Sociology - Partial II

When do children learn about gender?

1.5-2 years old: understand gender categories & know gender roles 2-3 years old: develop gender identity

Training - definition

= all learning oriented towards a specific occupation. -Another semantically overlapping word -Vocational education and training (VET) is the expression used in social science to design this type of teaching & learning. · ex: e.g. Germany has a specific training based on apprenticeship which is a big factor of the economic success of Germany · an important interdisciplinary literature studies the institutional setting of VET and its relation to the polity and the economy (eg Busemeyer & Trampusch 2012).

Definitions: education, socialization, school

The terms education and schooling are often used interchangeably, but they have different analytical meanings. A third word, training is also related

Unlabeled sexuality

is when an individual chooses to not label its sexual identity

Culture - Rituals

o (=systems of coordinated action including individuals) § Rituals should be seen as a key part of culture. · vary widely from the point of view of their extension (how many people participate, how frequently they are held, the practices that make it up etc.) · often have different layers of meaning · the components of a culture (values, norms, symbols etc) are somehow produced by rituals, and in any case, the compliance with respect to values and norms is strongly incentivized by rituals because this is the way people begin seeing themselves as a part of the community · this is relevant for the theory of action - we might see rituals as the way individuals include in their own utility function the collective values that are of relevance for the community § Have manifest vs. latent functions · but there are a lot of daily activities which are apparently devoid of any function (ex: small talks) § Both macro- and micro-level rituals create the bond among individuals that gets interpreted as "sharing a culture". § Macro-level rituals (religious events, sport events, political gatherings) relate to macro identities, such as the feeling of belonging to huge social groups, for instance the citizens of a country or the believers in a religion. · involve more people and are experienced more intensely by more people (involve stronger emotions) · but also in this case, the difference levels of significance might be seen · ex: people who go to a soccer game don't go there to know the result, because that would be easily known watching the game at home, but they want to experience the social bonds that put the supporters of a given team together § Micro-level rituals (greeting, shaking hands, eye contact) create smaller and less stable bonds, which are renewed continuously. · ex: daily small talks ® involves few people and doesn't last very long and is frequently repeated o Note: small talk changes based on the different people and contexts you are in § British Weather · My research has convinced me that . . . Bryson . . . [is] missing the point, which is that our conversations about the weather are not really about the weather at all: English weather-speak is a form of code, evolved to help us overcome our natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows, for example, that "Nice day, isn't it?", "Ooh, isn't it cold?", "Still raining, eh?" and other variations on the theme are not requests for meteorological data: they are ritual greetings, conversation-starters or default "fillers". In other words, English weather-speak is a form of "grooming talk"—the human equivalent of what is known as "social grooming" among our primate cousins, where they spend hours groom each other's fur, even when they are perfectly clean, as a means of social bonding.' - Kate Fox, a British Anthropologist o Fox looks at her own society, but suspending any type of previous understanding; o the quote concerns a typical British custom: talking about the weather o She observed that in this type of conversation there is a clear separation between the i) manifest function of the conversation (getting information about the weather, o understanding the way the people you're talking to relate to the matter) and the ii) latent function of the conversation (the conversation creates a social bond - it testifies reciprocal attention) o She compares this type of attention to what is called "social grooming" among apes who spend a lot of time grooming each other's fur without any functional need for that, as a means to show their care for one another à creates social bonding and has a positive impact on the welfare of the persons included

Gender Stratification

o Gender is one of the key dimensions of social stratification. · refers to an asymmetry between sexes § It exemplifies the way a difference is turned into an advantage: from heterogeneity to stratification. § All known societies have seen some degree of male advantage. § This was probably related to the early sexual division of labour within the family, and was reinforced by the superior physical strength of human males (Engels). § means that, generally speaking, it is deemed better to be a male than a female (all known societies have seen some degree of male advantage) · the issue is: where does this come from? - this brings us to the relation between biology and sociology § Biological roots to the social construction of gender. · To which extent are genders rooted in sexes? How strong are the biological roots to the social construction of gender? Does gender depend on sex? · the so-called genderist idea is that gender depends on the free choice of individuals while other people think that individuals of course decide their gender, but in this decision they are constrained not just by the existence of the gender culture, but also by their own biological predispositions (if gender were a fully free choice, this would not explain the reasons why after all the majority of people see themselves as heterosexuals and the population would be spread evenly on the gender continuum) o the general idea that was put into print first by Engels in the second part of the 19th century is that there are some biological rules to gender stratification, and the different biology of men and women explains their relative power this has been developed in a number of works and today most of the scholars turned to empirical work share a theory of gender stratification based on its economic and social rules o Economic theories of gender stratification (Blumberg 1984). o In a macro-historical perspective, the pattern over time of gender inequality is not dissimilar to the one of inequality overall (see: Lenski's theory of stratification -> equality is relatively low in very pre-historic societies, then it increases and then it decreases to some extent in industrial societies). § In early hunter-gatherers societies the gender gap is not so relevant, as women contribute to economic activities and the political power of men is weak. · (men hunt and women gather) - there is some sort of gender division of labor, but it is relatively egalitarian § In horticultural and agricultural societies the economic power of women decreases, because of heavier work (plowing) and more frequent wars. · (remember the story of roving an stationary bandings when talking about stratification) § In the intermediate states, societies economic stratification and gender stratification interact. · In the élite, a double sexual behaviour emerges: men are free to have many women (concubines, slaves...), while female sexuality is heavily controlled as it relates to marriages as political and military alliances. Women do not work. · In the elite, the power-gender imbalance is very strong à women belonging to the social elite typically do not work because they are a status symbol for men (ex: think about a trophy wife) · In the working population, the gender power gap is relative power of men wrt to women is smaller than in the upper classes, because women work. o in ancient popular culture you find more instances of female agency than in the case of the elite culture o However, working-class women are often prey for upper-class males' sexual desires. § In industrial societies the conditions arise for a decrease (not yet for a full reversals or for the full elimination) of the gender gap -> reasons: · The physical strength of males becomes less important for work. o The technological progress and introduction of machines dramatically decreases the importance of the physical strength of males for work/in work activities o A gender division of labor becomes obsolete because the main difference concerning work and labor between genders is just a matter of strength o There are some apparently stable differences between men and women also in cognitive processes, and this is where the very debated issue of women are not good in maths men are comes from, but these differences are small and more importantly, they might be decreasing over time · The bureaucratic state separates war from daily life, and directly regulates marriage, decreasing the power of male relatives on women. o Marriage becomes regulated by bureaucratic rules and marriage is not defined by the family, which means a dramatic improvement in the condition of women because they might then subtract themselves from the wedding choices of their family, and choose a male partner of their own choice · The idealization of women typical of a part of the culture of agricultural élites creates a new moral framework, where female virtues are seen as better than male ones. o this was a part of the subordination of women I the frame of agricultural societies, but sometimes cultural artifacts survive the society that created them and take on a different meaning under different social circumstances o This idea of a god-like woman was then instrumental in the creation of a new moral framework where females are seen as equal to males o Consider that pre-modern societies (even very advanced ones like the Greek and ancient Chinese societies) never put into discussion the superiority of males with respect to females o The ide aaccording to which genders are equal are typically modern à this appears, to some extent, to the idealization of women typical of medieval poetry and imagination o The culture of gender equality was actually born in the upper classes and derives from the previous idealization of womenà this is the stage that Randall Collins calls "Victorian" gender difference: women are not seen as inferior, as in previous cultures, but are seen as different. § the way gender differences were evaluated in the second half of the 19th century - by then the idea of the systematic inferiority of women with respect to men had been abandoned, but the culture of men and women was seen as different - men and women are different but equal § Mass education favours the education of women, and this in turns favour their entry into the labour force. Our current gender stereotypes are rooted in this culture. · has been key in the perception of gender equality because mass schooling was the first activity into which males and females were jointly put, although in a separate way

IEO in Italy: evidence

o IEO in Italy, ETM and cumulative logit. My own (postdoc's) analyses, 2009 Multipurpose survey by Istat (random sample of Italian adult population). § Three educational transitions (low sec; upper sec; college). § Five parental classes/classes of origin (Italian version of the an EGP scheme: service class/ bourgeoisie, clerks, urban bourgeoisie/self-employed, urban working class and agricultural classes [dependent vs independent workers]); § Four levels of parental education. (4 standard levels: primary, lower secondary, upper secondary and tertial). § Which parent do we use? -> Dominance principle: the highest class/title of the parents is used. § For each transition: · Educ = a + b*Class of Origin · Educ = a + b*Parental Education · Educ = a + b*Class of Origin + c*Parental Education § We also usea set of models for a change over time: Educ = a + b*Class + c*Cohort + d*Class*Cohort (in graphs below). § ETM: logit models, marginal effects. Parameters show the difference in the probability of making the transition from the reference class, service class, set to 0. · Might be interpreted as % change: % change in the dependent variable corresponding to a unit change in the independent variable § For parental education ref cat is primary education (inverted scale). § Cumulative logit: gamma parameters, for college, in logit of the odds (not to) make the transition. § Also expressed as difference from the ref cat, but in logits (probabilities might be also calculated). o Analysis over time: § Key theoretical arguments; · Modernization theory: inequality of educational opportunities should diminish overtime · Reproduction theory: school is a machine by which the ruling class holds on to its power and transmits it over generations § Educ = a + b*Class + c*Cohort + d*Class*Cohort. § Absolute mobility tables look at the destination of people of given origin. These fluxes depend on the change of the marginals of the table- if a class diminishes over time a lot of people will change this class as a place of their origin § Relative mobility compares the probability of people coming from different classes to move to another class-> margins are controlled o The first graph reports the predicted probabilities (absolute IEO). o The second graph reports the relative probabilities: logarithm of the odds ration to pass/not to pass. · These are probabilities of getting a school degree by parental education · Reference category: university educated parents · This is Italy in the second half of the 19th century · As we can see there is a clear process of diminishing inequalities concerning the probability of getting a secondary degree · Also concerning obtaining upper secondary degree: in the 30s people with more educated parents had a higher probability of obtaining a higher secondary degree, and this difference reduces as time progresses · In the case of university education there is not a reduction of inequality of educational opportunities over time o It then estimates relative IEO, controlling for the change of the distribution of education (recall the mobility table: percentages vs odds ratios). § Also in this case one might want to control for the expansion of education and to then compare the probabilities of getting a university degree for people with different background § Social mobility argument: upgrading of the occupational structure increases the number of good of position in the upper classes which increases upward absolute mobility-> occupational structure upgraded, the more places created in the upper classes, so that fluxes of people from the lower classes and other origins go this way § Relative mobility analysis controls for this expansion § Allocation is the same as relative mobility: distribution of allocation changes, there is expansion, but the allocation of people (school system selection) might work in the same way as before the expansion § Distribution vs allocation (Mare 1980; 1981): the expansion at the lower levels (distribution) does not change the selection at the upper levels (allocation). § Achievement of a tertiary degree becomes then the key indicator for IEO, as it measures allocation as opposed to distribution (Shavit & Blossfeld 1993). § Distribution depends on the expansion of participation (changing marginals in the mobility table) and then does not matter much. · There is some level of catch up, but only at the lower levels and for those with lower family background · Distance for the bourgeoise increases o Third graph: cumulative logit: a single parameter for selection, which also takes distribution into account (other parameters not reported). § Expansion should not be eliminated by the picture, as it is the key feature of contemporary schools (Ballarino & Schadee 2010; Breen et al 2009; 2010). o The first & second graph control for parental social class, the third controls for parental education. § Order logit estimation: single parameter for selection and distribution is accounted for. There are two classes of parameters: gamma parameters which express the difference and delta parameters which translate the difference to the other levels § Gamma parameters for accumulating logit model for more or less the same data § Independent variable is the social class of origin but it is the same § Point is that expansion at the lower level involves more people o Overall picture: IEO decreases. § ETM: Decrease strong in the lower transition (however, ceiling effect: a class cannot exceed 100% enrolment). § Not so strong in the intermediate transition, in particular if relative (logit) probabilities are considered. § No decrease for transition to college. o Which matters more? Diminishing inequality in the lower level or persistent inequality in the upper level? § According to the allocation vs distribution perspective, what matters is persistent inequality at the tertiary level. § According to the cumulative logit approach, decreasing inequality at the lower levels matters more, because it involves more people. § Moreover, although more people from the lower classes gets a high school degree, accessing university, the selection pattern remains more or less the same.

Sanctions

o Sanctions are a central mechanisms of social control. o Sanctions are the means by which society encourages conformity to norms. o Sanctions can be: § Formal § Informal § Positive Negative

Modernization & Education

o School as a mass process is relatively new. § While school has always been with us, school in the modern sense (a mass process to which each and every member of the population has to participate) is quite new o Mass elementary education was born in the XVIII- XIX century (detail later) and has spread all over the world o Beforehand, there was no formal education regulated and managed by the state. o Then, the distinction between education as schooling, socialization and training does not make much sense for pre-modern societies. o Both socialization and training took part in the family, with the exception of a small social élite. § Premodern schools were mostly elite schools for young adults, with important examples in ancient Greece and China § A bit paradoxically, current universities are often older than current primary schools § Rituals of initiation to adulthood and apprenticeships lie at the origin of schools o Focus: the difference between premodern and modern education o The birth of a mass school system is a key part of the modernization process. o In pre-modern societies, the family, or kin group, is the basic social unit for both work and non-work activities. § typically, the whole individual life course takes place within its boundaries. § as soon as young individuals are physically able to work, they flank their parents and from them learn, in the same time, how to live and how to work. § In pre-modern societies, there is no labour market (choice of a job on the part of individual, and choice of a worker on part of a firm) · = individuals follow in the footsteps of their parents § There is no intergenerational mobility: most people are in the same occupation as their parents. § Social stratification is defined by ascription: the social position of individuals depends on where they are born. o The separation btw family and economic activity, a key component of the development of a market economy and of a modern society is related to the separation btw family and education. o Institutional differentiation/separation: social functions previously handled by a single, encompassing institution become divided into a number of specialized institutions. § ex: family remains a place for early years and a place for intimate relations o In the modern life course, school mediated btw the family and the world of work (OED triangle). o Socialization is then divided into a primary socialization, still taking place in the family, and a secondary socialization, taking place in school and other contexts (peer group, media, work...). o Coleman (1990) opposes natural and constructed social organization: as history progresses, the role of the latter becomes more important wrt the former. o Constructed social organization consists mostly of bureaucracies: institutions made of positions, not of individuals. o Natural social organization, on the contrary, is made of biological individuals, as the family. o A family member is per se irreplaceable, while a member of a bureaucracy can always, in line of principle, by replaced by another individual. § "Once a Pope is dead, a new one is done." - Italian saying o Bureaucratic organizations might thus last longer (members can always be replaced and they don't depend on individuals) and be more skilled (individuals might be selected by their skills, while «natural» organizations cannot select individuals). o Young individuals entering school are exposed for the first time to a bureaucracy, where behavior is not related to individuals. § This (meaning, entering bureaucracy) often comes up as a shock, but for the individual it is a key step towards the socialization to modern, constructed social organization. o At the macro level, the move from ascription to achievement as key mechanisms for allocation in the social stratification depends crucially on individuals learning bureaucratic attitudes and behavior. § school makes this possible. § the creation of a compulsory educational system is thus a key part of the modernization process. o This theoretical account of the process simplifies it, as the average simplifies the distribution of some individual variable (such as height or weight). Let us add, now, some historical detail.

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - Theories

§ 1) Human Capital theory. § 2) Signaling & other theories of informational asymmetry. · informational asymmetry as the main mechanism § 3) Educational Credentials theory. · more sociological § 4) Network theories: social closure and institutional regulation of the labour market. · emphasize processes of social and institutional relations

The existence of a DESO as explained by favouritism

§ on average employers' preferences to hire for better jobs those who come from high SES families, all other conditions being equal. o SES: similar as their own; the same background; usually entrepreneurial and managerial background -> this is discriination · Two different mechanisms underlie discrimination. o a) Rational mechanism: Class belonging (argued on the basis of dress codes; ways of talking and of interacting and the like) is taken as a signal of productivity, in absence of better information. § Statistical discrimination is a rational heuristics in cases of limited information · it's hardly possible to observe job's productivity of candidates during selection process so you use other characteristics of candidates as selection devices [e.g. education but here we control for education] · so employers take class belongings as a signal of productivity -> is an assumption that people with higher family background are in general more productive · this also applies to gender; idea that women are less productive because give birth to children · in this way, employers create general productivity perception and label people based on groups these people come from when choosing his employees · on average, those coming from better class are more productive so choosing between 2 people not knowing their productivity you choose the one from a higher class · also applies to race: the average level of education of Blacks [=Negro schools] was much lower a few decades ago than this of whites so you're influenced by their class belongings in this way, less prone to choose them above the Whites o b) Irrational mechanism: A taste for discrimination (Becker 1957). § The employer chooses purposively to hire a candidate on the basis of his belonging instead on productivity. § This choice is not rational wrt the firm's performance [profit maximization], it is rational wrt the maximization of one's "happiness" [personal utility function], related to tastes. § The employer accepts a lower profit in order to get the persons she likes § Homophily: general fact that everybody tends to prefer people similar to him/her · is an underlying mechanism of a taste for discrimination § This type of "taste-based" discriminating behaviour should destroy itself because of market competion. · based on the increase in merit selection: competitive market drives the employers to base their selection process on the signals of productivity · However it has proven to be quite resilient over time. o but it didn't happen or happened less quickly than sociologists/economists were expecting · Evidence points towards decreasing selection based on belonging o the wage race gap in the US is slowly decreasing but it's a slow process o but we don't know if it's driven by market competition or administrative reasons - external pressure on corporations coming from social/consumer movements -> this appears to depend on external pressure on corporations at least as much as from market competition. · In many cases in the absence of direct info it might be hard to tell the effects of favouritism and networking from actual productivity differences related to the same factors. § lines between these 2 types of explanations [actual productivity and credentials o o Imagine a young brilliant professional, daughter of a well-known senior professional: to what extent is she actually brilliant or is her brilliance just a self-fulfilling prophecy based on favouritism? It's hard to tell even empirically.

