Measuring Social Origin: A Comparison of Questioning Methods

The inclusion of students from diverse social origins in classrooms might be a strategy to reduce unequal access to social capital along with social origin. This study investigates the relationship between social heterogeneity in classrooms and inequality in student achievement. Additionally, a social network perspective is taken to investigate help-seeking among peers with a different social origin as a possible underlying mechanism. By analyzing large-scale data with 1,671 9th-grade classrooms and 29,597 students in Germany using multi-level regression models, we find that greater social heterogeneity in classrooms increases students' proportion of cross-social-origin help-seeking ties. Moreover, the alignment between social and ethnic origin (i.e., consolidation) does not moderate the association between social heterogeneity and the proportion of cross-social-origin help-seeking ties. Similarly, the alignment between social origin and sex also has no effect on this association. Furthermore, higher proportions of cross-social-origin help-seeking ties are slightly negatively associated with the achievement gaps between students of the most advantaged and the most disadvantaged social origins. This implies that encouraging cross-social-origin help-seeking can reduce achievement inequality. However, no significant direct association is found between social heterogeneity and achievement inequality. In conclusion, we discuss factors that might hinder social heterogeneity in classrooms from fostering more equal academic outcomes.

The article approaches the study of inequality in the upper middle education's accreditation producedby the different social origins, comparing two regions with marked differences in the grade of socialand economic development: Montevideo, the politic, economic and cultural capital of the country, andthe northeast border with Brazil. The social origins are measured through the Erikson Goldthorpe andPortocarero’s theory of social class. The main hypothesis of this work is that the social class origins hasdifferential effects on educational achievements according to the regions, generating a different patternof social reproduction.

Mobility: Social

The paper addresses the question of whether social class origin affects academic performance at university. Although a clear relationship between social origins and performance has been found at lower levels of the educational system, the much stronger selection of lower class students to higher education makes it unlikely that they should be less talented than students from higher class backgrounds. However, according to cultural capital theory, we would expect students from the families who are closest to the academic culture to have the greatest success. We study the impact of class origin on grades among practically all first-year students and higher-level graduates in Norwegian universities in the periods 1997 to 2002 and 1997 to 2003, respectively. Our analyses show that there is an association between class origin and academic performance, and that it is the students originating in classes that score high with respect to cultural capital that tend to receive the highest grades. This is true both for higher and lower level university studies, and in the majority of fields in our detailed analysis of 36 fields. The pattern of inequality is partly, but not fully, established in secondary level schooling.

The article approaches the study of inequality in the upper middle education's accreditation producedby the different social origins, comparing two regions with marked differences in the grade of socialand economic development: Montevideo, the politic, economic and cultural capital of the country, andthe northeast border with Brazil. The social origins are measured through the Erikson Goldthorpe andPortocarero’s theory of social class. The main hypothesis of this work is that the social class origins hasdifferential effects on educational achievements according to the regions, generating a different patternof social reproduction.

A theoretical Discussion and Empirical Analysis of Second Generations’ Education and Labour Market Outcomes in England and Wales

We study the segregation of teacher preparation and the teaching career, and its role in the reproduction of social inequalities. We analyze the relationship between the teachers’ social origins and academic credentials, and the type of governance, socioeconomic level and working conditions of the schools where they teach. Then, we model how these different dimensions affect the students’ scores on the standardized test Simce. The results show a strong association between the teachers’ social origin and credentials, and thus a significant segregation in teacher preparation. We also observe a strong association between the teachers’ social origins and academic credentials with the socioeconomic characteristics of the schools where they teach, revealing segregation in the teaching profession. The final results show that students’ scores are heavily affected by the teachers’ academic preparation, and especially by the working conditions in their schools – which are in turn determined by the teachers’ social origins. Thus, the segregation of the teaching career, and the strong association between teachers’ and students’ social backgrounds, constitute a significant mechanism of the reproduction of social inequality.

