CONSEQUENCES OF
EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION
WOUT ULTEE
RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN THE NETHERLANDS
EQUALSOC – SOCCULT
BERLIN APRIL 11, 2008
A SHIFT IN SOCIOLOGY’S QUESTIONS
FROM MACRO QUESTIONS ON THE
EXTENT TO WHICH
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
MAKE FOR
SMALLER INCOME DIFFERENCES
MORE SOCIAL MOBILITY
AND LESS CULTURAL DISTINCTION
AND FROM MICRO QUESTIONS
ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH
INDIVIDUAL EDUCATION
MAKES FOR
MORE PARTICIPATION IN HIGH
CULTURE AND
MORE SPORT ACTIVITY
TO THE MACRO – MICRO PARADOX
HOW IT IS POSSIBLE THAT DESPITE
THE INDIVIDUAL RELATION
BETWEEN EDUCATION AND
CULTURE AND SPORT
AND DESPITE EDUCATIONAL
EXPANSION
IN MOST INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
BOOK READING STAGNATES AND
OVERWEIGHT RISES ?
SOCIOLOGY’S
PIVOTAL QUESTION
IN THE 1960S AND 1970S
LENSKI
CUTRIGHT
WILENSKY
HEWITT
WHEREAS EACH MAJOR ADVANCE IN TECHNOLOGY
MADE FOR LARGER INCOME DIFFERENCES
THE SHIFT FROM AGRICULTURE TO INDUSTRY AND
THE ENSUING ECONOMIC GROWTH
MADE FOR SMALLER INCOME DIFFERENCES
WAS THIS THE CASE BECAUSE POLITICAL IDEAS
BECOME MORE ACTIVIST AND EGALITARIAN ?
SOCIOLOGY’S
PIVOTAL QUESTION
IN THE 1980S AND 1990S
HEATH
GOLDTHORPE
ERIKSON
DOES SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
IN HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED
SOCIETIES
MAKE FOR MORE
RELATIVE CLASS MOBILITY
AND FOR LESS RELATIVE
EDUCATIONAL INHERITANCE ?
THE FOLLOW-UP QUESTION IS
WHETHER CLASS VOTING IS DECLINING
IF IT IS,
THEN THERE WILL BE NO TREND
TOWARDS
SMALLER INCOME DIFFERENCES ,
MORE CLASS MOBILITY AND
LESS EDUCATIONAL INHERITANCE
ALL THESE QUESTIONS ARE ABOUT JOBS
AND THE INCOME PEOPLE DRAW FROM THEIR JOBS
BUT WHAT DO PEOPLE FROM A CERTAIN CLASS DO
WITH THEIR HIGHER INCOME IN HIGHLY
INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES
WHERE PEOPLE WORK FOR
EIGHT HOURS A DAY
FIVE DAYS A WEEK
WITH A MONTH OF HOLIDAYS A YEAR ?
AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND
BOURDIEU’S 1970S QUESTION
GAINS IN PERTINENCE :
DO HIGH CULTURE AND SPORT
MAKE TO THE SAME EXTENT
FOR DISTINCTION
IN SOCIETIES WITH STRONG
EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION ?
DOES
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
MAKE ACCESS
TO HIGH CULTURE
MORE EQUAL ?
ULTEE, BATENBURG & GANZEBOOM 1993
WITH FIGURES FOR THE 1980S
ODDS RATIO’S FOR THE RELATION BETWEEN
EDUCATION AND VISITING THE THEATER
HUNGARY
6.5
AUSTRALIA
4.6
POLAND
6.9
CANADA
2.4
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
6.0
UNITED STATES
5.0
DENMARK
4.8
BELGIUM
5.5
FINLAND
5.8
FRANCE
6.3
NORWAY
4.0
NETHERLANDS
2.9
SWEDEN
3.8
UNITED KINGDOM
3.4
WEST – GERMANY
5.3
THESE ODDS RATIO’S DO NOT
PROVIDE A CLEAR CONFIRMATION
BUT THEN , THE ODDS RATIO’S ARE
NOT STRICTLY COMPARABLE SINCE
THET STEM FROM QUITE
DIFFERENT SURVEYS
AND PERHAPS SOCIAL
DEMOCRACY WAS MORE
INTERESTED IN MAKING SPORT
POSSIBLE FOR THE MASSES
THAN THE OPENING UP THE
THEATRE OR OTHER FORMS OF
HIGH CULTURE
THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS THAT THE DATA
PERTAINED TO WHOLE POPULATIONS
WHEREAS POPULATIONS SHOULD HAVE
BEEN BROKEN DOWN INTO COHORTS
SINCE COHORTS PICK UP FOR THE REST OF
THEIR LIVES THE CONSEQUENCES OF A
COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC LEVEL AND
POLITICAL SITUATION
AT THE AGE OF LEGALLY BECOMING ADULT
( INGLEHART’S SILENT REVOLUTION )
STRICTLY COMPARABLE DATA FOR
VARIOUS HIGH CULTURE ACTIVITIES
AND FOR SPORT
ARE AVALIABLE FOR THE 2000S
FOR ALL EUROPEAN UNION
COUNTRIES
THANKS TO RECENT
EUROBAROMETER SURVEYS
THESE DATA SHOULD BE ANALYZED WITHIN
EQUALSOC AND SOCCULT
THIS SHOULD BE DONE BY BRINGING IN
COUNTRY MEASURES FOR COHORT --TIED
BOUND GOVERNMENTAL SPENDING ON
HIGH CULTURE AND ON SPORT
WHETHER THIS IS SPENDING BY THE
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
OR BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
HOWEVER
THE QUESTION OF THE EFFECT OF
COHORT – TIED GOVERNMENTAL
SPENDING
ON SELECTIVE PARTICIPATION IN HIGH
CULTURE AND
ON SELECTIVE SPORT ACTIVITY
STILL LOOKS LIKE A MACRO QUESTION
WHAT IS THE WEIGHT OF
A PERSON’S OWN EDUCATION
THE EDUCATION OF THIS PERSON’S
PARENTS
AND THE EDUCATION OF THIS
PERSON’S SPOUSE
IN DETERMINING THIS PERSON’S
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES ?