Why was school useful in the power game competition? Three reasons.

· 1. To provide the state with the consent of the population, in order to turn individuals into citizens. [schools create citizens] o Schooled individuals can be taught rules favouring the establishment and the consolidation of the state, such as compliance to taxes and to the military service, both key elements of the state-building process. o This is the socialization function of the school system. [schools teaching people who they are and what rules they are expected to condone -> in this way individuals become citizens compliant w.r.t. to the state] o the first thing the state does when created, isn't providing citizens with welfare provision but ask something from citizens in order to make wars; so citizens were asked to pay taxes to support taxes & to provide soldiers o ex: up to the French Revolutionary, armies were composed of professionals; FR state was the first one to create an army of citizens who did war because of loyalty to the state o fighting for a state because the glory of the state is the glory of each citizen · 2. A literate population makes a literate army possible. o because a literate army is much more effective: coordination of activities is easier when orders are transmitted in written form. § it's a general argument for organizations: organizations coordinated by written communication are more stable § written communication is stable, oral communication gets easily distorted o Think about the «chinese whispers» children game (in Italian «telefono senza fili). § you make a queue of people and the first whispers something to the next one, and subsequently § after a few passages, the last phrase is usually completely different from the first phrase said § it's an example of the strength of written communication o This is the knowledge transmission function. · 3. From a literate population it is much easier for the state to select good [=literate] officers, which are of outmost importance for its activities. o Prussia was the first modern country to rule that civil servants should be selected on the basis of their school qualifications (competence principle) but also the first country in Europe to state that state officers had to be recruited conditionally on their school titles o However, an exam-based system of recruitment into the Imperial bureaucracy had existed many centuries before in China. o This is the selection/allocation function of the school system § The first Prussian law introducing compulsory elementary education did indeed specify that public free schooling had to be provided for free to those children who «were not schooled otherwise». · pointed to the fact that children from wealthy families had been schooled since centuries in their homes with private tutors -> was a typical job for university professors § School catered to the popular classes, as the élites were already schooled, costly, by religious institutions, or privately at home. · ex: Famous Prussian philosopher Hegel, for instance, earned his living for long working as a private instructor for noble children. § European elites were so conscious about the importance of the mass school system for the development of the state · Proof: Napoleon the Great (who reformed French schools) wrote in 1804: «Education is the most important of all political issues. You cannot have a political state if there is no body of teachers with clearly defined principle. If you do not teach children, since their early age, that they have to be republican, or monarchist, catholic or free thinkers, their basis will be unstable and uncertain, and they will always be exposed to the risks of disorder and change» o not the content really matters, not the extent of socialization but the socialization itself o even if you're schooled to be a Communist, you might become someone else but If you're not socialized to an idea of belonging of political community, you'll lose your way

Gender identity development

Nature refers to biological factors (e.g., sex hormones), while nurture to social environment (i.e., socialization) *gender identity dev. includes socialization and biological factors

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - Evidence for Italy

§ Four occupational outcomes - D [=destination] defined as: · ISEI; · probability to access the service class; · probability to avoid the working class, · income. § We estimate 4 models: · 1) based on ISEI: o 1. D = a + b*Class of Origin (model 1) § just looks at the effect of class of origin on destination § coefficients show the average change in the ISEI score of the occupation of the respondent, depending on the ISEI score of his family of origin -> shows intergenerational elasticity § controlling for other things in the model [gender & geographical area], those with higher ISEI of their fathers have also a higher ISEI by about ½ -> you increase ISEI score of your parents by 1 point and the ISEI score of your son increased by ½ points o 2. D = a + b*Class of Origin + c*Education (model 2) § controls for education; § finding: education is specified using a lower secondary as a reference category § the coefficient tells us that on average, those with tertiary education, have an occupation whose ISEI is 25 percentage points higher than those of lower secondary degree § so we see that the weight of education in the occupational process is much higher than the weight of family of origin variable because parental ISEI's effect decreases by controlling for education o 3. D = a + b*Class of Origin + c*Education + controls (model 3) § we add controls § gender or geographical area don't make much difference o 4. D = model 3 but by cohort (model 4) § estimating a model by cohort over time o Models for first and current jobs aren't much different: § 2) Based on income [coefficients express differences in monthly net income w.r.t. someone coming from service class and any other possible class of origin]: o model 1: people coming from family backgrounds of urban working class earn 600 euros per month less than someone coming from top class -> example of intergenerational association o model 2: if you control for education, the effect of education is stronger than the effect of family of origin o no info concerning the first job, so we control also for career effects · 3) Based on probability to access the service class: o model 3: looks at the probability of entering the service class and the logic of analysis is the same -> it's the effect of coming from each of these 5 backgrounds as a difference w.r.t to the effect of having a background in the service class on the probability of entering into a service class with a current or the first job o if you come from a farm background you have a 57 % points less probability to enter service class than somebody who's originally from a service class · 4) Based on probability to avoid the working class: same results as in previous models § The key result shows up comparing models 1 and 2: · if education is controlled for, the effect of social origin diminishes substantially, but is still there. § Result consistent over time and countries/space (since Blau & Duncan 1967 for the US. See Bernardi & Ballarino 2016 for comparative evidence) · the OD effect still exists even if we control for education so there's a direct effect going from O to D -> the process of intergenerational reproduction of status doesn't fully go through education but also includes OD line § Direct effect of social origin (DESO): more about it below. § ... the effect of education is much stronger (as predicted by modernization theory) than the effect of social origin so modernization theory is better than the reproduction theory

Examples of ethnographies of school:

§ Grant (1988) · the World we created at Hamilton High - 1988 § Milner Jr (2016) · Freaks, Geeks and Cool Kids · he observed the activities of kids in an American high school during the 90s and then went back to the field almost 20 years later and in the second edition of the book he didn't just describe the situation, but also discuss the change over the 2 decades; · research design: there is an issue of reliability of what an observer sees and what the observed individuals tell the observer because status matters from this point of view ® you typically don't want to tell all of your stories to someone who belongs to a different social group, so in order to avoid this problem he used 2 techniques in addition to his own direct observation: o 1) asked the students in his classes to testify their own experience of status groups in high school ® he collected 300-400 stories written by first year students concerning the student groups/student sub-cultures characterizing their own high school o 2) had a number of research assistant who were relatively young who had a smaller age divide with respect to the high school students and who could get more reliable information than the adult researchers; · Milner convincingly shows that social groups aren't created by external organization but individual students who are not entirely free to choose the group they belong to. · The belonging to the group is a function only partially based on the choices of the individuals, but your actual belonging to a group is decided your peers ®you'll try to be part of the group but it depends on a collective evaluation to see if you're actually a member of that group, and this might be a source of drama or happiness; · this is an important because shows that status groups are typically local, and this is a key difference concerning social stratification ® while both the economic and political stratification have political and economic resources available to each individual are exogenous from a micro-situation, you enter each micro-situation with your economic and political resources with various interaction between the two. · To the contrary, status is created in the situation and is defined by Milner as the degree of approval that each person gets by his/her peers. This definition of status shows us that it is more "social" than the political or economic dimension, but this is why it is pretty difficult to study unless it is proxied by macro variables like education or some type of cultural consumption because status groups are created in the situation. Within each school you have a status ranking of different groups ® some are seen as more prestigious than others (ex: the jocks and preppies), and at the bottom you have the nerds (people who are insecure and bad at social interaction"), and here are a number of intermediate groups (ex: art kids, hippies, and some groups defined on a racial basis ) ® this is the macro-hierarchy within status groups, and then there are hierarchies based on the internal norms of each group

The components of culture

§ Symbols § Language § Values & Beliefs § Norms § Materials

Definitional issues: what is "change residence"?

§ Two ways of (analytical) definition: • Distance: no way to get a precise definition. Administrative boundaries. Mostly used is the region, but just because of availability of information.

Polavieja (2015): theoretical framework

§ studies culture with econometric techniques § main point: culture is endogenous to action because culture determines both beliefs and the actions that is attributed to those beliefs · It might be that there's a causal relation between beliefs and action · What Polavieja is interested in is the variation of labor force participation of migrant women, and the idea is that different cultures explain different labor force participation o Is women working more in Scandinavia a causal relation or spurious? · To clean the causal relation from the spurious ones, create some counter factual, but you cannot perform an experiment and allocate women with different cultures to the same place exogenously · The spuriousness of the situation is about ability underlying possibly both school and abilities · The spurious relationship depends on culture having an impact on both what people believe and what people do · § Look at the theoretical framework -> the values relating to gender might be the source of a number of decisions relating to the family, which then impact the labor force participation of women · We want to know whether there is a direct path going from cultural traditionalism to female labor force participation, controlling for the endogenous patterns of culture § Two specific sources of endogeneity: · (i) women's LFP experience may affect her traditionalism: higher labor market barriers, higher traditionalism; more active LFP, new values and experiences, lower traditionalism; · (ii) FLFP and preferences & beliefs are both affected by macro-level factors, e.g., level of industrialization, labor market, etc... § Strategy to address endogeneity: · Using an instrument: variable that measures traditionalism in an exogenous way. It has to be correlated with traditionalism, exogenous to the FLFP experience and macro-economic conditions, and it should influence the latter ones only via traditionalism · He matches migrants in a certain country with similar «donors» in the country of origin, based on age, education, parental education and religion o he matches migrant women (in the dataset he has women who have migrated from a given country, and women who have stayed in the country of origin) · He takes the correlation between imputed and observed traits as instrument o The key trait is cultural traditionalism, and instead of taking the measure of cultural traditionalism of women who had migrated, he takes the value of cultural traditionalism of women who were not migrated but shared the demographic characteristics of the women who had migrated à he matches each migrating woman with a non-migrating woman with a similar family background, education and religion o By construction, this new variable is not endogenous to the conditions of the country of destination, because it comes from the country of origin, and in this way it does not create the endogeneity bias in the estimation § Results using ESS data: · 2 models: o Traditionalism has a much stronger predictive power in the instrumental variable estimation, than it has in the standard estimation (in the naïve estimation) o When you control for family situation, the predictive power declines in both estimations, but it is completely endogenous because the type of preferences pushing a woman into marrying and having children are the same preferences that push a woman outside of the labor force -> according to the author, the correct estimation is the one that tells us that women who score higher on the traditionalism measure have less probabilities to become a part of the labor force (1 standard deviation change in the measure of traditionalism, implies 24 percentage points less probability to be a part of the labor force)

Why is the school performance of the offspring of migrants so important?

· =education as one of key predictors of occupational attainment · Q: to what extent offspring born abroad has the same possibilities as people from receiving countries? § South-to-North internal migrations in Italy are to some extent similar to international migrations (bc of the long distance btw regions and substantial gap in development). · Southern Italy mainly agricultural up until the 80s and compulsory education lacking § The table (from Ballarino & Panichella 2016) compares the school achievement of the offspring of Northerners, Southerners and 3 types of offspring of migrants: born in the South (gen 1.5); born and schooled in the North (gen. 2) and with just one Southern parent (gen. mix) § · modelling regressions · sample refers to the 2nd half of 20th century -> enrolling in upper secondary school wasn't that universal; retrospective data · probability in enrolling in upper secondary school compared between Northerners [different generations] and Southerners · key points: o people from gen 2 [children schooled in the North] are statistically identical to the offspring of parents born in the North o but if you're gen 1.5, then you're at a disadvantage -> 15% less probability to enroll than your peers born and schooled in the North o it's all based on where you're born o issues of causality are matters of current research · Gen 1.5 are the worst-off, since they experienced school disruption (migrated during school). · Gen 2 and Gen mix are better off than those whose parents did not migrate (Southerners) · Gen 2 statistically not distinguishable from natives (Northerners) · Gen mix even better off. Where does their advantage come from? o either a positive selection on curiosity, openness and alike o or the fact that mixed couples are more at risk of dissolution than homoethnic ones o Let us look at the occupational outcomes. § In this case the comparison is btw Southerners who migrated to the North in Italy, Northerners and Southerners who stayed - all over Europe. § Occupational achievement over age. · migration is an engendered process - that's why we compare between genders · Statici: born in the South who stayed there · Emigrati: moved from S to N · y-axis: average occupational prestige · x-axis: age · key point: o for men, a choice to migrate isn't a choice because they have a systematical advantage w.r.t. occupational achievement with regard to those who stayed behind § but there's a migration gap w.r.t. those who were all the time in North § their choice is occupationally optimal -> they leave only when the occupation somewhere else is better o for women, migration wasn't a good idea: their occupational achievement is lower than for those born in the North and those who stayed in the South [="double disadvantage" - once because you're a migrant, secondly because you're a woman] § their choice is suboptimal -> they leave very often after the male species o this is not a universal pattern, some migration flows might go the other way around, depending on the labor market state of the receiving country § e.g. the migration from eastern to southern Europe is very often by females these days [demand for personal assistance jobs often oriented towards women] · comparing migrants to North, Northerners and those staying in the South · no gender differences · dep var: probability to experience ascending social mobility · key points: o migrants are intermediate between Northerners and those who stay o horizontal mobility is less varied because we have less cases but more or less the same · paths of social mobility · pattern the same we've seen: o very good probability for migrants to access the clerical class [might depend on big Northern corporations and service classes hiring migrants based on skills] o it's better to enter self-employed -> second best choice for migrants, easier · Main point: Migrants to the North are at advantage wrt those who stayed in the South. o Migration was indeed a good idea wrt to those who stayed o but also keep in mind, migrants were positively selected in the samples -> migration allows to change social stratification only to some extent; positive selection advantages those with better social origin etc. o Particular case: same language, similar culture. o Great heterogeneity of the outcomes of GM over the world, depending on country of origin, country of destination, the occupational outcome considered...