We study the segregation of teacher preparation and the teaching career, and its role in the reproduction of social inequalities. We analyze the relationship between the teachers' social origins and academic credentials, and the type of governance, socioeconomic level and working conditions of the schools where they teach. Then, we model how these different dimensions affect the students' scores on the standardized test Simce. The results show a strong association between the teachers' social origin and credentials, and thus a significant segregation in teacher preparation. We also observe a strong association between the teachers' social origins and academic credentials with the socioeconomic characteristics of the schools where they teach, revealing segregation in the teaching profession. The final results show that students' scores are heavily affected by the teachers' academic preparation, and especially by the working conditions in their schools - which are in turn determined by the teachers' social origins. Thus, the segregation of the teaching career, and the strong association between teachers' and students' social backgrounds, constitute a significant mechanism of the reproduction of social inequality.

To what extent do features of education systems in the secondary school influence university graduates being overeducated? Previous research shows that the social origin and the field of study of university graduates are relevant predictors of overeducation. However, the strength of the influence of their social origin varies across fields of study. Having a privileged social origin prevents university graduates from being overeducated in fields of study that are not occupationally focused (e.g. humanities), while it is less relevant in other fields (e.g. engineering). The unevenly distributed effect of social origin in relation to the field of study may also vary across countries, depending on the influence of the secondary education system on social selection. Social origin may provide a filter earlier in vocationally oriented educational systems, whereas in comprehensive systems the social filter occurs at the graduate’s entry into the labor market. This would make university graduates from nonoccupationally focused fields of study and with a disadvantaged social origin more vulnerable to being overeducated in countries with comprehensive secondary school systems, while in vocationally oriented systems social origin may be less influential at that later stage. Using Research into Employment and professional FLEXibility/Higher Education as a Generator of Strategic Competences (REFLEX/HEGESCO) data in combination with macro-level indicators, I assess how secondary education systems mediate the influence of social origin in terms of the university graduate’s risk of overeducation by field of study. When using a subjective measure of overeducation results suggest that social origin is less important in predicting the overeducation of university graduates in countries with greater vocational orientation at the secondary level, while in comprehensive systems social origin regains its influence as a filter when graduates in nonoccupationally oriented fields join the labor market. Yet, results do not hold when using an objective measure of overeducation.

ABSTRACTThis comparative study examines patterns of inequality in participation in two different types of adult learning and education (ALE) – job-related formal ALE (JFALE) and job-related non-formal ALE (JNFALE) – as related to social origins at the micro-level and three categories of social inequality at the macro-level at the macro level (economic, education, and skill inequality). Using data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), two methods are used to analyse 19 selected OECD countries: multivariate binary logistic regressions to explore the extent to which individuals’ social origins are associated with ALE participation and two-stage multilevel analysis to examine the relationship between social origins’ advantages in ALE participation and social inequality. Statistically significant advantages in ALE participation of social origins were observed in some countries. Additionally, statistically significant positive relationships between social inequality and social origins’ advantages in JNFALE participation are found, which implies that increases in social inequality strengthen advantages associated with social origins.

Popular culture frequently stereotypes the opposition between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ in the attempts to account for the origin and organization of the capacities of the individual or the structures of social life. Both biology and environment have been, and are, blamed or lauded as the ultimate sources for educational achievement, lifetime earnings, levels of aggression, and sexual or racial discrimination. Equally frequently, this binary opposition is overlaid on the demarcation between the sciences and the humanities and, more specifically, on the division between the natural and the social sciences. Biologists, it is frequently assumed, argue that the workings of social life are the product of innate biological propensities, while sociologists and political scientists insist that learning and the influence of the immediate environment must take priority in the attempts to unravel social structures and inequalities. While examples of such one-sided accounts can be found even in the professional literature — although normally they appear in reports written to appeal to, and publicized as suitable for, a wider readership — this outdated and stereotypical conflict between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ elides the complexities of the scientific debate concerning the origins of sociality. In part, this opposition can be traced to the vitriolic debates surrounding sociobiology and its application to human social life, debates that have left abiding scars on the academic body, and which did contribute substantially to a deepening of the divide between the natural and the social sciences. However, the controversy surrounding sociobiology did not create the nature/ nurture debate, nor is the question of the appropriate relationship between biology, environment and society only disputed between the ‘two cultures’ of academe. It isn’t even the case that it is a problem that applies only to the story of human social life. Similar themes can be identified in accounts of animal behaviour, and are deserving of serious historical and sociological attention for two reasons. In the first place, the nature of these accounts has changed dramatically over the course of the twentieth century, as the location of primary explanatory factors moved between the internal and external environments of the animal. It is easy, in the aftermath of the sociobiological revolution and its successes, to imagine that biology has always dominated scientific accounts of the origin of social life: this, however, was by no means the case, nor is it an accurate account of the present-day state of affairs. This leads to the second reason for taking these animal stories seriously: they are often used as a means of elucidating the basis of human social life. Since the emergence of sociobiology, this has meant that the urge to sociality has been presented as prompted by competition, selfishness and self-interest: elements that, as many previous researchers have noted,