TO ANSWER THIS MICRO QUESTION
ULTEE & N.D. DE GRAAF 1991 APPLIED
SOBEL’S DIAGONAL REFERENCE MODELS TO DATA
FOR THE NETHERLANDS IN 1974 AND 1983 FOR
ATTENDING CONCERTS , VISITING MUSEUMS AND
INSPECTING MONUMENTS
WITH DATA AVAILABLE FOR THE 1990S AND 2000S
THEY FOUND THAT IF THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL
EDUCATION IS 1,
THAT OF A PERSON’S SPOUSE IS 2
AND THAT OF A PERSON’S OWN EDUCATION 3
DOES THE 1 : 2 : 3 RULE APPLY TO
OTHER COUNTRIES AND COHORTS
WITHIN COUNTRIES?
IF THIS QUESTION IS RAISED ,
A MICRO QUESTION EXPANDS INTO
A MACRO QUESTION
WHETHER THE DATA FOR THIS
EXPANSION ARE AVALIABLE IS A
POINT OF DISCUSSION FOR
EQUALSOC - SOCCULT
THERE ARE INTERESTING
MICRO – MACRO PARADOXES
AND THEY SHOULD BE DEALT
WITH
WITHIN EQUALSOC AND
SOCCULT
HOW TO CONNECT MACRO QUESTIONS WITH
MICRO QUESTIONS ?
THE COULANGEON MICRO – MACRO PARADOX
FROM 2007
IT IS KNOWN THAT AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
MORE EDUCATION MAKES FOR MORE READING
IT ALSO IS KNOWN THAT EDUCATION EXPANDED
BUT THE PREDICTION
THAT READING IS INCREASING
DOES NOT HOLD !
COULANGEON ARGUES THAT THIS
MICRO – MACRO PARADOX CANNOT BE
DISMISSED BY POINTING TOWARDS
THE ILL EFFECTS OF TELEVISION
INDEED
THE MICRO – MACRO PARADOX MAY
BE EXPANDED:
WHEREAS MORE EDUCATION MAKES
FOR MORE SPORT
EDUCATION HAS EXPANDED WHILE
OVERWEIGHT IS RISING
THE COULANGEON - SOLUTION OF THE PARADOX
PRECISELY BECAUSE EDUCATION EXPANDED ,
READING DID NOT INCREASE
PEOPLE’S READING AS ADULTS IS NOT ONLY
DETERMINED BY THEIR EDUCATION
IT IS ALSO DETERMINED BY PARENTAL EDUCATION
AS WELL AS BY CLIMATE IN THEIR CLASSES AT
UPPER SECUNDARY SCHOOL
AND CLASSES AT UPPER SECUNDARY SCHOOL
HAVE BECOME LESS ‘ ELITIST ’ IN COMPOSITION
MIGHT THE COULANGEON EXPLANATION BE TESTED WITH
THE EUROBARAMETER DATA ?
THE EUROBAROMETERS DO NOT
INFORM ON THE PARENTS OF
RESPONDENTS
NOR ON THE COMPOSITION OF
THE UPPER - SECUNDARY
SCHOOLS IN A COUNTRY
HOWEVER
THE EUROBAROMETERS CONTAIN
INDIVIDUAL AGE AS A VARIABLE
AND IT IS POSSIBLE TO RECODE
THE AGE VARIABLE INTO
APPROXIMATE MEASURES FOR THE
UPPER – SECUNDARY SCHOOL
COMPOSITION OF PERSONS FROM
VARIOUS BIRTH COHORTS
BY WAY OF OTHER DATA SOURCES
LIKE LABOUR FORCE SURVEYS
ARE THERE DATA SETS FOR
EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERS
MAKING POSSIBLE A MORE
DIRECT TEST
OF COULANGEON’S
EXPLANATION OF THE MICRO MACRO PARADOX ?
ARE THERE DATA SETS FOR
EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERS
MAKING POSSIBLE AN
AN ESTIMATION OF SOBEL’S
THREE-WAY DIAGONAL
REFERENCE MODELS
FOR VARIOUS DECADES?
THIS PRESENTATION IS POSTED ON
MY PERSONAL WEBSITE
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