Occupational vs non-occupational returns (different definitions of D In OED triangle)

· Non-occupational returns include any individual outcome that is stratified by education (see above). · "Many good things come from education" (Hout 2012) o education having generally positive effects on life outcomes if controlling for education and income

Kuznets Curve

· works for income or education level variables referred to the degree of development · societies develop over time, degree of dev. increases over time · point 0: no one goes to school so also inequality=0 · as a few people start attending school, the inequality increases · when the majority goes to school, inequality decreases · when everybody goes to school, we arrive at the point 1, inequality=0 · Summary: · When few people go to school, inequality cannot rise. · Then, as more people gets schooled, inequality (that is, the variance of schooling) increases. · As all the population gets schooled, inequality decreases again. · However, the expansion of tertiary education brings in a new source of inequality, so instead of a Kuznets curve we see a Kuznets wave. · Similar results hold for income inequality (Milanovic 2016) · equality referred to higher education includes less people than this referred to secondary education · income inequality went up during final part of 19th century and first decades of 20th century, went down afterwards, and began growing again after 70s · explanation: new technologies produce new developments changing levels of inequality · but inequality concerning tertiary education involves less people than inequality concerning secondary education · 2 measures of dispersion: Standard Deviation (drawn according to the Kuznets curve) & Gini index · steady lowering and increasing curve of SD (Kuznets curve) · Gini index just decreases: when people go to the uni, it's a few years added to the mean but only for a few people, while many people usually finish at secondary education

Schooling

-In contemporary societies, an important part of the socialization process takes place in a specific and dedicated institution (or set of institutions) = school. -We talk about schooling, or school education, when the transmission of skills takes place in an organized and specialized way. -School is «a nationwide and differentiated collection of institutions devoted to formal education, whose overall control and supervision is at least partly governmental and whose component parts and processes are related one to another» (Archer 1979, p. 54). -In contemporary societies, the school system has at least three key functions (Brint 2017; Goldthorpe 2007): •Transmission of knowledge •Socialization •Selection, meaning the allocation of individuals to social positions oaccording to this, the educational system might be seen as a «sorting machine» (Spring 1976) as it sorts them towards education and their position in the system of social stratification [it's the ED part of the OED triangle]

Returns to education over time [Q: Does the impact of E on D change over time?] - Two main theories

1) Skill-biased technological change theory (SBTC) 2) Inflation of educational credentials theory (IEC: Collins 1979; 2000). · In this way, the issue of the trend over time of returns to education becomes an empirical issue based on simple market mechanisms: Market, demand-and-supply mechanism, based on the ratio btw educational expansion and occupational upgrading. o the point is the relation btw the expansion of college degrees and occupational training -> if labor market produces no of good skilled jobs proportionately to college graduates number produced by educational system, then the signaling value doesn't get lost -> there's no inflation of credentials o = If the occupational upgrading keeps the pace of the educational expansion, no EC inflation happens and (tertiary) school titles retain their value. o = If the occupational upgrading is faster, school titles increase their value and SBTC might take place. o called «The race between education and technology» (Goldin & Katz 2010). § technology increasing amount of skilled jobs § education increasing amount of skilled people able to take up the jobs § issue: which one is faster? · if education is faster, we'll have too many highly qualified candidates · if occupational upgrading is faster, there'll be not enough skilled candidates so their wages will increase

Factors related to the origin of modern school - The State

1) The state · It was imitated all over the world since Europe was the political, cultural and military leading area (Ramirez, Boli 1987). o but imitated with small changes o E.g., the exams did not exist in medieval school systems, but was imported from China Mimetic isomorphism: institutions in different places are similar because they have imitated a common model) § The different levels integrated in the modern cumulative structure have different historical origins. § Primary compulsory school was created by the European states, as a means in the inter-state competition. -> should be understood in terms of geography § Europe is characterized by strong geographical cleavages: high mountains, big rivers, big islands, sea entering into the boundaries of the mainland (Diamond 1997) · it made it more difficult for a single polity/conqueror to conquer all land o the only time when Europe was conquered by a single polity was the Roman Empire time that finished 1500 centuries ago · this produced notable political divisions and competition, both peaceful and armed, among states. · difference w.r.t. China: it has been for most of the time united in a single polity, because its geography makes it easier for a conqueror to unify it (Scheidel 2019) -> there were times of political fragmentation of course but they always finish with a single state expanding all over the country · this geographical difference and resulting out of it political conquest patterns considered one of the major sources of the big differences concerning culture, politics and society between Europe and China § European states were competing in both a peaceful and a military way -> the foundation of a compulsory school system was a means in this competition (Meyer 1977; Ramirez & Boli 1987). · The origin of modern school systems. Introduction of compulsory school, prevailing religion and % enrolled in primary schools in 1870, by country. · Indeed, it was not the biggest European economic and military powers of the time (France and Great Britain) who first created compulsory schooling. · To the contrary, it was small and peripheric countries such as Denmark or Prussia (see table). · the territory of former Prussia - now Russia, Poland, Germany · WHY small were better in it? o because the school system worked back then as a means to make the state stronger and improve its competitive position in the power game

The existence of a DESO might be explained by (at least) 5 possible mechanisms

1. Direct inheritance of family business or wealth. 2. Differences in productivity behind OD associations 3. Family-related social networks 4. Favouritism 5. Aspirations

Education - definition

= any type of social process by which something is learned (in general sense) = a process of learning about the way of life of a given social group (in this sense, education means socialization) -> in this broad sense, education is a synonym of socialization

Socialization - definition

= the process by which a biological and genetic potential is actualized into an individual. = "the set of processes by which an individual develops... communication skills and performance capability" (Gallino 1993). Children learn most of the things that equip them to survive in their society. Much of this takes place outside of schools, mostly in the family. Socialization is a double-faced process. •On one side, it changes the individual, turning a potential into actuality. (micro-level) •On the other side, it reproduces society, since individuals are socialized to existing social positions, identities and roles. (macro-level) •However, individuals do differ, because of random genetic variation and of the changing environment in which they are raised and socialized. -Thus, social reproduction via socialization always involves a degree of change. •the only genetically same individuals are twins -> very good example for the studies of genetical influence -Indeed, the renewal of the individuals constituting the population is the main driver of social change. •it's a theory by Karl Manheim (active from 30s to late 40s): main theorists of generations or cohorts oStated that the main driver of social change is not that IN individuals but the change OF individuals oChange in individuals means that an existing individual changes his/her behavior, attitudes, values, etc. oChange of individuals is a demographic change: some people died and are then replaced by others -A second driver, the changing behavior of individuals, is less relevant. •because the degree to which individuals might actually change is limited: it is rare that a personality of an individual changes completely, therefore it is not that change that strongly drives social change but a demographic one •this means that school, who provides the social system with new individuals, is potentially a strong driver of social change.

How does culture work?

All of these components are a part of social processes, defined and governed by what we call culture. This involves: · Materials (cultural artefacts) · Rituals · Status groups · Socialization Main point: culture isn't something that lies in people's heads, but is something that is a key part of the behavior of people

Many cultures now recognize, to differing degrees, various non-binary gender identities.

People who are non-binary have gender identities that are not defined by the male-female dichotomy -> might lead to: · Overlap of gender identities, · Having two or more genders, · Having no gender, · Having a fluctuating gender identity, · Being third gender or other-gendered

The Origins of Modern School

o School systems all over the world have the very same structure, with no substantial exceptions. o It is a cumulative structure organized in 3 or 4 tiers: § primary (elementary) § middle or secondary (often divided in 2, lower and upper or junior and senior) § tertiary (university). o This structure originated in Europe, Germany in particular, at the end of the 19th century (Collins 2000) § Schooling is the same because it originated in one place and diffused all over the world § BUT why? o Factors related to the origin of modern school: 1. The State 2. Religion 3. Post-compulsory education

Culture - definition

o 'The values, beliefs, behaviours, practices and material objects that constitute a people's way of life' (Macionis & Plummer 2007) § Culture is not in people's heads (or hearts...), but in the ways they behave. · =the way we are in the world; learnt by socialization § 'Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretative one in search of meaning...' (Geertz 1995) o 'To say that two people belong to the same culture is to say that they interpret the world in roughly the same way and can express themselves, their thoughts and feelings about the world, in ways will be understood by each other. Thus, culture depends on its participants interpreting mea ningfully what is happening around them, and 'making sense' of the world in broadly similar ways.' (Stuart Hall, 2007) § Cultural studies (pioneered by Hall) study cultures in this sense, inspired by symbolic interactionism.

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - Educational credentials theory

o (Collins 1979; 2000). § Developed in the US in 70s when college graduates stop finding jobs easily bc there was a huge college participation expansion -> labor market didn't provide enough opportunities following an economic downturn 1973 oil crisis · up to that moment, the issue of unemployment didn't exist for substantially for college grads as were a small fraction of a population § Most job-related skills are learned on-the-job. · job allocation process [=process by which individuals are sorted over occupational positions] has not much to do with productivity § Schools certify the capacity of individuals to adhere to the social norms regulating the workplace, being trustworthy wrt employers and efficient wrt job requirements. · schools only provide credentials [=when you work for a given employer and wanna change your job, you ask him to provide a credential - statement by a former employer testifying you're a good worker] · a good credential gives access to good jobs § Different titles [credentials] certify different levels of this capacity. This is unrelated to actual productivity, as in the case of pre-modern surgeons. · pre modern surgeons were schooled in top medical faculties in medieval European unis but their actual effectiveness w.r.t. sick people was very low § Higher educational titles certify the capacity to enter top occupational positions. · typically, labor market credentials are based on experience but here we're talking about school credentials · =school titles certify that individual was a good student § Might be linked to reproduction theory: all school system is a way to provide offspring of a top class with credentials enabling them to substitute their talents within the top class · school system has to do with a circular process of social reproduction

How is internal migration regulated in non-liberal countries?

o -> they want to fully control the populations § In Italy under Fascism law discouraged urbanism (GM towards cities). Abolished only in 1961. • you couldnt change your residence from village to a city unless you had a job there, you couldn't get a job though unless being enrolled in a labor list of the specific place -> virtually impossible to change the place of residence § China: Hukou system. • you're registered as a part of a given household in a given place and you cant change your place of registration unless authorized • so most of people migrating to cities do it due to the job only; there are many illegal migrants because of that [are uncontrolled though because produce value for the government] -> but migrants are often unable to provide a school/health care for their children in cities -> leave them with grandparents in the places of origin = create big social issues § USRR: Propiska system. § Modeled on population control by pre-modern empires. People are registered in their household and place of residence and cannot change this without a permission from the authorities.

Culture - Socialization

o = the process by which a biological and genetic potential is actualized into an individual. · Socialization is "the set of processes by which an individual develops... communication skills and performance capability" (Gallino 1993). o Children learn most of the things that equip them to survive in their society. o Much of this takes place outside of schools, mostly in the family. · Socialization is a double-face process. o On one side, it changes the individual, turning a potential into actuality. o On the other side, it reproduces society, since individuals are socialized to existing social positions, identities and roles. o However, individuals do differ, because of random genetic variation and of the changing environment in which they are raised. and socialized. · Thus, social reproduction via socialization always involves a degree of change. o Indeed, the renewal of the individuals constituting the population is the main driver of social change (Karl Mannheim's theory of generations) o A second driver, the changing behavior of individuals, is less relevant. · Key research topic for symbolic interactionism o I vs Me. § I= the unsocialized infant. § Me: the social self. o Individuals become self-conscious when they see themselves as others see them o Conversation between I and Me = thinking. · Thinking as an internalized conversation with others. · Primary and secondary socialization o Primary socialization: it occurs in infancy and childhood and it is the most intense period of cultural learning (children learn language) o Secondary socialization: it takes place later in childhood and into maturity (importance of social interactions, and of the role set) o Increasing importance of secondary socialization wrt the primary one. § because of inreasing importance of schooling and of media o But also countertrends (eg increasing time spent by parents with children in rich countries). · Agencies of socialization: · Agencies of socialization: groups or social contexts in which significant socialization occurs o Family (primary socialization) o School (primary & secondary socialization) o Peer group (secondary socialization) o Workplace (secondary socialization) o Media (secondary socialization) · Gender Socialization Nature or nurture?

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - Network Theories

o Credentials as networking processes § Social networks [=personal relationships between people] structure the matching process btw job and graduate, thus explaining different returns. · On the individual's side, networks provide information on available vacancies and/or good career opportunities. · On the firm's side, they provide information on the productivity and trustworthiness of the applicants. § Q: Why people coming from a given country [migrants] are concentrated on a limited set of activities? · because of this type of mechanism! employers in big businesses look for people upon which they already have information, don't want to risk, focus on co-ethnic people when hiring · plus there's also an issue of trust! if you hire somebody from same social network as you, you might expect them to act more in a more trustful way; if you're a part of the same network, it's easier to sanction the person in case of bad occupational behavior § Networks might have different scales and be produced by different processes: individual, familiar and institutional. · institutional networks are created by common participation to one institution § Strong vs weak ties (Granovetter 1973; 1974) - "The Strength of Weak Ties" · Strong ties link to family and kin, and might often be ethnic. Trust-related processes, social control. Often closed networks (Coleman 1988). o very intense ties, signify the person close to you o are diffused often, hold over few different spheres of life of an individual [e.g. family members, group of friends - e.g. you go to church with your family, to vacation etc.] o provide you to similar to you people that give your redundant info - redundant because you already know them, you have similar points of view · Weak ties are with acquaintances (former job colleagues, club or church friends...). Information related processes. o might appear to be more helpful in some settings to find jobs because provide you with irredundant information, connect you to people who might be more strange, less similar to you · summary: Strong ties relate ego to similar alters, with redundant information, while weak ties relate to less similar alters. § Jobs achieved by networks pay on average less than jobs achieved via the market. · is a proof of the fact that market allocation of jobs to individuals is more efficient than non-market jobs allocation -> another argument in favor of meritocracy · but there's a big context variations related to it · typically, the more skilled people are and the higher the jobs, the stronger the role of weak ties, and vice versa § Institutional networks provide information and trust in the process of occupational allocation. · these are intermediate networks between signaling and credentialing · =create contacts between job seekers and personal seekers o e.g. Bocconi provides a list of graduates to associated firms · Relate schools and firms, and ensure that: o 1. the content of education suits the requirements of firms; § ex: Bocconi knows what firms need bc it has been in a long relation to them and the educational processes within Bocconi are tailored to requirements of corporations outside o 2. in the recruitment process, firms give priority to candidates coming from the schools. § because they trust the school's recommendations · Various degrees of formalization of this process: o Formal: German system of dual vocational training. § students hired as apprentices on behalf of firms - half of the time spent in school, half spent in work § schools are co-merged by the state, school, and representatives of employers, making sure that each degree has a strong labor market value bc employers know the vocational training is a strong one as they participated in designing it o Informal: «Old boys network». § somebody coming from a given school/college is responsible for selection in a given corporation, giving priority to those coming from his/her very school trusting these candidates the most § they create constant fluxes of people coming from specific educational institution to specific set of occupational institutions § e.g. Japan: firms ask schools to do the first screening of job candidates based on school marks - very meritocratic recruitment process

Crime

o Crime: behaviour that breaks the formal laws of a society. If someone commits a crime, he/she can be arrested, charged and prosecuted. o The distinction btw deviance and crime is related to the degree of social organization. In pre-state societies, without written laws, the distinction does not exist/is blurred. § Deviance is not necessarily criminal, but it might become so (eg. alcohol or cannabis) · ex: in Western countries, smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol was perfectly legal between WWI, then prohibition started in the US and expanded further, now we're back to this being legal [changes in social organization] o 2 relevant processes from this point of view: § Stigmatization: processes of stereotyping by which a given behaviour is evaluated negatively, as deviant § Criminalization: processes through which specific social groups or activities are monitored, redefined and prosecuted as criminal. · involves an intervention of a state o Criminology vs Sociology of deviance [different but overlapping]: § Criminology: study of crime, of attempt to control it, and of attitudes wrt to it. In Italy it is a part of legal studies, while elsewhere it is a part of sociology. · ex: female infanticide in China § Sociology of deviance: research interested in understanding why given actions are considered as deviant and criminal, and how deviance and normality are socially constructed. normally deviant acts are defined as legal [not always tho]

Inequality of educational opportunities: evidence

o Educational transition model (ETM), also called "Mare model" (from Robert Mare, 1952-2021). § Educational attainment is a process of completing, or not completing, each one of a set of sequential transitions § Transitions are defined by grades or by school levels § The model builds on the cumulative-sequential character of modern school systems § The ETM is then a set of binomial regressions of the probability of making/not making each transition (completing/not completing each grade or level - 0/1 binary variable). · The dependent variable is the probability of prosecuting to the further grade level or dropping out § Models might be estimated as linear probability, logit or probit models, and the "population at risk" are those who graduated from the previous level (conditional models). · Probability of reaching n is conditional on probability of having reached grade n-1 § But: which level matters more? · If we want to have a simple answer to our question concerning educational inequalities this model is detailed but divides the model into several transitions, then the question is which transition matters more? o Other models constrain the estimates of the n transition-specific (logit) probabilities into a single parameter. o Ordered logit model (ologit and gologit in Stata), also called cumulative or ordinal logit. o Estimates the probability to make (or not to make) the transition to a college degree taking the previous transitions into account. o Educational levels are ordered categories. o In economics, ordered probit.preferred

· How can we measure and capture culture?

o Endogeneity issues have to be addressed: § Preferences and beliefs influence actions and experiences and are influenced by them § Institutions influences both actions and beliefs o Polavieja (2015) aims at investigating how traditionalism (cultural trait) influences female labor force participation (socioeconomic outcome) o Culture and Insittutions § Institution: set of formal or informal rules that constrains and prescribes individuals' interactions with one another § Examples of institutions: · Family · Educational system · Religion · Economic institutions, such as the market · Political institutions, such as government § Culture and institutions are endogenous: which one comes first? o Polavieja (2015): theoretical framework

Gender - Definition

o Gender is included among the attitudes that are learned through socialization o It is one of the first social categories children become aware of o Despite its relevance, the concept of gender is a recent invention in human history The distinction between sex and gender was introduced by John Money in 1955, but was diffused lately in the 1970s by feminist movements

Forced migrations

o However, this refers to migrants who did freely choose to move. o The outcomes of people who were forced to move might be very different. o The classical example are African Americans in the US, who were deported there by the slave trade. § Black people in the US aren't offspring who freely decided to move but those who were enslaved in Africa and forcefully relocated towards the US § but the their migration gap is declining over time, but much more slowly than the one of other groups who migrated freely to the US ("white ethnics", Asians...) · white ethnics: Polish, Russians, Jews, Italians

Effect of education over the career.

o If the effect of education decreases over time [=over the age of an individual], occupational allocation is less meritocratic than the career process § happens in flexible labor markets § occupational allocation = occupation directly after the education § so education isn't that influential as a career process o If the effect of education increases over the career/over time, career is more meritocratic than job entry § the effect of social origin are stronger than entering labor market (labor productivity is discovered over time), so if education relates to productivity, the effect of educational destination should grow over time

