Reproduction Of Social Inequalities Research Articles

Career start abroad: The implications of graduate migration for social inequality

Integrating research on school-to-work transitions, international migration, and social inequality, this article investigates the social stratification of international school-to-work transitions and their payoff. Existing research shows that spatial mobility can amplify social inequalities both through social selectivity in access to mobility and through heterogeneity in its labor market outcomes. Building on these findings, we investigate the social selectivity of international school-to-work transitions (ISWT) and the wage difference between ISWT and national school-to-work transitions (NSWT) among graduates from higher education institutions in Germany. Drawing on the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study and the DZHW Graduate Panel, we account for selection on observables through entropy balancing. Our analysis reveals that graduates from advantaged social origins are more likely to opt for ISWT than graduates from disadvantaged social origins. Furthermore, we find that ISWT are associated with higher wages than NSWT. Notably, the wage benefits of ISWT are relatively higher among graduates from disadvantaged social origins than among graduates from advantaged social origins. Whereas our findings regarding the social selectivity of ISWT are in line with the literature on the reproduction of social inequality through spatial mobility, our findings on the origin-specific returns to ISWT stand out inasmuch graduates from disadvantaged origins benefit relatively more.

Social inequalities in social-emotional problems among preschool children: a population-based study in Sweden

ABSTRACT Background Social-emotional ability is important for overall health and wellbeing in early childhood. Recognizing preschool children in need of extra support, especially those living in unfavourable conditions, can have immediate positive effects on their health and benefit their wellbeing in the long-term. Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate whether there are social inequalities in preschool children’s social-emotional problems, and whether inequalities differ between boys and girls. Method This study utilized repeated measures from cross-sectional population-based surveys of three-year old children (2014–2018). The final study population comprised of 9,099 children which was 61% of all the eligible children in Västerbotten County during the study period. The Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) 36-month interval was used to measure children’s social-emotional ability. Social inequalities were studied with respect to parents’ income, education, and place of birth, for which data was obtained from Statistics Sweden. Multiple logistic and ordered regressions were used. Results Among 3-year-olds, social-emotional problems were more common in the most vulnerable social groups, i.e. parents in the lowest income quintile (OR: 1.45, p < 0.001), parents with education not more than high school (OR: 1.51, p < 0.001), and both parents born outside Sweden (OR: 2.54, p < 0.001). Notably, there was a larger difference in social-emotional problems between the lowest and highest social categories for girls compared to boys. Higher odds of social-emotional problems were associated with boys not living with both parents and girls living in the areas of Skellefteå and Umeå, i.e. more populated geographical areas. Conclusion Already at 3-years of age social-emotional problems were more common in children with parents in the most vulnerable social groups. This does not fulfil the ambition of an equitable start in life for every child and might contribute to reproduction of social inequalities across generations.

Tolls, Schools, and Tips: The Reproduction of Social Inequality Through Day-to-Day Practices

How is social inequality reproduced through day-to-day practices? In this commentary, we use the geographical context of Mexico City to argue that social inequality is maintained by “class work” of elites. Specifically, we discuss how (1) urban planning crystallizes class boundaries, (2) private school education reproduces them, and (3) tipping prevents their disruption.

"The Internet Is Keeping Me from Dying from Boredom": Understanding the Management and Social Construction of the Self Through Middle-Class Indian Children's Engagement with Digital Technologies During the COVID-19 Lockdown.

This paper unpacks how everyday lives of urban middle-class children were mediated by digital technologies during the COVID-19 national lockdown in India. In contemporary India, children's engagements with digital technologies are structured by their social class, gender, and geographical locations. The resultant disparities between "media-rich" and "media-poor" childhoods in India are stark (Banaji 2017). In this paper, we argue that the national lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed India's "media-rich" children to particular threats and obstacles. Based on semi-structured interviews and mapping exercises with 16- to 17-year-old urban middle-class young people, we explore how being confined to their homes for an extended period when their schools shifted to online delivery of teaching and learning; young people negotiated risks and sought digital opportunities in the management and social construction of the self (Callero 2003, 2014). While the majority of existing studies focus on societal anxieties around children's digital media use, in almost a medicalized and pathological fashion, and its impact on parenting practices (Lim 2020; Livingstone and Blum-Ross 2020), we shift the attention to study this social phenomenon to help understand how children reflect on their engagement with technology and shape their own well-being through social construction of the self. Our findings demonstrate that children are reflexive users of digital technologies, as they navigate network failure issues, the demands of online classrooms, their own mental health and social relationships, and deploy the affordances of digital technologies to combat loneliness, nurture contact with friends, and explore educational and career resources. These strategies, in the management and social construction of the self, play out within the discourse of pedagogized middle-class childhood in India, which is imbued with notions of academic success and failure (Kumar 2016; Sen 2014). Media-rich middle-class young people's management and social construction of the self, in the context of crisis and uncertainty, helps promote our understanding of the relationship between social structure, self-structure, and behavior choices, implications of this for child well-being, and reproduction of social inequality in society.

