shape and are shaped by societal institutions and

374

Maureen T. Hallinan

events. The contributions of twentieth-century sociology of education are sig-

nificant and of considerable consequence. The challenge for contemporary

sociologists of education is to build and extend this body of work through

theoretically rich and methodologically rigorous studies of schooling.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to the National Science Foundation and the American

Educational Research Association for Grant RED-9452861 for support of this

research. The author thanks Amy Orr, Vladimir Khmelkov, and Warren

Kubitschek for valuable research assistance. She is also grateful for support

from the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.

26

Aging and Aging Policy in the USA

Madonna Harrington Meyer and Pamela Herd

The study of aging and aging policy is always personal as well as social. How can we best prepare for our own old age? Or for that of our parents or grandparents?

How can we as a society best prepare for a rapidly aging nation? Within the next 50 years, those over age 65 will comprise one-fifth of the population (US Bureau of the Census, 1993). Social gerontology includes the study of how our aging

population will impact every facet of our lives, including health and health care, our family relationships, economics, and work.

Gerontology is a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on such fields as soci-

ology, history, psychology, social work, medicine, public administration, political science, and biology. In recent decades, the discipline has changed ± and in this chapter we highlight several emerging trends. First, gerontology has diversified from an initial tendency to focus primarily on white men to a more cross-

cultural, racial, and gendered approach. Increasingly, scholars are paying careful attention to the ways that the processes and implications of aging vary for the

poor, for women, and for persons of color. Second, gerontological research has

moved away from a predominately individual or social-psychological approach

to a more social structural approach that takes into account how political and