Sociological Elements of Education
•Incorporating new members into society \n •Sorting people into various occupations \n •Increasing economic development
Current rate of High School graduation
High 80%
Reasons For Socialization at School
Socialize young people into the habits, attitudes, and practices of contributing members of a community, religion or nation
Habits taught in school
how to line up
be quiet on demand
be neat
fit in with the social system
follow rules
respect authority
obey
compete
achieve success
Hidden curriculum
the unstated standards of behavior or \n teachers’ expectations
Moral Education
Ethics and cultural values taught in schools. Explicit in religious schools, indirectly at public schools.
Citizenship Building
Teaching about the country’s founding fathers, and participating in ceremonies like the Pledge of Allegiance
Human capital
The stock of knowledge, skill and habits which they can use to do productive labor later in life
Credentialism
The requirement of certain specific degrees or certificates before you can be considered for a particular job
Soft skills
Skills that enhance job prospects such as knowing how to dress, act and present oneself at work, and being able to work well with other people. Soft skills gained through interactions with adults at school.
College Disparity
\n More students attend college than before, but research shows that college students in the U.S. do not study as hard as they used to, and they don’t learn as much as educators claim and employers demand. College students are not making the expected gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, or the ability to communicate in writing
Education leads to…
increase the level of productivity; it increases efficiency and allows production of more complicated products
Importance of Human Capital
Greater human capital in a society may also make it more attractive for foreign capital investment. The returns to investment in education are lower for higher levels of schooling and when a country becomes less underdeveloped
The U.S. no longer leads the world in the amount of education received or in educational achievement
True
Education seen as an BLANK force in society
equalizing
The Morrill Act in 1862
Established the land-grant college system, providing each state resources to build a state university
The G.I. Bill in 1944
Paid for veterans’ college including a living allowance; 7.8 million former soldiers used it
People with more education are more likely to work full time in higher-status jobs and less likely to be unemployed than people with less education
True
Human capital theory
Argues that education provides knowledge and skills that employers reward because it makes workers more productive; soft skills may also play a role
Allocation theory
Sees education as channeling people into positions and institutions that offer different opportunities; the role of the school system is to sort people out so that employers can assess who is likely to be successful
Health Effects of Education
Less likely to smoke, tend to live longer
Life expextance difference between educated
5 years for women, 3 for men
Why is education associated with better health and longer life?
Working conditions
Having insurance
Better access to health information
Better interaction with doctors
Educational homogamy
Individuals are more likely to marry others \n with similar education levels
Women marriage habits
Wait longer in order to pursue education
Marry older to not get divorced
Educated outlook on marraige
Educated people give marriage less importance and marry older because it is not a primary goal.
Inequality in Education
\n Children of different social classes are likely to attend different schools, receive different kind of instruction, study different curricula, and leave school at different rates and times
Current Educational Paradox
The historical belief in equal opportunity coupled with the reality of high and growing inequality. Students from higher-social-class backgrounds tend to get better grades and to stay in school longer
Effects of Social Class on Education
Where we go to school
Neighborhood, which relates to the funding of schools
Less funded education and less prepared teachers and curriculum
Affording College
Reasons children from higher SES preform better
Affluent parents more present in developing child’s educational interests
Stress the importance of problem solving and negotiation
Exposed to wider vocabulary
Likely to go to private school with more advanced tracks
US Rankings
17 in reading, 23 in science, 32 in math
Educational Outcomes by Race
African American, Latino and Native American students tend to fare worse in educational outcomes than white or Asian American students
When factors such as parents’ socioeconomic status, access to resources, and others are taken into account, the racial gap diminishes or disappears
True
Segregation in Schools
More than 40 percent of blacks and \n Latinos in 2010 were attending hyper-segregated schools where minority students comprised more than 90 percent of the student body. And more than half of these hyper-segregated schools have poverty rates above 90 percent.
Gender Differences in Education
Women less likely to receive education in countries with large agricultural and/of Muslim populations
US Gender Differences in Education
Boys have better math scores and girls have better reading
Girls get better grades overall
Equally likely to take AP classes
Girls more likely to graduated high school and attend college
Girls more likely to earn MA or PHDs
Girls more likely to spend time on homework and not get in trouble
Men more likely to study stem and women study social science/humanities
The Population Bomb
1968 book where Paul Ehrlich argued that the population was growing too fast.
Thomas Malthus
18th century scientist who argued that population growth would lead to misery
Current day population growth
Experts are now not only concerned with rapid population growth in some countries, but also not enough population growth in others
Demographers
Social scientists who study populations and population trends, and help us understand challenges such as the aging population.
Census
a count of everyone (or everything) residing in a particular location
\n Why is it useful to know about the population in a given geographic area?
Estimate future social trends helpful for planning (e.g., how many schools, etc.)
Determining political boundaries (e.g, each district in House of Representatives has approximately 600,000 people)
Trends can have a huge effect on national and regional economies (e.g., labor demand, consumption, healthcare costs)
pop. change =
births – deaths + immigration - emigration
Fertility
The birthrate is typically measured by the number of live births per woman of childbearing years
Mortality
the death rate
Migration
the movement into and out of a region or country
Population-based trends social demographers \n study
Racial and ethnic composition
Marriage and the family
Employment issues
Life expectancy
First Demographic Transition
The transition in a country or region from a period of high fertility and high mortality to a period of low fertility and low mortality
Process of First Demographic Transition
Mortality and Fertility are high, fertility slightly higher leading to slow population growth
Mortality declines first leading to an increase in the population
Then fertility declines (does not reverse)
Post-transition both are now low and will lead to slow population growth once again.
