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Author: Everett, Diane D.
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Kerckhoff, Alan C.
Everett, Diane D.
Sponsored and Contest Education Pathways to Jobs in Great Britain and the United States
Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization 6 (1986): 133-163
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: JAI Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Britain, British; Cross-national Analysis; Education, Secondary; Educational Returns; Mobility; Mobility, Social; Occupational Attainment; Schooling; Vocational Education

Examined here are hypothesized differences in social mobility processes in the United States and Great Britain based on sponsored and contest norms in the regular school system and in the vocational education system. Performing multivariate analyses of data from the 1976 NLS for the United States and the 1972 Oxford Social Mobility Survey for Great Britain (n = 2,904 and 2,345, respectively) results show that the relative effects of social background and educational experiences for males aged 25-34 are the same in the two countries. However, the form of the education effects are different. In Great Britain, type of secondary school (academic versus nonacademic) and vocational education better predict level of occupation, while in the United States, the number of years of schooling is more important in predicting occupational placement. Sponsorship in regular education also appears to carry over into the vocational education system in Great Britain. While these results are consistent with Ralph H. Turner's differentiation of sponsored and contest mobility systems, neither society strictly conforms to the mobility patterns suggested by him. Rather, the social mobility processes more readily reflect James Rosenbaum's "tournament model," especially in Great Britain (Making Inequality: The Hidden Curriculum of High School Tracking, 1976). It appears that the difference between the two societies lies in the education system, not in a more general rigidity in the British stratification system.
Bibliography Citation
Kerckhoff, Alan C. and Diane D. Everett. "Sponsored and Contest Education Pathways to Jobs in Great Britain and the United States." Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization 6 (1986): 133-163.