Returns to education over time - Evidence

o Indeed in the US the expansion of tertiary education since the 80s has been slower than elsewhere. o If the occupational upgrading is slower than the expansion (as it was the case almost everywhere in Europe), than we have IEC. o Italy: § the occupational upgrading over time: % of people entering the job market for each social class · increasing number of people entering the labor market in the service class and white collar · decreasing demand for farmers and working men § · o increasing amount of people in upper secondary and tertiary · o a ratio between the two = a simple measure of race btw technology and education o it's a ratio btw educational levels and occupational structure by cohort of birth [data for Italy] o includes % of university educated people divided by jobs in the service class -> this is the same thing for higher secondary & jobs in middle classes o both lines are ascending: there's a higher increase in education than occupational upgrading = inflation of occupational credentials

Inequality of educational opportunities: Theories

o Inequality of educational opportunities = differential opportunities of schooling going to people coming from different social groups; comes from OE association [how social origin influences educational opportunities] o How the distribution of educational attainment differs across different social groups, defined by family background: parental education or social class, ethnic groups, migration; or by gender; or by any other ascriptive variable. o The strongest predictor: parental education -> intergenerational transmission of education. o Cross-sectional association & trends over time (by cohort or period). o 2 main groups of theories concerning trends over time of IEO by family background: 1) Modernization theories 2) Reproduction theories

IEO mechanisms

o Mechanisms explaining both the decrease and the persistence of IEO based on family background over time. § R. Boudon (1974): IEO depends on primary and secondary effects. o Two types of economic, social and psychological mechanisms producing the educational advantage of the offspring of the higher classes. § Primary effects relate to performance. § Secondary effects to school choice. o Behavioural model: first, students achieve given scholastic results (primary eff.); second, students and their families make their school choice (whether to prosecute and which track to choose) based on prior results and on their social position (secondary eff.). o High-class children are systematically attaining higher educational levels than their lower-class peers, even when prior performance is the same (Erikson & Jonsson 1996; Breen & Goldthorpe 1997). § The graph shows that those coming from a better background at the same performance level have a systematic advantage of getting a good grade and transitioning to university · The higher the class the higher this probability/ distance between bell curves-> secondary effects · The distance between bell curves-> primary effects § Distance between "s" shaped curves or the difference in the probability to make the transition-> this is relatively small to those that have high or low ability, but high for the intermediate levels of ability · Therefore family matters most to those that are in the intermediate levels o If you are bright you will be pushed by teachers or others o If you are not bright even motivated parents won't be able to help you get into university

Culture - Norms

o Norms are the rules and expectations by which the behaviour of individuals is governed. § also strictly related to beliefs - might be seen in terms of beliefs (beliefs in what we have to do, what we can) o They reflect or embody a culture's values, either prescribing a given type of behaviour, or forbidding it § some forbid, some prescribe behaviors § Prescriptive vs. proscriptive norms. · goes back to Durkeheim's suicide · prescriptive: prescribe certain behaviors · proscriptive: forbid certain behaviors § Informal vs formal norms. · informal · formal: written down in such a way to be shared by everybody o effectiveness of the norms related to literacy of the society -> more literate society responds better to these laws/regulations o but huge heterogeneity over time and space! § General [=Macro] trends observed by scholars: · from prescriptive to proscriptive (=diffusion of liberalism); o no behavior should be prohibited unless it damages somebody else o from automatic, homogenous society to the heterogenous society according to Durkheim · from informal to formal (=constitutionalism, rule of law). o we expect laws to be written and shared by everybody -> the certainty of law can be imagined only in so far as the laws are written o However, huge importance of informal norms and rules for daily life and interaction. o Sanctions are a central mechanisms of social control. § norms are cogent = are indications of behavior which people expect to be followed by everybody, are not optional, binded for everybody o The means by which groups encourage conformity to norms. o Sanctions can be: § Formal vs. Informal [prevalence depends on the context; should be thought of as different possibilities] · formal: actions that are taken according to rules that might significantly differ over societies and social groups in order to force people into a compliance with norms · informal: warnings for people who don't comply § Positive (incentives) vs. Negative · positive: prizes who goes to those who comply · negative: punishments applied to those who dont comply o Key issue: sanctions [are by definition internal] vs internalization of values. [it's another dualism] § Internalization of values is much more effective as a driver of behavior but requires more time and effort. · that's why we might take the diffusion of formal sanctions against criminal behaviors [formally defined as illegal] as an indicator of weak social cohesion § Internalization works via socialization [esp. at an early age] social change depends much more on changes of people than changes within people bc once you're socialized to given set of values after your socialization process, it's hard to change your internal responses

Measuring Crime

o Official crime statistics: generated from data gathered by the government, usually from police and court records, or other official organisations § Often used as secondary data in social research § Might be misleading since they depend not just on the legal definition of a crime, but also on detection of crimes. · crime is defined as such by a state -> change in def. of crime will change our count of crime · not all crimes are detected while only the detected ones end up on the statistics o In turn, detection depends on policing but also on reporting on the part of victims. § many crimes long systematically underreported, esp. family issues · EG: feminicides and family violence today are more reported than in the past - but probably they are actually declining o Recording crime § Victimization surveys. · provide more reliable measures · are standard population surveys performed on a random sample of a population whose members are asked if they were a victim of crimes § Trends of various criminal behaviours for Italy, also in comparison. · data should be updated as maybe the debt crisis and Covid-19 have changed the situation · downward trend for homicides over time · crimes stable or slightly diminishing · especially second part of 2000s: downward trend; but in general downward trend, esp. concerning domestic burglary and motor thefts · but many fluctuations · number of prisoners increasing with some fluctuations, related to the increase of crimes · 3 types of crimes in different time periods · domestic burglaries: downward trend · motor thefts: downward trend except Italy · robberies: some increase, some decrease over time · crime increased from 60s [general social crisis] and decreased in last decades

Place of Birth

o Place of birth is an ascribed variable. § think about O (origin) as a place where you're born in § It provides opportunities and resources. · more of them in the big cities § So GM is the possibility to access to opportunities and resources available elsewhere · might be seen as an investment in human capital, following HCT, or as a gesture of freedom § Similarity with education. · Key difference: education is a much more structured and institutionalized social process: most of the people go to school at the same age, and school paths are pre-defined. · This does not happen with GM.

Returns to college education, by field

o Relative returns: the picture depends on the chosen comparison. § ISEI: decreasing trend. o Access to the service class: the advantage of the tertiary educated with respect to the upper secondary educated is increasing. o Both IEC theory (in general) and SBTC theory (for tertiary wrt upper secondary) are supported. o Returns to college decrease in absolute terms, but in the last cohorts they increase wrt upper secondary, for what access to the service class is concerned. o § we look at net monthly wage of college-educated distinguishing by gender and field of study § there's an evident gender wage gap: systematically lower average income of women master graduates · no issue of careers as it's data on university graduates so job information is collected only 3 years after graduation for everybody § no decrease in wages = no inflation § composition effect: in early cohorts, our sample only includes doctors while in later cohorts also those graduates in health sector (not GPs) are also included -> the composition of graduates in health sector is changing over time including a higher proportion of ppl who don't make a lot of money [that's why they decrease] § humanities are the worst off and worse for men

Selection into GM

o Selection into GM is typically a positive one. o GM requires resources. o Different selection for genders: for women education and occupational condition matter much less than for men. o Tied-migrant family migration pattern: men move first, in order to find a better job, then when they are settled women join them. o Not universal. Relates to the familiar division of labour and to the male breadwinner patterns

Imprisonment

o The US are an outlier concerning the general trend of imprisonment. [=race issue] § From the mid-seventies, huge increase of the prison population. § Black people are at the center of this process. § American society did not manage to peacefully handling the end of racial segregation. § Black riots in the 60s against the persistence of segregation and racist behaviour on the part of the white population. · sudden outbursts of violence § Fear of the blacks after the riots. § Black radicalism (eg Black Panthers Party: political party started in California trying to police the police -> had an effect of increasing fear towards and bias of Black people, unintended effect) § Pettit, B., and Western, B. (2004). Mass imprisonment and the life course: Race and class inequality in U.S. incarceration. American Sociological Review, 69(2), 151-169. § = numer of prisoners / 100.000 residents § no data for many countries; e.g. Russia with a similar cases to the US, China § US as an outlier: almost 10x the case of European countries o § result: huge increase of imprisonment o § young black people have 10x bigger probability to be incarcerated than the white young men § probability of imprisonment is a function of the probability to commit crime: this relation is the same for whites and blacks -> it's not the issue of black crime being over sanctioned but of black people being systematically more prone to crime o § imprisonment rates related to school levels § imprisonment rates dropped dramatically for both white and black people if they move from non-college to college education: essentially, educations keeps you out of jail o § determinants of imprisonment: · with age, the probability of being a criminal increases but only within the age span between 15-34 o trend even stronger in the recent cohorts · lack of education increases imprisonment o even some college education has a significant impact on this probability · being black has a very strong effect on the probability to be imprisoned § accumulated % to end up in jail during lifetime · % dramatically high for people without college education o but weaker for whites than for black o Conclusions: § Imprisonment as common life event for recent birth cohorts of black non-college men § Over time, rise in class inequality, but stable race inequality (always high) in imprisonment § Diverging life trajectories between Whites and black non-college men, e.g., less likely to find a job or get married

Gender IEO

o The decrease and reversal of gender IEO over the second half of the previous centuries is well- known. o In the next slide we see an ETM for IEO by gender over cohorts in Italy. The estimated equation is, for each transition: E = a + b*gender + c*cohort o Conditional models (estimated only on those who made the previous transition). § § Reference category are males and parameters express the difference in probability of obtaining a degree for males and females § We see a clear decrease of IEO § In the case of tertiary education we see an increase to the female advantage § First cohorts over three transitions: gender gap diminishes over transitions because of the selection process o Different gender gaps for the early cohorts: lower at the higher levels. o Women at the higher levels were more selected (models are conditional). o Low sec: women catch up, and a ceiling effect makes genders equal. o Upper sec: women show some advantage. o Tertiary: clear advantage for women, growing over time.

IEO and Horizontal Stratification (Tracking

o We looked, up to now, to the vertical stratification of schooling: who gets higher titles. o Let us also consider the horizontal stratification, related to tracking. o Indeed, when a given school level gets saturated, inequality might move within the level, following the hierarchy of tracks or institutions. § The labour market value of a college degree when the college degree is held by the 5% of the population is quite high-> explains why horizontal stratification becomes more important over time § Inequalities who diminish in vertical sense might become more relevant in the horizontal sense o Following graphs report the horizontal stratification of secondary school choice, by gender and parental education. · o Women are more often found in licei, but less often in scientific tracks or professional tracks o This then has an impact on universities- women are less likely to get degrees in better paid domains o Medicine has been more femininized · The more educated your parents the more likely you are to be found in the academic track leading to university, while it is the other way around concerning vocational and technical tracks · This is an interesting topic for comparative research because tracking changes over countries significantly · Tracking is bad for lower classes and reinforces educational inequalities because children coming from lower classes are diverted from the academic track and selected in the vocational one o Gender: women are found more frequently in the academic tracks, less in the scientific and technical. o Family background: the offspring of the more educated are found more frequently in the academic tracks, leading to university. o Huge variation over countries, mostly depending on the criteria of selection into tracks. o Italy vs Germany (graph in following slide): how ability is distributed over different tracks. · Tracking and stratification: Italy and Germany compared (Checchi & Flabbi 2007, Ita upper panel; Ger lower) · We see that the three lines overlap more in Italy than Germany, which means that the allocation of students to tracks in Germany reflects much more their actual ability while in Italy it reflects the families choices · What matters for tracking is the criterion by which it takes place- the more it is based on ability the less socially unfair/the more meritocratic it will be § IEO and horizontal stratification (tracking) § Institutional differences: in Italy, selection depends on family choices. In Germany, it is constrained by teachers' evaluation. § Indeed, the ability of students from different tracks overlaps much more in Italy than in Germany. § Educated parents place their children in the academic tracks, irrespective of their actual results. § For non-educated parents it is the other way round.

Gender politics

o a set of political issues and activities based on gender as the key political divide. § An example of identity politics, where social groups express their needs and issues (race politics; queer politics etc). § Identity politics often criticize liberalism and universalism because they are not responsive to their specific demands. § Weberian point of view: liberalism is a way to balance the equal rights of each identity and value to be found in society. § ex: Marx and Engels criticize this idea of bourgeois equality - the apparent equality of being a citizen is a purposeful way of hiding the actual differences related to social class · Exactly in the same way, the radical proponents of identity politics see liberalism as a way of hiding from reality to the contrary, liberals see liberalism as the only way of escaping identity conflict because identity policy is by definition particular, and an expression of the partial point of view that does not consider the part as part of the whole is destined to produce a situation of conflict when implemented

Sexual identity

o an individual's conception of her- and himself. It may or may not align with biological sex, sexual behavior or actual sexual orientation (e.g. transgender).

The "Adolescent Society" (Coleman 1961)

o based on status groups, is a product of the expansion of school participation and of the separation btw family and work (institutional differentiation. § Its role is stronger, the more time is spent in school and the less time is spent in the family. · the adolescent society arises in as much as parents have to work and then cannot directly control the behavior of their offspring (parents have to work outside the home - aspect of institutional differentiation typical of modern societies) § It is then stronger in full-time schools (when students have meals at school) and in boarding schools and colleges. · When work and family separate the space arises for the society made up by peers - the more time you spend in school and the less time you spend in the family, the more important adolescent society becomes § This is why most research of adolescent societies comes from northern European and Anglo-Saxon societies, because in those places there is a higher female participation in the labor force, which favors the extension of time spend in school

Gender identity

§ Differently from sex, gender is not assigned rather it depends on personal perceptions § Gender identity: an individual's personal sense of identity as masculine or feminine, or some combination thereof § Gender is predominantly binary, however in some countries a third gender exists § LGBTQ+ movements push for a more fluid concept of gender

Gender roles

o different behaviors and behavioral- norms, learned by women and men because of their gender. § = the fact that individuals are expected to behave differently according to their gender § Characterize a given society, community or other social group. § They condition activities, tasks and responsibilities of women and men. § How do they relate to biology? -> crucial question because there is asymmetry in gender roles · Gender attitudes imply expectations and judgments about the different roles played by women and men, sometimes related to the biological dimension · Maybe talk about gender norms, which are specific to each culture, and state what each society expects form each individual as a man or woman -> this relates to the division of labor between women and men in work and family spheres

Gender equity

o fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective needs. § this may include equal treatment or a treatment that is different but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities. § Ex: labor market equality may include the same rules for everyone Fair gender labor policies imply, for instance, making it easier for women to reconcile their possible role as mothers with their own occupational careers

The occupational outcomes of migrants in a number of different European countries

o from Europe Labor Force data o Two outcomes: § probability of being employed (or active); § quality of job (probability to have a job not in the working class). o In both cases we look at migration gap - % of difference between migrants and non-migrants § mostly 1st generation migrants o Marginal effects (probabilities) from logit models or linear prob. models. o Models control for education, age & family condition · only for men · grey bar: pr of employment · grey+white bars: quality of job · France, Germany, Sweden - strong migration gap in pr of employment but once you're employed, the gap decreases in terms of job quality · Southern Europe + UK - almost no migration gap in case of getting an employment but there's a huge gap in terms of job quality · it depends on the labor market conditions and relations o SE and UK - very flexible labor market for migrants but they get dragged into a secondary labor market with few good career opportunities o it's the other way around in Germany, France and Sweden · situation for women -> not very different · There is in general a migration gap (MG), but with huge heterogeneity. · In Southern European countries the MG concerning employment is small, particularly for men. · In Western European countries, to the contrary, the MG is smaller concerning job quality. · In the UK the MG is in general lower. · Differences in labour market regulation: in Southern Europe segmented LM, with black economy and low wages providing easy jobs to migrants, but few career opportunities. · In Western Europe LM regulation makes it more difficult for migrants to enter the LM, but once they are in they have more career opportunities (less segmented LM). · The UK, with a very flexible LM and low segmentation (no black economy), appears to provide the best situation. · The gap is in general stronger for women (double disadvantage pattern).

Mainstream gender

o gender has always be taken into consideration in any type of policy or organizational planning, because of its relevance and pervasiveness. § means the differences btw M and F should not be erased but taken into full consideration, even when they are stereotyped and socially constructed (remember Thomas' law). § remember Thomas's law: when people think according to some pattern, they will then act according to that pattern even if the precise idea is wrong; this is important because in order to design and promote policies promoting gender equality, we need to be aware of everything that works against it, and gender stereotypes are perhaps the major enemy of gender parity

Gender role attitudes

o how individuals refer to gender roles. § Imply expectations and judgments about the different roles played by women and men, sometimes related to the biological dimension. § Division of labour btw women and men in work and family spheres. Might be independent from individual actual behaviour.