Total fertility rate
The number of children an average woman has in her lifetime. Ideal = 2.1
US Total Fertility Rate
Peak: 3.7
Current: 1.64
Replacement Fertility
The number of children per woman necessary to replace the population; about 2.1
Age pyramids
Plot that show the size of the population in each age group for men and women; lower age groups are at the bottom
Why do the U.S. and Japan continue to have some population growth given that fertility rates are at or below replacement?
Immigration and population momentum
Immigration
Adds people to the total population size
Population momentum
Occurs because the cohort of women of childbearing age may still be large or growing even though the fertility rate declined.
Calculating Fertility Rate
women*children per woman=children born
Declines in infant mortality
Causes fertility decline because couples need to \n have fewer children if more of them survive
Economic development
Causes the fertility decline because the education of women deemphasizes child-bearing and leads parents to have higher aspirations for children.
Birth control
Growing acceptance that people can (and should) exercise control over their fertility; also technological advances in birth control leads to fewer unintended children
Childrearing
Fertility declines may be due to the costs and benefits of \n having and raising children.
Agrarian Children
Children are a net benefit to parents because they help generate income and they are also a safety net for \n parents in old age
Industrialized Children
There are fewer benefits for having children and potentially more costs
Norms and values
Fertility decline may be a consequence of new norms and values, particularly associated with the second demographic transition.
Second demographic transition
Increases in divorce, premarital sexual activity, increased cohabitation, and out-of-wedlock childbearing
Epidemiology
The study of health-related events in populations, their \n characteristics, their causes, and their consequences
Epidemiological Transition
The transition of a population from health conditions primarily involving infectious disease to health conditions primarily involving chronic disease
How to decrease infectious disease
Results from cleaning and protecting water supplies, immunization campaigns, better healthcare and nutrition for infants, children and mothers
Living with chronic diseases leads to…
demands on the healthcare system
Baby Boom
The period following World War II from 1946 to 1964, during which the U.S. experienced a temporary spike in fertility
Cohort
Persons born during the same time period
Problems with a large aging population
The number of younger working people for each person 65 and older is shrinking so there are fewer people who will share the cost of healthcare for the elderly
Fewer individuals will be contributing to Social \n Security and Medicare, yet there are more people using the benefits of these programs
Self-employment
In a market dominated by large companies, self-employment may be expected to decline
Traditional forms of self-employment
small shopkeepers, restaurants, etc.
New forms of self-employment
professional freelancers (consultants, artists, designers, writers), and informal self-employment (in-home childcare, day labor)
Reason for increase in self-employment
Restructuring of the U.S. economy: companies are outsourcing work to self-employed people
“Age of the market”
Markets are the foundation of economic life today. Markets are increasingly penetrating areas of social life that were once considered outside the market domain
Market
Markets are places where buyers and sellers exchange goods and services
Social networks
Composed of ties between people: family/kinship ties, friends, colleagues, classmates, etc.
Sociologist vs. Economic Views on markets
Economists view markets as ruthlessly impersonal. Sociologists argue that connectivity between people is an important part of how market exchange happens
Role of social ties in Markets
Markets need social ties to establish the trust necessary to carry out economic exchanges.
Social networks are needed to spread information related to markets
Karl Polanyi
Argued that economic action is embedded in social interactions
Mark Granovetter
Argued that a person’s chances of getting a job are influenced by who they know; interestingly someone’s first-degree connections are less important than second- \n degree connections (friends of friends) for securing a job
Classical Economics
The buyer and the seller are should not \n matter; buyers simply look for the best quality product at the lowest price
Gary Becker
Argued that because markets treat everyone the same, common types of discrimination (e.g., racial and gender) will eventually disappear. Debunked by sociologists
Power Influences in Markets
Larger firms can often get better deals on the same product
Auditing firms can be manipulated by large firms in order to get favorable reports
High frequency traders in financial markets have advantages because of the technology and resources they possess
Government Involvement in Markets
Governments set many of the rules for markets, and they are essential for their proper functioning. Most os these rules are not formal because markets are not formal (dating market) but are meant to prevent monopolies.
Organization
A group engaged in a specific activity that has an \n identifiable purpose or goal and that has an enduring form of association that is independent of the people involved in it at any one moment
Why do organizations persist?
People involved have an interest in the organization’s survival
An organization’s brand has value and can be used for other purposes
Organizations develop bureaucracies, where rules are written down and defined roles are clear
Bureaucratization
Creation of rules and order that provides strength and stability to an organization but can also create foundational problems if done wrong.
Weber on Bureaucracies
Analyzed the formal aspects of bureaucracies but not the informal ways in which they work and theorized that the move to a bureaucratic form was necessary response of an organization to the complexities of modern markets and government. Did not look at the faults of individuals in a bureaucracy.
Negatives of Bureaucracies
They create stifling routines and boring jobs and make it more difficult for organizations to be creative and innovative, and to adapt to changes in markets
How are organizations specialized?
Organizations must have features that are suitable for their environment if they are to stay alive and prosper
Organizations that survive and thrive over time have created an internal culture that is a good match to their environment, one that makes it possible to change as the external environment evolves
Niche
Distinct segment of the market or social process for their services or products.
Organizations over time
A well-established sociological finding is that over time successful organizations in the same field will tend to look a lot like each other
Organizational isomorphism
refers to the process whereby organizations in the same field tend to become increasingly similar to each other over time
Coercive isomorphism
Organizations are pressured to comply with certain legal requirements
Normative isomorphism
Organizations respond to pressures exerted over its legitimacy
Mimetic isomorphism
Facing uncertainties, organizations look at what other organizations are doing and copy them
Labor process
How jobs are organized and controlled by managers from above