Comprehensive Exam
Sociology of Education
Spring 2015
Day 1: General
Please answer one question from each set of two choices below.
Set 1A (choose one)
1. Even though the actual period of accruing educational credentials is typically (although not universally) confined to the early life course, the implications of this educational process filter out through life. Pick three critical points along this lifelong educational trajectory and explain how what happens at these points helps to shape the overall trajectory. Does conceptualizing educational attainment as a lifelong trajectory made up of multiple critical points offer insight into the ways in which racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and/or gender inequalities in education work, and can it inform interventions aiming to reduce these inequalities.
2. A school is but one context within a broad ecological of social and institutional settings in which a young person lives her or his daily life. How does being situated within this ecology support and undermine the ways in which schools are able to promote the academic success of students? In what ways does being situated within this ecology mean that schools have influences on students beyond their academic progress? What does thinking about schools ecologically tell us about the potential effectiveness of school reforms?
Set 1B (choose one)
1. Stratification and inequality in education is not just a story of advantage or disadvantage in specific moments or stages of the life-course, but of the accumulation of resources, knowledge, and experiences across the life-course. Consider our K-16 educational system and, in particular, the different stages in the system (e.g., elementary, middle school, high school, college) as well as transitions into, out of and between them. Identify and discuss some of the key theoretical perspectives that can help us understand educational inequality through a lens of cumulative advantage/ disadvantage. In what ways can selection and school context exacerbate, or possibly disrupt, cumulative advantage/ disadvantage at different stages of students’ educational careers? How can discussions of cumulative advantage/ disadvantage aid our understanding of gender-, race-, and/or class-based educational inequality?
2. Much of the research in sociology of education centers on issues of stratification and inequality, especially with regard to race and class. While each form of stratification has received substantial attention in its own right, there has also been an ongoing debate about the relative importance of racebased vs. class-based stratification and inequality. Identify and discuss some of the major contributions of literature towards understanding race-based and class-based inequality in educational outcomes.
Next, discuss the various ways that sociology of education scholars have addressed the intersection of race and class (e.g., class, net race; race, net class; race vs. class; race X class) in their research?
Set 1C (choose one)
1. Much of the contemporary research on stratification and education focuses on opportunities to learn labor force skills, for example like how schools improve students’ performance on test scores, course grades, or degree attainment. Although the development of these skills for labor force participation is an important function of education, theorists have argued that schools also have other functions within
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a developed society and democracy. How would you describe and organize the theories about the function of schools in society, both in terms of their contribution to social institutions (e.g., labor force, civic) and maintenance and disruption of power relationships? As you characterize the different theoretical approaches about the functions of schools, please augment your discussion with representative empirical work. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach for drawing conclusions about policy?
2. Some people argue that social capital produces success in school and others argue that cultural capital produces school success. First, compare and contrast these two arguments, making sure that you take into account the theoretical foundation for each argument. Second, for each approach discuss whether (and why) the theoretical application to the U.S. case should be considered as distinct from an analysis of schooling and education in Europe. Finally, what are the implications of each approach for school reform and policy designed to improve opportunities to learn for low SES students in the U.S.?
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