Methodological nationalism

o international migration is deemed to be more important, as it involves crossing the border of the state. § However, internal migrations are more important/bigger in terms of scale. § ex: Internal migrations in China alone involve yearly more people than all international migrations. § It changes historically: In Western Europe and its offshoots, international migrations started being regulated (ie prohibited) at about the age of WW1. • there was no border surveillance up to WWI

Four Standard Migration Patterns (Tilly 1977)

o looks at labour migrations, defining 4 patterns, distinguished by distance and duration of stay. § "Mobility" is what we would call commuting. § "Local" is short-term and short-distance. § "Chain" involves chains of individuals: people migrate, settle down and then favour migration of other people from the same origin. § "Circular" involves return migration, is not permanent (seasonal work). § "Career" is permanent. · concerns particularly labor migrations o local labor mobility: you go through another place, involves commuting o circular labor mobility: people coming back and forth; or seasonal labor migration in agriculture-based economies [ex: people from the mountains of Piedmont going to Provenece for harvesting] o chain mobility: related to networks; people from one place settle in other places § costs of migration related to what we call "disruption": everybody is embedded in a social context; where you live you know where to go to get resources; moving to another place, you lose all this embeddedness but if you find there a number of person who come from your place of i=origin, you will have of degree of embeddedness as soon as you arrive -> this decreases the cost of migration and it produces migratory chains § people from one place of origin prefer to go to the same place of destination o career mobility: you've migrated to another place, you don't come back no more

How is migration a long-term familiar investment?

o migrants choose to accept a degree of social demotion in order to improve the lot of their offspring. · Q: to what extent the process of migration might compensate disruption of migration? · migration is a long-term family, not only individual investment! -> those who migrate factor cost-benefit analysis in the intergenerational perspective § 1st generation: those who are born abroad and migrate. [=those who actually move] · tends to be at disadvantage on average all over the place due to disruption § 2nd generation: sons and daughters of parents born abroad. · classified by place of birth · if offspring migrates s children, is classified as 1.5 generation § 3rd generation: sons and daughters of the 2nd gen § Over time: assimilation vs persistent inequality. § The lot of the 2nd and 3rd generation is what really matters.

Inflation of educational credentials theory (IEC: Collins 1979; 2000).

§ Educational expansion, by making titles more frequent in a population, decreases their value as selection devices to employers. · if more have education degree, the degrees don't serve as good selection devices · so the returns to education should decrease over time due to inflation mechanism § Process similar to monetary inflation. § IEC theory might hold whichever is the mechanism governing occupational allocation via school title (it's the same if it's productivity, signals or some kind of credential).

Deviance

o non-conformity [=lack of compliance] to a given set of norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society. § act of breaking the social order, § E.g.: exceeding speed limits, taking illegal drugs. § key distinction related to the role of state: · crime is against state laws, deviance is against social norms § If people are seen as deviant they can run into sanctions. § Deviance is then a social construction, related to the definition of a norm. · modern sociology of crime born with Emile Durkheim who was concerned with social order o Because of this, huge variations in the definition of deviance are observed, depending on: § Where it takes place (sex among partners in their bedroom is not an issue, but the same couple having sex in a park open to the public might be arrested). · ex: sex in public is a violation of social norms now but in ancient Greece it was normal § The subject (ex: if a policeman in service kills a criminal for his duty he will not be persecuted but killing a criminal as a normal person would be persecuted). § The context (in pre-modern Europe behaviors such as leaving urine or faeces on the house floor; eating without fork or spoon; spitting on the house floor were not seen as deviant) o Although there are huge differences over cultures in the definition of what is deviant, four types of behaviour are universally defined as such. § 1. Incest, that is sex between parents and offspring and between siblings · in some societies sex btw siblings was allowed and promoted in the élite class, as a strategy to keep power concentrated and intact. [marriage as a political tool] · ex: in ancient Egypt, ancient Southern American empires · ex: European nobility up to WWI was extensively made out of relatives due to intermarriage · no quantitative research on this · considered as deviant because it's generally assumed it's better for offspring to draw from a larger pool of genes § 2. Theft from someone belonging to the group. § 3. Abduction and rape of married women of the group. · married women are so important to the group because are in charge of social reproduction -> are more controlled in their sexual activities and more sheltered in terms of violence § 4. Killing members of the group · also in this case there might be exceptions, eg killing old people or infanticide - particularly of female or disabled children - justified by the vital needs of the group · ex: ancient Rome - killing old unable to work killing women and children who are unproductive in work in rural areas in Asia [China] or Southern America

Why is short-distance GM much more frequent?

o people move more at short distance mobility [="residential mobility"] -> it's more frequent for women because in far-distance marriages, women usually go to places where men live § Re-locations, mostly for marriage. § Gender differences: F move more over short distances, M over longer. GM is very often a gendered process (more on this below). § Long-distance moves are more frequent in less advantaged municipalities [ex: mountains] and geographical areas: disadvantaged contexts (more on this below).

Assumptions of HCT

o perfect information, no credit constraints, perfect factors substituibility. [facilitate how the theory works, allows for mathematical treatment and empowers the theory] § Costs and benefits are defined in monetary terms, which is not realistic. «Adolescent econometricians» (Mansky 1993). · HCT allows to predict how much you'll earn on the subsequent steps of the work ladder § The sociological perspective tries to put it in more realistic terms: school choice is a rational and optimizing process, but: · Limited information (remember H. Simon) - „bounded rationality" · Costs and benefits are neither monetary nor individual but depends on the family's position in the social structure (Erikson & Jonsson 1996; Breen & Goldthorpe 1997) sees. § Benefits: · Investment in HC is not an individual, but mostly a familiar process (as in migration and geographical mobility). o all resources available to the family are mobilized o current research about migration makes this point clear: migration can be seen in a similar way, can be also seen as an investment -> migrants bear costs because expect benefits out of that but they are referred to a family, not to an individual · Expected costs & benefits are defined not in terms of income, but mostly according to social status: avoidance of social demotion (Erikson & Jonsson 1996; Breen & Goldthorpe 1997). o families invest in education because want to avoid social demotion - that the children end up in social position lower than their own o Benefits: people from higher family background set the bar higher for their children's school attainment, since a high educational title is needed in order to hold on to their familiar social status. o Families of lower class, on the contrary, will be satisfied with their children reaching a lower educational level, the one sufficient to guarantee the maintenance of their own social status. · This produces a class stratification of motivation to go further in a schooling ladder o The underlying mechanism, avoidance of social demotion, is the same over all social classes. It is not a matter of class cultures, but it produces class-specific levels of motivation according to the position of a class in a social structure · See graph, from Eriksson & Jonsson 1996. o social demotion is higher for higher classes o the higher social class, the higher level of education you need to avoid social demotion o perceived benefits in terms of status - they are driven by the social status of the parents · A similar argument was made by economist, Nobel graduate George Akerlof, framed in terms of economics of identity (Akerlof & Kranton 2002; 2010). o used a lot of evidence from sociology o put it in terms of cultural, not structural terms by focusing on identity o identity is the answer to the question: who am I? o school choice as confirmation of the familiar identity. § school choice as an investment in identity; you want your child to get at least the level you got to confirm your own identity o mechanism: In families with educated parents it will be taken for granted that the sons and daughters will also be educated, and the other way round when parents are not educated. · In modern societies, where visible status markers have been eliminated (think about clothing), school titles remain as a key marker of social status. o status marker: something that makes your status visible to the society § education is not visible but perceivable o in some social classes, it's still the clothing: military, clergy, nuns -> but in general disappeared with modernization · However, lower classes should show a motivation for improving their lot stronger than the upper ones: they have more to obtain. o This might counterbalance the stronger «defensive» motivation on the part of the upper classes. o However, strong evidence that the motivation to defend something that you have is stronger than the one to get what you do not have (and want) -> motivation to hold on to something you have is stronger than the motivation to hold onto something you don't posses § Key finding of contemporary behavioural economics, in particular of Prospect Theory, developed in 1979 by economic psychologists Kahneman and Tversky, who got the Nobel prize for it in 2002. · Prospect theory studies choices under uncertainty («prospect» means prevision). o investment in education comes under uncertainty [you don't know how much you'll make etc.] o uncertainty = limited info · In such conditions, individuals give more weight to possible losses than to possible wins, differently from what predicted by standard cost-benefit analysis. · As an example: would you prefer: o a) Getting 25 euros for sure. o b) Tossing a coin: gaining 150 euros or losing 100 euros · The expected value of the second option is the same as the first one: o (+150*0,5)+(-100*0,5)=25 o However, the majority of people prefers the first option, i.e. they are risk-averse and loss-averse · shows the perceived gains and losses · might be thought of as perceived gains or losses of status § Costs: · Costs are to be considered in relative terms, ie wrt to the total income. · Then the advantage of the upper classes might be reduced both by decreasing the cost of schooling (as school reforms did) and by increasing incomes (via higher wages and increasing welfare benefits). · Opportunity costs: foregone earnings. · In the late XIX century, prohibition of child labour, achieved by the labour movement, was key to school participation. · The better the employment prospects, the higher the opportunity costs of schooling. o when youth unemployment is high, when young don't have good employment perpsectives, post-compulsory schooling is lower, people stay in schools for longer · Then schools might become a parking lot theory (Barbagli 1982) or a warehouse theory of schooling (Walters 1984) o Young people get parked or stored for lack of good occupational opportunities. o people stored in warehouses waiting for the better times to come for their educational opportunities · Also at the origin of modern school systems, one reason to push young people to school was not to have them hanging around and making trouble. § Probability: · p term: probability that school choice will turn into actual school title achievement, avoiding dropout. o Dropout means benefits of the choice won't be attained, or only to a lower extent. · The estimation of p depends (negatively) on the selectivity of the school system and (positively) on the performance. · Educated parents are at advantage, since: o 1. on average their children's performance is better (primary effects); o 2. educated parents can make a more precise guess of the probabilities to complete a given school level, since they have a direct knowledge. § Less educated parents often overestimate the difficulty of school and underestimate the ability of their children. § Importance of reliable information for school choice: information is socially stratified (this is a good terrain for intervention). o 3. they are more inclined towards a long-run investment since they are more secure concerning their long-run perspectives. § Investment in schooling has to be renewed constantly, for each grade. § MMI (Maximum Maintained Inequality) · A general picture deriving from these mechanisms: Maximum Maintained Inequality (MMI) hypothesis (Raftery & Hout 1993 · Higher-class families want to maintain the educational advantage of their offspring, and have the means (material, motivational, informational) to hold on to it. · IEO at a given level only decreases when higher-class families have saturated it. · Then the same families are the first able to exploit new opportunities created at the higher levels. · IEO gets then "upgraded" to higher school levels. o "Red queen effect", typical of competitive environments. § In Through the Looking Glass, Alice, a young girl, gets schooled by the Red Queen in an important life lesson. § Alice finds herself running faster and faster but staying in the same place. Then the Red Queen says: 'Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!' · The expansion of school participation has boundaries: inopportunity to extend schooling after a given age. o you can't keep people in school for the entirety of their lives · This gives more weight to horizontal stratification, that is the internal differentiation of a given school level, by track (academic vs vocational in secondary school, faculties in university) or by institution (private vs public, prestigious vs humble). · When there is a reduction of class IEO in the probability of making a given educational transition, this might be counterbalanced by the rise of the horizontal dimension of school inequality, related to the choice of different tracks. § EMI · The offspring of the better-off choose the tracks, curricula and/or institutions which provide higher labour market returns. · This might depend on an advantage in economic resources (private institutions, study abroad), in information (uneducated parents often do not know about different returs to different university faculties), in motivation (avoidance of status demotion), in ability (primary effects). · Effectively maintained inequality thesis (EMI) (Lucas, 2001): socioeconomically advantaged actors secure for themselves and their children some degree of advantage wherever this is possible. o socioeconomically advantaged parents [with better info and more resources] look for better institutions guaranteeing better labor market opportunities · Which are the factors that favoured the decrease of IEO? o Lowering costs, both direct (tuition fees, transportation etc) and indirect (since the 70 in most European countries there has been high youth unemployment). o Destratification of secondary education reduced the importance of information concerning the school and increased the role of individual ability wrt family choice. o The later the bifurcation btw academic and vocational tracks, the stronger the role of ability in the choice. o Lower school selectivity, often related to destratification and increase of compulsory school age. o Decreasing role of ability in school processes, lowering primary effects and risk of dropout (increases the p term and diminishes its social stratification). o Increasing social guarantees to families with lower p (lower-class families): employment regulations favoring job security and welfare state policies providing unemployment benefits. o Decrease the risk related to long-term school investment (related to the possibility of not making the grade), increase the propensity to invest in schooling. · The trend of those two parameters over cohort is reported for Italy and Spain (Ballarino et al. 2009). · o analysis over cohorts of % of failures of people in secondary schools and of % of parents with secure employments o over time, selectivity of school system gets down while the % of parents with secure employment gets up

Gender stereotypes

o preconceived ideas regarding females and males. § They are strongly binary and gross wrt the actual MF continuum. · are a way of judging concerning genders and in general relies on the belief of the superiority of males · this is the prevalent gender stereotype in our societies, but there might be contrary gender stereotypes that express a negative evaluation of anything male and a positive evaluation of anything female § They might then limit the educational and professional experiences and life opportunities of individuals who are not on the poles of the continuum. § Very often they turn a difference into a preference/hierarchy and become normative. there is a pressure towards people to conform to the 2 poles of the MF continuum (if you are male you are right, if you female yo u are right, but if you feel somewhat of a mix you're wrong - you need to conform to the 2 strong poles)

Primary performance effects

o social origins affect individuals' school attainment via the social stratification of performance. § Those with a higher family background (FB) show on average a better school performance (as measured by standardized achievement tests and/or school grades) than those from a lower FB. § Primary effects operate via two main groups of mechanisms: · 1. Genetic traits. Nothing to do with genetic determinism, according to which all of life outcomes are pre-determined at birth. o Genes are just a potentiality, requiring an apt environment in order to be actualized. o For instance, consider obesity. It is genetic, but if in a population little food is available, people won't become obese... o According to recent estimates based on the direct observation of the individual gene pool of millions of persons (genoma), this might account for about 10% of the variability of educational outcomes. o However, we do not know anything about the actual bio-fisiological processes leading from the genes (which are known) from a better school performance (Freese 2018) o Genes always interact with the environment, so there is no pure genetic transmission of education- relevant skills o Herrnstein & Murray (The Bell Curve, 1994) proposed a vision of social stratification based on the inheritance of intelligence, but with a weak empirical base (eg Fischer et al 1996). o However, a part of the intergenerational transmission of education, and more generally on status, has a genetic component to it, as is the case for other traits (height, weight, hair colour...). -> "The apple does not fall far from the tree" o Research on this (social genomics) is quite recent and is one of the key frontiers for this field of research. · 2. Primary effects work through environmental conditions and the daily interactions between parents and children. o Parents transmit to children sociocultural resources that are key for the cognitive and non-cognitive development since the early years (this is what Bourdieu has called cultural capital). o More educated parents spend on average more time with their children (even controlling for occupation). o Typically research on social stratification is quantitative, but there are also some qualitative studies such as: § Lareau (2011), ethnographic study of parental behaviour in non-school times. · A sample of families of different social class and ethnicity. No ethnicity effect were found. · They were divided into upper and working class; and black and white people · They observed the behavior of parents w.r.t children after school · Their findings are that there is no race difference but a strong class difference · Lareau then defined two different types of behavior: 1) Higher class parents are defined by the term of concerted cultivation, meaning they put resources and attention into children's afternoon activities. o In this way high class children get used to handling adults that aren't family o Kids develop social skills for non-kin adults that they will encounter later in school and non-labor markets · 2) Working class parents act according to a pattern called accomplishment of natural growth which means these kids learn mostly from their peers and neighborhood They then develop less relations with non-kin adults

Definition: International migrant

o someone who changes his or her country of usual residence, irrespective of the reason for migration or legal status. § No official definition for it.