This chapter unravels the concept of ‘social origin’ discrimination in conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). It analyses the reports of ILO supervisory bodies and preparatory works (travaux préparatoires) to aid the interpretation of convention text. It also analyses rules of statutory interpretation in Australia and South Africa to explain the relevance of ILO jurisprudence to interpreting ‘social origin’ in domestic legislation.

This chapter maps the legal landscape in Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand, to investigate whether and the extent to which the law in each country prohibits discrimination based on class and/or social background. It finds that whilst ‘class’ and ‘social background’ are not explicitly listed in legislation as grounds of discrimination, the law in each of these jurisdictions lists other grounds of discrimination which include, or reflect, class and/or factors that go to social background. This chapter analyses the law and legal framework in a number of jurisdictions, including: Australia concerning adverse action and termination of employment based on ‘social origin’, and, discrimination based on ‘social origin’; South Africa concerning discrimination based on ‘social origin’; Quebec, New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories concerning discrimination based on ‘social condition’; Canada and various Canadian provinces concerning discrimination based on ‘family status’; and New Zealand concerning discrimination based on ‘family status’.

The purpose of the article is the explanation of innovative principles of the crisis situations monitoring of the social and economic origin that threaten the national security of Ukraine. The topicality of the crisis situations monitoring of the social and economic origin by the authorities that endanger the security of Ukraine is proved. The concept of “crisis situations monitoring” of the social and economic origin is defined. It is a system of monitoring, evaluating, and forecasting of social and economic threats to national security. Methodology. The crisis situations occurrence characteristics search on the Internet model allows searching the text files on the Internet with the help of the text files in order to evaluate the current situation, forecast the consequences of crisis situations of social and economic origin such as mass protest activism in regions of the country for further settlement. In view of this, the existing informative and analytical systems of the text information analysis systems are researched; the standard procedures of content analysis are investigated. The statistical analysis model is developed. In this regard, the list of significant indicators that determine the level of threats of social and economic origin and can lead to crisis situation consequences – the mass protest of public participation is formed. The threat level estimation model of the social and economic origin using modern theoretical and practical statistical methods and geographical information system methods is developed. The threat level forecasting model of the social and economic origin allows forecasting the crisis situation progress. With this end in view, the methods of the social crisis forecasting of social and economic origin are researched; the structured scheme of this mechanism is developed. Practical implications. The innovative approach to the crisis situations monitoring of the social and economic origin that endanger the security of Ukraine is developed. It is based on the usage of crisis situations occurrence characteristics search model, statistical analysis model, the threat level estimation and forecasting model of the social and economic origin. The themes for future research will be devoted to explanation and development of response mechanisms to the social crisis that threatens the national security of Ukraine.

Entrepreneurship research is increasingly examining how social class origin shapes entrepreneurial pathways. This growing body of work highlights the enduring advantages and disadvantages entrepreneurs face based on their access to economic, social, and cultural capital acquired through childhood or birth—challenging the popular “rags to riches” narrative that upward mobility is equally attainable for all. To unify and extend this conversation, we develop an integrative framework that explains how entrepreneurs' social class origin influences their mobility. Drawing on an interdisciplinary review of 219 articles, we identify three class-based mechanisms—entrepreneurial finance and skills transfer, entrepreneurial habitus formation, and access to networks and evaluations—through which social class origin shapes entrepreneurial outcomes and, ultimately, social mobility. We conclude by offering three recommendations for future research on social class origin in entrepreneurship, aimed at advancing theory, addressing inequality, and informing inclusive entrepreneurial policy. • We synthesize research on entrepreneurs' social class origin. • Our framework explains how social class origin impacts entrepreneurial outcomes. • We illustrate the role of social class origin in entrepreneurs' social mobility. • We outline an agenda for future research on social class origin and entrepreneurship.