Measurement of gender attitudes:

o survey questions such as the ones used by Polavieja § ex: women should be prepared to cut down on paid work for sake of family -> how much do you agree? § a scale is defined between traditional vs. egalitarian · Individuals agreeing with the sentence are more traditional in their attitudes. · Individuals disagreeing with this sentence are more gender egalitarian in their attitudes. · ESS data coming from a paper by Arpino and Pessin · % men and women having an egalitarian attitude, according to the answer on the question · result: When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women o this is an expression of a traditional reality of gender relations, which sees in the 2 genders as belonging to different social spheres where the world of work is for men while the family is the sphere of women o there is huge variation on this à countries like Sweden, Denmark and Iceland strongly disagree with the statement, whereas countries like Romania, Poland, Lithuania etc have a relatively high percentage of people who agree o note: women a more prone to move towards gender egalitarianism because it provides them more advantages

Gender Analysis

o the diagnosis of differences between women and men (gender gap) regarding any property of individuals. § Activities, conditions, needs, access to and control over resources, and access to development benefits and decision-making. § the point is to collect sex-disaggregated data and collect gender-sensitive information (e.g. gender attitudes; % women in managerial positions; % women in high education; income share in the couple; etc. o Gender analysis is a key step in gender-sensitive planning for promoting gender equality. § before having any type of prescription, we should have a clear view of the phenomenon (establish the phenomenon is the first step for any type of research)

Sexual orientation

o the direction of one's sexual and romantic attraction, resulting form the complex interplay between biological and social factors (e.g. heterosexuality, homosexuality, asexuality). § Might not be aligned with biological sex, sexual behavior or actual sexual orientation -> this is where the topic of surgery comes in § ex: surgical change of sex has been prohibited for a long time, while nowadays sex surgery is permitted. · the current controversies arrive for adolescents who have their sex surgically changed (has been a surge of women wanting to change to men - and recently there has been a case of women who surgically change their sex, but later on when they become adults they regret this choice, and they sue the doctors who helped them through surgery and hormone therapy)

Culture - Values & Beliefs

§ Values: 'the standards people have about what is good and bad' (Macionis & Plummer 2007:134) · what is good is what we should act on; what is bad is what should be avoided § Values are broad principles that underlie beliefs. · beliefs are more specified · there are a few values and a huge set of beliefs § Beliefs: 'specific statements that people hold to be true' (Macionis & Plummer 2007:134). § Values are studied via great international integrated surveys: value surveys (EVS and WVS). · EVS: European Value Survey · WVS: World Value Survey - takes place each 5 years, collects standardized [=comparable] info on value of people from many countries

Secondary performance effects

o those school achievement differences between social classes that still persist controlling for school performance equal across groups. § Children from a higher FB stay longer in school and choose more rewarding tracks than their peers from a lower FB. § How does this work? Recall the way the ETM defines (post-compulsory) school achievement: a set of transitions. § At each bifurcaton point families and inviduals take the option with the largest subjectively perceived utility. U = (B-C)*p [utility is a difference between benefits and costs times the subjective probability] · B: expected benefit of the choice · C: expected direct and indirect costs required by the choice · p: subjective probability that the benefits associated to the choice will be obtained, ie that the title will be achieved. § The definition of B, C; and p is subjective. · depends on the position of individual and his family in the social structure, in particular on the family's actual and perceived position in social stratification (social status). § This derives from economic human capital theory (HCT). · HCT: school choice is a rational and optimizing individual choice, an investment to improve the subject's opportunities. · [education choices are investment choices, taking costs to reap benefits of schooling]

Gender categorization

o we assign characteristics to individual men and women that are determined only by their gender. § it is an instance of the more general patterns of social categorization · social categorization is an important cognitive device because it makes the working of our brain easier - when we get to know a new individual instead of taking a lot of time in getting to know a person, our brain takes a short cut by categorizing the individual according to his/her features § As any type of categorization, it is rooted in the functioning of our brain (see lecture on social stratification). § Thinking fast (Kahneman & Tversky) involves categorization. Gender differences are immediately manifest and easy to be seen, then are useful for fast thinking, despite the fact that if you want to talk about biology, the sexual dysmorphism (the bodily difference between males and females) is lower in the human species than it is in many other species

Gender equality

o women and men have the same chances and life opportunities. · They are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices.

Definition: Internal migrant

someone who changes his residence without changing country.

Annual Disposable Income, by education and age, Italy 2012-2014

· The relation between school and income over the life course, dividing between those between high school and university degree: o These groups are similar over the early years of the life course and then they diverge later on · Interestingly, the income curve of those who did not get more than a high school degree becomes substantially flatter at the age of 40 · While the income profile of those with a university degree keeps growing up to the retirement age -> economists rightly call schooling an investment (you bare costs at the early age but you will reap the rewards for this cost later in life by having better occupations and higher wages) -> this happens because you will be more skilled

Culture - Language

§ 'A system of symbols referring to verbal communication that allows members of a society to communicate with one another' (Macionis & Plummer 2007:131). § Written vs spoken language: written language allows better collective [=group] coordination and the creation of a common tradition. · given that a group is effective, symbols are defined/invented to make sense and share more explicitly this common belonging and include even more people · what comes first - coordination or symbols? depends on the specific context, course of action and group § However, spoken language allows more flexibility of behavior -> non-literate cultures are better in inventing their traditions and changing them at will · also verbal and non-verbal communication are almost always intertwined · Importance of non-verbal aspects, changing over cultures. § Sapir - Whorf Hypothesis (1949): 'people perceive the world through the cultural lens of language'. · =Linguistic determinism hypothesis: language shapes the way we think. Linguistic and cultural relativism. o everything is language because we perceive the world through language § in this way, culture is the same as language o it's a relativist idea because languages are different; people speaking different languages experience different realities · Currently the strong version of this hypothesis is discarded. o people talking different languages might hardly communicate o goes against massive evidence of intercultural communication: when constrained, people are able to learn completely different languages o sociologists have been studying linguistic traditions and studying all unobservable personality traits included in daily language to define what are key personality traits according to the language we speak -> tested with observational studies of behavior § observational studies and lexicographic research converged into a set of personality traits that are commonly used in social psychology · Weak version: language influences perception and behavior and the other way around ex: personality trait is different from behavior, internal characteristic of individual that is unobservable; § Collins (2004): thinking as internalized conversation. It is not thinking that comes first, but language. · we don't have to think what's inside and outside of individuals [in dualistic way] but we learn to think based on our conversations · our self-conversations are internal simulations of conversations we have outside: language, not thinking comes first · evidence: when you permanently change your social context and language you speak there, you change the way you think

Inequality of educational opportunities: Modernization Theory

§ (including human capital theory): IEO should diminish and finally disappear because of the way modern societies work. · Firms and public institutions are constrained to hire their personnel on the basis of productivity. o Competence principle: I choose people base don what they can do o Belonging principle: I choose people based on who they are (e.g., I can prefer those who share my ethnicity)-> based on belonging to some social group § I will not select the most productive ones · Market competition in the case of firms; political regulation deriving from competition both internal and international in the case of institutions. o Those who select on the basis of competence might get more productive people and will be able to sell the product for cheaper o In the public sector: there may be competition between polities which pushes the government to create regulations forcing public institutions to select people based on their competence · Increased merit selection hypothesis. · The school system has to be also meritocratic and inspired by universalistic values. · Competition among schools (in decentralized systems) or among political units (in centralized systems) makes this possible. · OE should disappear insofar ability/intelligence are independent from social origin. o but they are not (see below) · In a fully meritocratic society, the OE relation should not exist, as well as the OD association because everyone should have the same occupational opportunities-> social stratification regulated only by the ED Even though we will never arrive to this destination there is attend pushing the society towards it

Why Protestant countries were better in getting people schooled?

§ 1) Since Luther, Protestantism has supported the direct individual reading of the Bible, and thus its translation from Latin into current languages. · To the contrary, up to the 1960s, the Catholic mass was held in Latin, and was thus hardly understandable to most of the faithful. o Latin: language that only a few were able to understand · theological reasons: for Protestantism, individual faith matters more than adherence to the church. [key sacred point is individual's intimacy -> the closer you can get to God, it's in your heart, in your spirit, within you, while external ritual is less important] -> bad point from a perspective of an organization who wants to control individuals as intimacy is hard to control; also used to break the monopoly of the Church in interpreting the religious, sacred texts -> if everybody had access to the sacred texts, they could forge their meanings into texts · Religious market reasons: in this way, the newcomers could better compete with the established monopolist. o the idea of markets typical for rational choice theories has been applied to many social domains o religion as a religious market where providers = churches, selling faith and beliefs to clients who are individuals o Catholic Church like a monopolist of a religious market while the Protestant reform was a newcomer in the market o weakening of the importance/monopoly of the Church to make the position of incumbent monopolist weaker · The political reason: o In Protestant countries, national churches were created who cooperated with the state [= were already aligned with a state] in establishing the new compulsory elementary school. § European states massacred each other until the Peace of Westphalia when they agreed that the citizens of each country have to comply to the religion of their own state; who is a ruler decides the religion; the link between the state and the religion has been created § when the countries proceeded to develop national school systems, in Protestant countries churches had no problems in "comparing" their own schools to the state that were more or less the same o In Catholic countries the church was not loyal to the state and opposed public schools, in order to defend its own schools and itself from the competition. § there was still one and only universal catholic church in Catholic countries § there the Church had some kind of cultural monopoly so wasn't very happy with public schools, didn't want to transfer this monopoly to the state o Again, this situation might be analyzed in terms of religious markets, involving both cultural issues and political coalitions. o it's not enough for the state to make a law for something to happen, it's mostly a symbolic process; what usually happens might be different § Catholic states introduced compulsory education imitating the Protestant ones, but because of the resistance of the Church were not able to actually enroll the population in it (see table in slide 32).

The migration gap in occupation and income often depends on:

§ 1) discrimination (see slides on the DESO for the mechanisms) · includes direct effect of O on D · might arise out of statistical discrimination or because of a taste of discrimination [=actual discrimination] § 2) lack of resources · this is the key issue of disruption · migration involves a disruption, by which the individual gets disembedded from the social context. · the social context always provides resources and opportunities (social embeddedness of action).

o Social science research is particularly concerned with three main categories of people who are geographically mobile (GM):

§ 1. International migrants § 2. Internal migrants § 3. Refugees • might be internal or international migrants § Boundaries btw the three categories are mostly administrative

o In order to define GM, three key dimensions have to be taken into account in defnining GM:

§ 1. The distance of the movement. • how far do you go § 2. The duration of the stay. • are you coming back immediately or do you stay § 3. Whether it involves a permanent change of residence.

The existence of a DESO as explained by aspirations

§ : those from higher social standing have more to lose and in order to avoid social demotion are more career-oriented and more willing and able to take risky choices that, later on, pay off in terms of higher earnings. · Same mechanism (avoidance of status loss) also working in producing IEO. o aspirations depend on where the bar was set by your family of origin; if you come from a high family background, you want to avoid social demotion but you also have a stronger motivation to success in your career path -> often related to your family background and type of motivational drive you were given by your parents · Also this mechanism relates to others: on one side to differences in productivity (more effort, determined by a stronger drive to avoid social demotion) and on the other to favouritism (higher aspirations might elicit it: self-efficacy).

Gender Stereotypes

§ A result of this gender socialization is the emergence and endorsement of expectations related to gender, i.e., men are expected to behave like men and women to behave like women § Gender stereotypes: both positive and negative beliefs or overgeneralizations about the attributes associated to individuals based on their gender § Consequences of gender stereotypes: · Upsides: o Social categorization simplifies perception and cognition related to the social world · Downsides: o Prejudice o Discrimination o Stereotype threat o Reinforcement of inequalities § Gender stereotypes of STEM and humanities: · One of the stereotypical beliefs regarding gender supposes that o women are more talented than men in reading- and verbal-related tasks o men are more talented in science-related tasks · Research shows no cognitive biological differences between men and women related to math and reading skills · Despite the absence of biological differences in the brain, we do observe a gap in both areas · Causes of gender gap in STEM and humanities: o Several factors concur to this gender gap but the most influential is stereotypes' endorsement, which is transmitted and reinforced through socialization o Parents' perspective: § Sex-typed toys § Encouragement toward feminine or masculine educational and career choices o Teachers' perspective: § Gender bias in grades § Encouragement toward feminine or masculine career choices o Peers' perspective: § Implicit social influence Popularity and acceptance in the group

Returns to education over time: Absolute vs. relative returns to education.

§ Absolute returns refer to the proportion of persons with a given educational level who reach a specified class position (or income level). · you compare over time an average occupational prestige/income/class situation of university educated § Relative returns are based on the comparison between the proportion of persons with a given educational level who reach a specified class position and the equivalent proportion of those with a different educational level. § Again, absolute vs relative patterns of change among social groups. § So both of 2 theories might be correct at the same time: · IEC is a theory of absolute returns, since it compares over time the occupational outcomes of graduates (particularly of the higher levels of schooling). o over time, given the increase of the number of college graduates, their av income or occupational position gets worse · SBTC is a theory of relative returns, since it compares, over time, the occupational outcomes of those with a college education wrt those without. o although returns to college education decrease [according to IEC], the returns to upper secondary degree decrease even more because there has been stronger educational expansion at this level [according to SBTC] -> this is what we find for Italy [next slide] · Then, both theories might be true at the same time.

The pivotal role of gender

§ Almost all human functioning is gendered, e.g., physical appearance, temperament, interests, communication § Our gender becomes relevant even before we are born · Parents make expectations on their babies that are solely related to gender ex: gender reveal

Culture - Material artefacts

§ Are the objectified side to culture ® culture objectified into tangible creations § Involve books, buildings, physical objects, technologies that reflects a society's values, beliefs, norms and symbols. § Future generations can use these materials to understand contemporary societies, as archaeologists do with ancient ones. · material artefacts often survive through the cultures that produce them and might be used by later observers to ascertain the characteristics of a given culture ® this is the question of archeology and history · are the first immediate way in which we get in touch with different and older societies

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - HCT

§ Becker (1964): those who are more educated are more productive. § Employers reward them in order to avoid losing them to competitors. § The productivity & wage differential explains why people invest in education [=go to school], and why education is positively related to economic development at the macro level § Technological development makes the link btw education, productivity and occupational returns stronger over time

Q: Is the occupational allocation process more based on productivity, human capital or educational credentials?

§ Both HC and EC theories include elements of truth. § In Smith (1776) both can be found: · He recommends to increase schooling, in order to ensure economic development via the increase of productivity provided by division of labour and specialization, · He is also a critic of job closure strategies enacted by professional groups who are often based on school credentials (lawyers, medical doctors, notaries) § Some empirical phenomenas follow the former theory, some follow the latter (Bills 2003). § The average wage gap btw university degree holders and the low educated depends on an average higher productivity (HC). § Entry into civil service jobs in many countries is regulated in a credentialist way. § The legal [=labor market value] value of the school title is weakly related to productivity. · Might even be counter-productive, as less motivated people with higher titles is preferred to people with lower titles and higher motivation. [typically, at the intermediate level in civil services in Italy, selection processes give more way to school titles than motivation] · leads to... § ...Displacement: people with a higher school title get jobs with lower skill requirements because of credentialism. might be counter-productive because with high school title not motivate enough for low level jobs but nevertheless get the jobs because of the school credentials

Does school reduce inequality?

§ Counterfactual approach: "what if this thing does not happen?". § "What would happen to inequality in learning if school would not exist?" (Raudenbusch & Eschmann 2015). § Summer vacations as a natural experiment. § Comparing the differences in learning before and after the summer holidays of students from different social background, according to a diff-in-diff-in-diff counterfactual design (Holtmann & Bernardi 2019). · upper classes people are favorable in terms of learning · what happens to this difference if the school doesn't exist [during summer holiday]? § Evidence for US and Finland: · o 3 classses, 3 educational levels, 2 summer breaks o school reduces the inequality of learning but it grows again in summer § it depends on the primary effects - families act different wrt to their children in the summer § children of educated people go to museums etc throughout summer, children of not educated people work o For Finland: · · Different country patterns because of different school design. · In both countries inequality of learning grows more during the summer than during the school year. · Different parenting styles by parental class and different activities with children during the summer holidays (remember Lareau's findings). · «Education is a part of the solution» of inequality, «not of the problem» of inequality (Alexander 1997). · Modernization theory is more correct than social reproduction theory? o However, schools cannot fully equalize learning, since parental input cannot be eliminated, particularly during the early years of life, the more important for learning. · James Heckman curve: the returns to investment in human capital decrease with age (see graph). o it's called a stylized fact, a way to make sense of empirical findings; however, according to many, it's not fully correct o return to investment in skills on the y-axis o the younger the children are, the more effective investment is o when your investment comes below opportunity costs, there's better way to spend your money on

Agencies of gender socialization

§ Gender derives from many sources of socialization · Parents o The strongest socialization to gender occurs within the family setting o Parents pass on their beliefs about gender roles and stereotypes o They do this both o Overtly, e.g., by encouraging gender-accordant behaviors and discouraging deviant behaviors o Covertly, e.g., by providing only sex-related toys o Choose: § Clothes with gender-specific colors § Sex-typed activities § Gender-differentiated toys § Type and amount of interaction § Disciplinary sctrictness · School o Socialization to gender is reinforced when children go to school § Similar to parents, teachers have gender expectations, hold steretotypical beliefs based on gender and model gender roles § Especially in early childhood, students are frequently organized in group activities based on gender o A study (Meland & Kaltvedt, 2017) conducted in a Norvegian kindergarten on the different behavior of the staff toward boys and girls found that § boys received comments on size, strength, and motor skills, while girls were told that they were sweet and cute § girls to a greater degree than boys were encouraged to show care towards others § boys were given more attention than the girls o Not only teachers, but also how the space is organized in school can remind children the division between genders § Similar toys are put together on one corner of the room, which facilitate the creation of a «male» corner and a «female» corner · Peers o Interactions with peers is another important way through which children are socialized to gender o Similarly to what said before, socialization occurs both directly and indirectly § Directly, due to peers' comments, e.g., «You are using girly colors», «long hair is for girls» § Indirectly, through negative reactions in case of gender-inappropriate behaviors o Gendered-behavior is reinforced through peers due to § the tendency of people to interact with individuals who are similar to them (homophily) § the tendency of people to become similar to individuals with whom they interact (social influence) However, children play an active role in shaping their gender identity

Gender socialization

§ Gender socialization: the process of educating to and informing male and female children about the norms and behaviors associated with their biological sex § It occurs more intensely during childhood Children are assigned a gender based on their sex at birth

Inglehart (2000): Dimensions of world values

§ Inglehart: most known scholar of culture § Found 2 main dimensions of values: · Traditional vs Secular-rational (distinction defined by Weber) -> on the y-axis o Traditional societies rooted in past through religion or autocratic leaders. § have always been with us o Secular-rational: less religious, more individualistic. § those on which people may explicitly agree -> are related to individual rationality · Survival vs Self- expression [also called materialistic vs. post-materialistic but don't refer to it] (similar to Durkheim's theory of mechanic vs. organic solidarity) -> on the x-axis o Survival: low level of well-being; intolerance of outgroups; emphasis on materialistic gain; favourable attitudes to authoritarian governments o Self-expression: give more emphasis to individuals' free choice and their self-expression, values, beliefs o it's an empirical graph: position of each country determined by the average value of population sample on this and that dimension, derives from factor analysis from answers to questions on questionnaires o values usually derived from questions concerning beliefs o then factor analysis is performed to simplify data by finding common patterns among respondents concerning different variables o wealthy countries: people score highly; poor countries: people score low -> is to some extent a measure of modernity o a clear movement from less developed countries/places to more developed ones: movement from traditional to more secular-rational values o more secular-rational countries [left up corner] favor strong state interventionism; more traditional countries favor free markets, see culture as a value o catholic countries are in between survival and self-expression values

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - Job queues

§ Job Queue theory (Thurow 1973): job allocation process as a set of queues. · often used by sociologists § After school, individuals line up in queues leading to their favourite job position, and are sorted in each queue by their occupational titles. · more complicated version of previous theory § Different queues for different occupations (increasing importance of horizontal vs. vertical stratification of school titles). · based on the fact that labor markets are segmented because occupations differ and requirements for them differ · this statement is consistent with horizontal & vertical stratification of school titles: you may use tracking to sort people into different occupations § The specific mix of productivity vs credentials might be different over queues.

The existence of a DESO as explained by the direct inheritance of family business or wealth.

§ Particularly important for entrepreneurs, petty bourgeoisie, professionals. o you directly inherit the family's business - esp. important for self-dependent work · Market success often depends on the intergenerational transmission of the professional activity itself, which is actually a small business, and/or of a portfolio of clients. o in case of professionals, market success is favored by intergenerational transmission of professional activity itself; o ex: if you're a lawyer: you start working in your father's law firm and then you become a boss when your father retires having already developed a portfolio of clients · Research on Italy shows a strong pattern of intergenerational persistence in those occupations (eg Pellizzari 2013) o so if you're a son of lawyer/architect/doctor, you're more likely [=advantaged] to enter one of these professions even if we control for education o Italy has the highest OD net of E association - intergenerational transmission of occupation is very high because there's many small businesses -> family's particularly important for Italian economy

Factors related to the origin of modern school - Religion

§ Protestant countries introduced compulsory education earlier than the Catholic ones and were more effective in increasing enrollments, ensuring the compliance of the population (see the table in slide 32). · The origin of modern school systems. Introduction of compulsory school, prevailing religion and % enrolled in primary schools in 1870, by country. · o orthodox: Western Europe o shows the % of population enrolled in schools by 1870: it's not enough the state declares the schools existence but also needs to provide the means and the sanctions to effectively introduce people into schools o ex: China - many times since the middle ages, different emperors ruled for compulsory education but it never was effective; middle-aged China never went above 5% of population actually schooled o conclusion: protestant states more effective in getting people schooled than catholic states, e.g. Prussia, Denmark, Sweden; while catholic and orthodox countries were significantly late, e.g. Greece, Ireland, Italy § Similar evidence holds for the US states.

Why the more educated get better occupations and higher wages? Which mechanisms lie behind the ED association? - Signalling & Screening

§ Q: Identity btw education and productivity is questionable. Why? · Productivity is hardly observable during the selection process. Informational asymmetries appear. o employer doesn't know the actual level of productivity of an employee; if knows, it's a costly process using assessment centers but it's much better to just use the productivity o education as a proxy for productivity o plus, much of the things you need to know to do the job are learnt on the job: there's no immediate relation between education and productivity · Signaling theory (Spence 1973): job candidates use school titles to signal their productivity. o process starts from job candidates [people start looking for a job, provide a signal of their productivity] · Screening theory (Arrow 1973; Stiglitz 1975) firms use school title as a heuristic for productivity, and job seekers comply. o starts from employers, from a selection process Titles might signal productivity in many different forms: as technical skills, as cognitive skills, as non-cognitive skills.

Skill-biased technological change theory (SBTC)

§ SBTC (Acemoglu 2002): developed to explain widening college wage gap observed in the US since the 80s in the works of labourists. · Why does this gap appear? Technological change makes the market situation of low-skilled workers worst, as they can be substituted by machines, while it improves the market situation of high-skilled workers, who develop machines [engineers, IT people] and manage their implementation [global managers] to product and services. § Similar effects arise from globalization and offshoring. -Routine-biased technological change o is a variant of SBTC § What matters is not the level of skill per se, but its replaceability by technology or by distant labour. § Routine jobs are easily replaced. · a lot of administrative clerks perform routine jobs applying the same algorithms to the data they get § Some low-skilled activities [esp. in the field of personal care, assistance] are not routine ones despite being low level, and thus are not easily substituted (eg nurses), while some medium-skilled ones are routine activities (administrative clerks) and are thus replaceable. · e.g. it's hard to substitute a care giver with a robot or someone living far [offshoring] § This explains the pattern of labour market polarization found empirically (Wright & Dwyer 2003). · over last decades, we saw increasing quantity of good and bad jobs in advanced countries; those disappearing jobs are in the middle because are routine-based jobs easily substituted with offshoring § So, according to this theory, the returns to education should increase over time, at least concerning college education

Gender vs. Sex

§ Sex: · Biological aspects of an individual as determined by their anatomy · It is assigned at birth o the biological differences between men and women. (biological variable) § For example, statistical data are broken down by sex. § is always a binary variable: either your genitalia are male, or they are female (hermaphrodites do exist but are very rare). § is ascribed by birth and cannot be changed unless material intervention of the body is performed § Gender: · A social construction relating to behaviours and attributes based on labels of masculinity and femininity*; [=but now it's better to say male, female, or indeterminate] · Personal, internal perception of oneself · May not match the sex assigned at birth o the social differences between men and women. (cultural variable) § Gender differences are learned, via gender socialization. § They vary widely among societies and cultures, and change over time § Are related to the roles, opportunities and needs of women and men in all the spheres of a society. § is not binary: while the majority of people are either male or female (heterosexuals), a significant minority cannot be included in the dichotomy · Might say that sex is always binary while gender is something like a continuum going from one pole to the other (in the middle there is an area where feminine and masculine elements/characteristics might co-existing the same person) § gender differences are learned (via gender socialization)

Culture - Symbols

§ Symbols are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture. · symbols are both material artefacts and immaterial objects, ideas, etc. · it's symbol + its symbolic meaning § Material symbols are, as sacred objects, at the core of the rituals producing social bonding, according to the Durkheimian-Goffmanian traditions. § The meaning of the same symbols varies from society to society, within a single society, and over time. § Think about the symbolic meaning of fur coats, or of wedding rings. · fur coats have different meaning depending on the social context; in pre-modern societies, were a luxury item and a symbol of wealth and social prestige; where people value animal lives, the symbolic meaning changes - denotes lack of sensibility and attention to the importance of ecological issues · wedding rings: to people who are married, they symbolize trust, faith, stability of partnership; to people who are not in a marriage or are against marriage, they symbolize oppression

Gender roles

§ The identitifcation with one gender or the other has implications on behaviors, interests, attitudes, and physical appearance § Once identified with a gender, children learn how to behave in accordance to it, i.e., they learn their gender role Gender roles: roles (i.e., behaviors and attitudes) based on gender individuals are expected to fulfill and that are culturally considered appropriate

Economic theories of gender stratification (Blumberg 1984).

§ The relative power of M and F depends mostly on the economic power of women, that is their income and property. · the more powerful women are, they typically mange to choose their mate and how many children to have; when women are economically dependent their future (their sexuality and fertility) is chosen by men § What does female economic power depend on? · Female participation to the labour force: the more their work is needed, the more power they will have. · Parenthood system: how heritage is divided, and where the new couples go to live. o Patrilinear transmission of inheritance - what matters in the creation of the new family is the men (the inheritance coming from the previous generation goes to men, and the place where the new family lives is chosen by the man and is typically the place where the family of origin of the man lives, if you were to put both things together, it is easy to see that women find themselves without resources of their own in the social group, which is the social group of the husband à in the case of any sort of conflict, the male will get everything, and this creates the situation of systematic disadvantage of women) · Men's power in the state o But where does the male political power comes from (Collins 1992)? o mostly the male monopoly on military activities à we're going back to some sort of biological ground because men are stronger than females and are more apt for war o the more frequent wars are, the lower the power of women because 1) women do not take part in the military and in this type of societies (warring societies), 2) marriages are typically used as a means to create military alliances, 3) women might come to be seen as just prey to the winners o think about the authoritarian regimes of the previous century (fascism, Nazism, communism) à all these regimes were strongly oriented towards violence against other nations and races and classes , and all of these regimes were heavily dominated by males, particularly young males organized in a military like way (all these regimes held women in a case of subordination against males)

Returns to education in Italy

§ We are now estimating: D = a + b*Origin + c*Education + controls + d*O*cohort of birth + e*E*cohort of birth § And the graphs show the pattern over time of D for each cohort & school title. Absolute returns are shown as predicted probabilities for each educational title § Relative returns as difference in predicted probabilities from the reference category (lower secondary) § · a cohort analysis · a pattern: decreasing absolute returns to college education; the same thing in relative terms more or less · EGP I-II in the service class · returns to university education and upper secondary education are decreasing · but if you compare the difference between the two, the difference increases over time -> decreasing absolute returns to education and increasing returns to college education but they're clearly increasing w.r.t. lower secondary education = both theories hold true -> we have both inflation of educational credentials and skill-biased technological change · if we don't have a first job in the unskilled working class, we have substantial stability with some decrease (but not significant) for a college degree but a significant decrease for an upper secondary degree (look how the distance for more recent cohorts is wider than for earlier cohorts -> SBTC theory situation) o · the same patterns but even clearer than in the previous graph · decrease in absolute returns and in returns relative to the upper secondary education § Summary: · In Italy the expansion of education was faster than the occupational upgrading. · Absolute returns to education are decreasing, in particular for what tertiary and upper secondary education are concerned. · Exception: probability of avoiding the working class: education guarantees against social demotion. o still a college degree in relative terms w.r.t. secondary degree acts as a shelter against labor market demotion

Example: Gender bias in the classroom

§ an example of how stereotypical associations may drive gender bias § The study (De Gioannis et al., 2021) was conducted on ten high school classes in Milan, with a total amount of 195 students (56% female) § The aim of the study was to test the role of gender in making expectations on personal and others' abilities in a stereotypical context (i.e., reading and scientific skills), when information on performance is available. § We told students from mixed-gender high-school classes to imagine a competition between school classes on three different subjects (i.e., math, science and reading). § Each student was asked to form a team for the competition by nominating the best four candidates among a list of all their classmates (including themselves if they wanted). § We used two different analytical approaches to test two hypotheses § Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to test whether gender influence classmates' nominations § Fixed effects logistic regression model to test whether gender influence self-nominations § Control variables: · Performance in school (measured through the final grade obtained in the related subject) · Friendship relationships with classmates · Characteristics of the network, e.g., students' popularity · Self-concept, i.e., sense of belongingness · These findings suggest that o gender stereotypes are activated in class, in particular in competitive contexts o stereotypes affect primarily female students · This is relevant because gendered expectations of peers may have an impact on students' future academic and career intentions · Consequences: o The endorsement of stereotypes have negative consequences on attitudes and choices. o E.g., girls and women endorsing stereotypical beliefs on STEM exhibit § lower performance in scientific tasks § lower sense of belongingness to STEM § lower interest in STEM § lower intentions to study and work in STEM

The existence of a DESO as explained by family-related social networks

§ conveying occupationally relevant information and creating trustful relations which facilitate occupational attainment. · In Italy, social networks play a stronger labour market role than elsewhere, mostly because of the high proportion of small firms. · On average, jobs found via social networks are of lower quality and provide lower wages than jobs found via market or state. o this is a universal pattern, not only in Italy o evidence in favor of neoclassical idea that the more 2 sides of labor market might match freely, the better the matching will be, so the wages will be higher as a consequence

Is the impact of education on employment outcomes causal?

§ does education actually improve employment conditions or maybe just some have specific abilities that favor both educational and occupational success?] · Key theoretical and empirical issue. · Two ways to address it: o Multivariate models for robust association, typical of sociology. § good for controlling for different individual characteristics to wipe out all possible confounders [=the effects of all these possible qualities that might confound the effect of education]; e.g. you have a good wage not because you have a degree from Bocconi but because you're wise and that's also why you got a degree from Bocconi § if you can control for everything, you can uncover actual causal effect - for this, you need a rich data o Counterfactual, experimental approaches, typical of economics and increasingly of sociology: · counterfactual questions: e.g. individual x has given wage because is a uni graduate; if he stops studying before going to work, what would be his actual wage? [goes back to the past] · have effect not on individual but only on aggregate level - as we can have the same individual entering a labor market with and without a college degree § 1. Natural experiments (e.g. school reform) · used when something happens that all of a sudden increases the education of an individual · e.g. school reforms: comparing wages of people with longer educational timeline and shorter educational timeline [after and before a school reform] · it's an experiment because includes a random allocation, isn't related to individual characteristics but is related to an exogenous shock § 2. Instrumental variable estimation (e.g. distance from school or month of birth) · when you find in your data other characteristics that increase the level of schooling without being related to characteristics that may improve their occupational conditions [=instrumental variables developed by economists] · e.g. the month of birth: the sooner you're born in a year, the more educated you are because your mind is more developed · e.g. distance from school: if you live closer to the college, you're more likely to go to the college but it's not related to your occupational outcome though

The existence of a DESO as explained by differences in productivity behind OD associations,

§ due to non-cognitive skills (communication skills, sociability) and/or personality traits (eg. assertiveness) that are mostly formed in the family (unintentional transmission of skills, both genetic or environmental) and are not measured by education. · in the same way in which primary effects take place · According to some (eg Goldthorpe & Jackson 2008) the inflation of educational credentials increases the weight for occupational allocation of soft skills associated to family background (so OD|E becomes more important than OED). o school degree loses importance over the course of occupational allocation because a lot of people have advanced school titles, so they might give more importance to these skills in the process of occupational allocation -> these skills are mostly created in the family, not in school o in this way, OD path becomes more important than OED path o perhaps in the future, with education losing most of its market labor value, the role of family background might become more important in the process of occupational allocation

Human capital model

§ education as an investment. I bear costs in order to reap benefits. · The sociological version of the model is different, as it: o 1. includes non-monetary costs and benefits; o 2. gives much weight to uncertainty and risk; o 3. the key unit of analysis is the family; o 4. it relates costs, benefits and uncertainty making up the costs to the family's position in the social structure.

Inequality of educational opportunities: Reproduction theories

§ extend Marxist critique of capitalist societies to modern school systems; · are a part of Neo-Marxism (many schools within this ideology: French structuralism; Frankfurt School; Italian operaism; Analytical Marxism) because revived the Marx & Engels' theory · The proletarian revolution, predicted by Marx and Engels, did not come about not because the theory was wrong, but because of something not considered by M & E. o Capacity of the capital system to get the consensus of the occupation based on collaborative trade unions consumption and socialization in schools · Ideological consent to the system guaranteed by collaborative trade unions, consumption and - more importantly - culture transmitted in schools. · Student movement is the new labour movement. o Still important: think about debates on sexuality or gender · Reproduction theories see, as modernization theory, the structural analogies btw schools and modern society, but see it the other way round. · [the schooling in the capitalist America:] Bowles and Gintis (1976): correspondence principle: the school system reproduces in its working capitalist society, and most importantly the subordination of lower to higher classes and prepares individuals to accept it. [socialization to the existing power relations, not the transmission of knowledge is most important] o 1. The hierarchical structure of school reproduces social hierarchy (the more educated you are the better your position in social stratification) o 2. Compliance and obedience are rewarded in students more than actual knowledge (as shown by research relating personality traits of students and teachers' marks). o 3. Reward is external to activity, as it is in society. As workers do work because of the wage, not because they like it, similarly students do study because of the title, not because they like it. Alienation (see Marx 1844). o 4. Knowledge in schools is fragmented into disciplines, as society is fragmented into social classes and groups because of the social division of labour. o 5. Schools are heterogeneous so to prepare students to different social positions. § Lower grades and vocational tracks prepare workers, based on passive reception and compliance. § Academic high schools and colleges prepare managers, professionals and entrepreneurs, based on autonomy, creativity and personal re-elaboration of trasmitted notions. § Critique of tracking and of school selection. § More emphasis on socialization than on the transmission of knowledge.

Outcomes of GM

§ think sociologically about migration = avoiding stereotypes in our thinking · often we see migrants as those coming from high migratory pressured countries [=poor countries] o In most of the cases when measuring variables related to migrants [e.g. income], migrants are compared to the natives. § This depends on data availability: migrants are sampled in the country of destination. -> is a matter of convenience § but tbh, we shouldn't compare migrants and natives if we wanna see if the migration was a good idea -> we should consider those migrating with those staying in a country -> but ethno-surveys sampling the countries of origin are costly and rare [countries sending migrants is heavily sampled] · raises issue with causality: we on average observe that those who migrate are better off but this advantage doesn't have to be causally related to migration [e.g. personality characteristics instead] § Migration is then a different way to define O in the OED triangle. Often they are found to be at disadvantage.

The direct effect of social origin

§ we look at the direct effect of social origin: effect of O on D, net of E § this effect explains why among college educated still the family background makes a difference · those from low family backgrounds have higher occupational backgrounds even if the title is the same · probability to access the bourgeoisie with the first job: o the total difference between someone coming from a urban working class is that he/she has 40% points less to get a job in the bourgeoisie as his/her first job than someone from bourgeoisie per se o if we restrict analysis to college educated, this effect goes down to 6% points [=effect net of education for everybody] o = it's substantially lower by still exists -> there's still an element of social reproduction dependent on family of origin in the contemporary process of occupational allocation but this effect is substantially smaller than educational effect · =direct effect of social origin exists and appears to be an interaction model · In the following table we estimate: o model 1: D = a + b*O (total effect of social origin) § O is all included o model 2: D = a + b*o + c*E (DESO, net of education) § O and E included § O becomes a direct effect of education o model 3: D = a + b*o + c*E + d*E*O (interaction btw the DESO and education: is the DESO higher for the less educated, or for the more educated?) § here, an interaction between education, origin and destination is added § we estimate how the direct effect changes for people w different educational level § interaction between 3 variables, association between 2 variables o key finding: direct effect of social origin concerning occupation is smaller for more educated; labor market for more educated is more meritocratic -> it's good because the level of education of whole population is increasing so it's a driver of more meritocratic occupational allocation in general · From the same equation estimated for returns: o interaction model: D = a + b*Origin + c*Education + controls + d*O*cohort of birth + e*E*cohort of birth § we look at the pattern of the direct effect of social origin over time § origin and education interact by the cohort of birth § so we see how the relation btw origin and destination changes over cohorts of birth o We now graph the pattern over time of d*O*cohort (direct effect of social origin -DESO- over time) o § the effect the same over cohort of birth and over time, rather stable § not significant differences · o differences between classes in probability of accessing service class by the cohort of birth with the first job interacted with education o pattern: flat - nothing happening · o control of education everywhere - net effect of education o pattern: worsening of occupational conditions of farmers {agricultural bourgeoisie} -> being a farmer or a son/daughter of a farmer provided you with an advantage in the 20s w.r.t. service class but today this has become a factor of disadvantage because in the 20s still a lot of people were in farming, were a lot of farming families, while today just a few people are still farming o this produces a negative selection: best people from farming families went to urban occupations in previous decades but it doesn't concern a major part of the population o so direct effect of social origin is stable over time

Culture - Status groups

· (refers to the 3rd dimension of social stratification acc. to Weber) o In terms of social stratification, culture is what status groups have in common. It is the third dimension of social stratification, besides the economic and political dimensions. Social groups are defined by a common culture § they have a common relation with material resources on one side and political resources on the other o In pre-modern societies, status groups are also economic and political groups. § Ex: castes in India: most of the life of the individual takes place within the boundaries defined by the caste · People belonging to the same caste think to share a common ancestry · They live together etc, and the participation of people from different castes in religious rituals is stratified o In modern societies, the development of free markets, lay states with universal rule of law and mass education changes the relations btw dimensions of social stratification. § the dimensions of social stratification are not so tightly related as they are in the caste model, because free markets on one side and lay-states with universal rule of law cut through status groups and create a different and relatively new perception of humanity as a universal group § Status groups, in this context, diverge from both economic groups (occupational groups) and political groups o Culture becomes more a matter of individual choice, and status groups belonging, as individual identity, becomes more flexible and heterogeneous. § status group belonging becomes a matter of individual choice ® culture becomes an individual choice but only to some extent as individual choice is always a choice among alternatives that are socially structured (it is only to some extent that people are actually able to choose) o Status groups arise in school. § In school, the economic dimension of stratification is not directly relevant, and the political dimension refers to the formal organization of school activities. § This is because in school the economic dimension of stratification is not directly relevant ® it is relevant as much as going to school requires resources that are provided by the family, but once you're enrolled in school, the economic resources of your family don't matter directly at all because the logic according to which the teaching and learning process taking place in school are governed, are different form the economic logic § Similarly, the political dimension of stratification in schools is embodied in the formal rules of school ® what is politics in school? It is the fact that everybody sticks to their own role as defined by the institutional setting § We are in the presence of young adults who are somehow outside of the control of the family ® status groups are, in modern schools, typical of the transition from being subject to the family to being a full adult § Status groups (or students' sub-cultures) then might have a key role for adolescent and young adult students, who are in a transitional phase o Context: The "Adolescent Society" (Coleman 1961), based on status groups, is a product of the expansion of school participation and of the separation btw family and work (institutional differentiation. oExamples of ethnographies of school

Measurements of Occupational returns:

· Employment condition: probability of being employed after graduation; time from graduation to employment. · Quality of job/occupation [different measures]: o probability to get a job in the service class; o probability to avoid a job in the (unskilled) working class; o prestige-ISEI score of the first job; o probability to access a stable and full time (typical) job. · Income: o net or gross wage of the first job; o logged wage (it makes the distribution less skewed to the right but resources don't change much); § taking logarithm of a wage taken by economists § few people of high earnings o probability to access, with the first job, a given wage quantile. § dividing jobs according to wage quantiles and estimating the probability of getting a job dependent on the wage quantile § Focus on the first job, to avoid confusing the impact of education with the one of career. o the first job is the cleaner estimate of the returns to education because if we focus on the current job, the career effects occur: § over the individual's career, the occupational condition of individual changes depending on what happens to the individual's career § some will be in the labor market long, some for a short time, typically wages tend to grow over the career because of the increase in skills or because of the matter of seniority (rewards for being older) § that's why we separate the effect of education that might be seen in the first job from the effects of the career · When information on the first job is not available, controls for age and age squared (non-linear career effects). o career effects are typically non-linear, that's why age squared [=wages increase and then stop growing or even might decrease]

The dispersion of schooling

· Focus: school inequality & variance of schooling · At the macro level, the distribution of achieved schooling (an its inequality) has been studied with the same tools used for income inequality. · Gini index, to measure the dispersion of (pseudo-) years of school. · Kuznets curve, to analyze its pattern over time.

Occupation by education, 28-65 yo, Italy 2009

· If you don't have any school degree, there is no chance you might end up in the top social class and you will probably end up in a working class · Those that have a postgraduate degree have an 85% chance to end up in the top class, while they have little chance of becoming working men or farmers for example · This table is impressively regular · The only "irregularity" refers to the self-employed, and indeed for the self-employed education might be a less important indicator of social position because they are independent workers who are neither recruited nor selected by an organization and a school degree is a key screening device for organizations

Nature or nurture?

· Is it biological or a social construction? More about this in next lecture. o there are gender differences in behavior o both matters -> gender differences are socially constructed upon a biological basis o Social construction: different toys for boys and girls. o Different visual cues in the learning process for boys and girls. o In this, cross-cultural differences. § EG: Zammuner (1986). o How children and parents in Italy and the Netherlands definine toys for girls and boys. o In Italy children choose gender-differentiated toys with more often than in the Netherlands. § Our understanding on the formation of gender identity is still incomplete § There is an ongoing debate on the factors determining the development of gender identity § Nature vs nurture debate § Compared to the past, nurture is now considered more influential than nature in the formation of gender identity

Why is schooling very important?

· It takes a lot of time: children spend more time in school than they do watching television and playing with friends during the course of an average week. (see table) · Societies spend a lot of money for formal schooling · US: 7% of total GDP, OCSE between 5-8%; developing countries 2-3%. · A huge industry: in the US, about 4,4 million teachers. · In Italy today (data 2011), students from all school levels, including university, number about 10.600.000, in a population of almost 61 ml.: this means that 1 Italian on 6 has schooling as her main activity. · School and university personnel amounts to about 1.250.000 persons, including teachers, administration and staff. · About 5,5% of all working Italians: one Italian in 20, thus, works in school. Probably the biggest industry of the country. · School is a core component of the modern national state: o Because of its socializing function, it is key for the development of a disciplined citizenry. o What the EU calls «social cohesion» is to a good extent produced in school: = social peace, lack of social turmoil o Indeed, mass schooling was part of the birth of the national state: see below. · School education contributes not only to the economic value and wellbeing of individuals (micro level), but also to a country's overall prosperity (macro level): o More schooled people are healthier; o Read more books and newspapers, are more informed about current events; o Partecipate more in the political (vote) and civil (associations) life, are more tolerant; o Are less prone to crime. o All of this controlls for income and occupation. · These advantages transfer to the collective-> ex: if people are healthier the state will spend less money on hospitals and alike

Factors related to the origin of modern school - Post-compulsory education

· Q: Where does secondary & tertiary education come from? · Universities did already exist, since the Middle Ages. · were self-governing institutions (associations composed of teachers and/or students) · got licensed by the sovra-local powers, church and empire [=superterritorial powers], as monopolists of higher education. · "universitas" = "old"; higher schools = "studia" · when the studia got together and received the monopoly for teaching, the term became universitas studiorum = "all of the studia" · got a substantial degree of autonomy wrt the local powers (cities and local nobility). · they were incorporated in the new state-led school system during the 19th century. · Lost autonomy in France, Italy, Spain and became a part of the state [in the same way that normal schools were] · Kept autonomy fully in Anglo-Saxon countries. [to this day, British universities are not part of a state] · Germany and Scandinavia in between. · This cleavage is still to be seen in comparing Higher Education systems over the world. · Secondary (middle) school has a different and more complex origin and history. · It is indeed differentiated/tracked: students follow different paths. · On one side, it descends from gymnasia, preparatory schools for universities, created by the churches or by universities themselves from the late middle age on. · this is where colleges come from · Otoh, in some cases were created by the religious institutions to prepare the children of better-off classes · For some time, btw the 17th and 18th centuries, gymnasia were in competition with lower-tier universities, but in the following structuration of national systems they were subordinated to the universities. · medieval universities had 2 tiers; lower tier - Faculty of Arts [like an introductory school]; higher tier - important faculties, e.g. Law · The exception is France, where there is still an overlap btw upper lycée courses, preparing for the Grandes Ecoles, and lower university courses. · in France, at the end of lycee you can either go to the uni or take a prep for Grandes Ecoles [top institutions created by Napoleon] · On the other side, modern secondary school descends from medieval apprenticeship. · =learning-by-doing, originally internal to the family. · apprenticeship is an origin of all schools · In medieval European towns (but also elsewhere before, e.g. ancient Mediterranean towns) it was a feature of urban development and got extended to non-relatives: as markets and towns developed it was needed to recruit people from the outside of the families · It still involved co-residence and commensality, so that the apprentice did become a part of the household (the distinction btw household and firm was not as clear as it is today). · apprenticeship relation kept for a few centuries some traits of a family, e.g. when you were hired by a master, he'd provide you with a housing and food - these things that define a household; · so a term household wasn't that clear as it is today back then

Model 1: school expansion as a diffusion process

· Similarly to other diffusion processes (epidemics; innovations...) the diffusion is linked to contagion, via proximity to the affected. Then, the more people is infected, the more rapidly the epidemy expands. · The process then runs through three steps, depending on the proportion of the affected in the population. · The three stages: · 1. Early expansion: relatively slow, as few are affected (schooled) but rate increases, as people notice the benefits and imitate the beneficial behaviour. Bottom-up process. · 2. Expansion picks up: explosive growth; much more people affected · 3. Saturation point, when all the population at risk becomes infected («ceiling effect»). Then the rate of diffusion decreases and gets flat.

Literacy and numeracy, by education, Italy 2012 Distribution of education by skill quartiles

· The lower the title the lower the level of skills, almost identically for literacy and numeracy · And the higher the title, the higher the percentage of individuals found in the higher skill stratum

Crime appears to be declining in Europe (and in the US as well). Why?

· Tougher sanctions («three strikes you are out» or «war on crime» policies). o esp. in the Anglo-Saxon world, policing has been reinforced and sanctions against many small crimes dramatically increased o in the US: war on crime after 1970s started after big protests o in the UK: three strikes you are out since 1980s - even in case of small crimes, the 3rd time you're caught, you're in jail and the sanctions increase dramatically o keeping people in jail might make them even bigger criminals o proved that tougher sanctions decrease propensity towards crime · Economic development and increasing average incomes. o why is important? the recruitment of members of criminal gangs is related to the lack of other employment opportunities for young people · Better prevention (e.g. stealing cars or kidnapping have become much more difficult over time). · Changing demography: because of lower fertility, there are less young males around, and young males are by far the social group more prone to crime (and to violence in general). o They are also the more frequent victims of crime, because the criminal and the victim in the majority of cases share the same social context. § most crimes take place within neighborhoods, social groups because you spend most time with people similar to you; if you're a criminal, these people are more likely to end up as your victims o This is how crime relates to anomie [low level of social cohesion and norm sharing in the community] and contributes to it, giving effect to a visious cycle

Why do people participate in schooling system?

· We saw that at the macro level, the birth of modern school systems was a multifactor process [composed of political and cultural reasons] · Not at all the automatic outcome of economic development, as some naive and mechanical versions of human capital theory maintain. · it's not like a country reaches a specific level of wealth and then the system of schooling gets created · Mass schooling was the outcome of political and cultural factors. It often anticipated industrial development (e.g. Germany or Scandinavia). · However, some level of diffused wealth was required in order to enable the state to finance it. · There is indeed a positive correlation btw wealth and the diffusion of schooling · because to get people schooled is costly; direct costs of schooling - costs of buildings and lectures, books, laptops etc; indirect costs: when people go to school, they cant work and need to depend on somebody else · NO causal relation between schooling and development · even before modern states and developments, the % of schooled population went below 0 only in relatively wealthy contexts · The process did not always run smoothly. · The agricultural population was not so happy with losing a part of the workforce to schooling. · This where summer holidays come from, as a compromise btw school and agricultural work (see chart in the next slide: holidays are still longer in peripheral countries, who industrialized later). · summer vacation's creation was a compromise between the state who wanted people go to school and agricultural families who wanted to keep their children to work in the fields -> work in the fields was done during the summer vacay · An example of what political scientists call institutional drift: institutions live longer than the functional needs they were born from. · those countries where summer holidays are longer [red], are peripheral ones = countries where agriculture was still important when modern school system was created · schools foster equality: during summer, learning of kids coming from different social classes is more unequal than during the school year · Once schools exist, individuals are rewarded for their participation (we do not enter into the reasons why, for now). · this is a ED association: a positive correlation between E and D · In economic terms, when people are schooled their human capital is higher [=they are more productive]. At the macro level we then observe a positive correlation btw education and development. · The expansion of schooling at the micro level can be seen as a diffusion process (Meyer et al. 1992; Galor 2006) by imitation · imitation: Just like states imitate each other to create school systems seeing it's a source of power, individuals imitate each other to get schooled knowing it brings benefits The first one of models school expansion as a diffusion process • A different hypothesis gives more weight to the top-down effect of the state putting people into school by administrative fiat. • Expansion is rapid from its start, its pace constant and linear over time. • Its speed decreases when saturation point is reached and/or the state stops incentivating the expansion (see next graph). • Isn't a spontaneous diffusive process but induced by the state • linear growth and then the curve flattens down when the saturation point is being reached • which level is closer to reality? it's an empirical question

The expansion of school participation

· a key feature of modern school system is that participation is universal & participation expands [='school expansion'] · This is an universal pattern, with few exceptions in time and space. · The table shows the case for Italy. · % of population with no education title equaled 18.5% in 30-39s · but the tables for any other country would be very similar · the pattern of schooling expansion is universal · As in the table, achieved education might be measured in 2 ways: · 1. The highest title achieved · the distribution of people over school titles · 2. The (pseudo-) years of education [average years] · = time of years required to get each degree · not actual years spent on education! · why not years? because people who repeated one year of education would appear more educated than those who didn't · Italy with years of education distinguishing men & women - average numbers of pseudo-years of education · 1st graph: first moment of huge rapid increase and then it slows down · We have seen how and why modern schools were created by the states.