Routine dynamics: Toward a critical conversation

In this essay, we suggest new research directions for the study of routines that intersect with and draw upon conversations about the reproduction of privilege and oppression as a strategic issue in organizations. We focus on how social inequality is reproduced and normalized by routines. We describe and illustrate how analyzing the dynamics of organizational routines can help us understand the production and reproduction of social inequality and the possibility of amelioration.

Studying region, network, fluid, and fire in an educational programme working against social inequalities

Debates on the neoliberalization and privatization of education have recently contributed fresh impulses to the critical engagement of geographies of education, which is known for its longstanding interest in the reproduction of social inequalities. This paper furthers this engagement in two ways. First, it draws on an empirical study of a private, nonprofit preparatory programme that trains aspirational students from disadvantaged backgrounds for a highly selective entrance examination for state-funded secondary schools in Zurich, Switzerland. In doing so, the paper moves beyond the Anglophone pivot in the field, which has been a source of self-critique. Second, we take this empirical site a point from which to think through the study programme as an ‘object multiple’ that is engrained in Actor-Network Theory. Drawing on the four ontological metaphors of region, network, fluid, and fire, we assert that educational transitions serve as magnifying glasses which lay bare complex social effects of supplementary education on students, increasing social inequalities and subtle forms of conforming to and resisting of the neoliberalization of education and uncomfortable, yet thought-provoking aspects of discrimination. We conclude that the replication of white supremacy requires more reflection not only within a programme that was installed with the intent of supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds but also in our engagement as critical geographers within educational schemes.

Compromises between Occupational Aspirations and VET Occupations—a Contribution to the Reproduction of Social Inequalities?

Abstract Many school leavers cannot fulfil their occupational aspirations when entering vocational education and training (VET), and have to make compromises. This study asks what form these compromises take by examining multiple extrinsic occupational dimensions, and investigates differences by social background. Data for VET entrants from lower and intermediate school tracks from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS-SC4) are combined with occupation-specific data. The cluster analysis reveals four distinct patterns of compromise: 1) upward moves and 2) downward moves in multiple extrinsic attributes, 3) concessions in firm size and wage, and 4) concessions in regular working hours and status. Multinomial logistic regressions indicate that compromise formation is hardly socially stratified in terms of parental education and occupational position. Compared to natives, VET entrants from second-generation migrant families are more likely to move upward into relative better training occupations than occupations originally aspired to.

Understanding Parental School Choice in Varied Socio-economic Milieus: A Case Study of a Village in Punjab

With the upsurge of private schools, parents are struggling with a variety of schooling options. Given the exclusionary nature of privatisation, the market has led to the reproduction of social inequality amidst a plurality of choice. By mapping the school choice process, the article aims to explore school choice in the varied socio-economic milieu in a village in Punjab. Based on the qualitative data collected with the help of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs), the study draws linkages between the determinants of school choice and the positionality of parents. The findings of the study dissect the simple yet complex process of school choice along common factors, that is, teachers, quality of education, learning environment, English education and private tutoring. Drawing upon the nuanced analysis of these factors with parental socio-economic background, the study argues that it is important to understand the varied expectations, aspirations and challenges of parents from diverse sections to comprehend the school choice process.

The reproduction of social inequalities at neighborhood level in Salvador, Brazil: Does the spatial proximity to affluent gated communities mitigate neighborhood effects?

ABSTRACT The paper examines the impact of neighborhood effects on individuals’ socioeconomic integration in two peripheral shanty-towns and in three favelas located in Brazil. In the peripheral São João do Cabrito, the individuals’ embeddedness in a homogeneously poor region fosters their social isolation; yet, in Fazenda Grande II/Jaguaripe I, the population’s socioeconomic heterogeneity attenuates neighborhood effects. The individuals’ functional integration vis-à-vis their wealthy surroundings declines toward the periphery of their neighborhood, their chances of integration being conditioned by the shared use of public space, and the surrounding gated communities’ degree of spatial isolation. We discuss three mechanisms that explain neighborhood effects: changes in the support structures, the impact of crime, and territorial stigmatization. We conclude that individuals’ chances of integration mainly depend on the spatial distribution of employment and urban services, rather than on their proximity to affluent neighborhoods.

Gendered Diverging Destinies: Changing Family Structures and the Reproduction of Educational Inequalities Among Sons and Daughters in the United States.

The prevalence of nontraditional family structures has increased over time, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Because children's socioeconomic attainments are positively associated with growing up in a two-parent household, changing family structures are considered to have strengthened the reproduction of social inequalities across generations. However, several studies have shown that childhood family structure relates differently to educational outcomes for sons than for daughters. Therefore, we ask whether there are gender differences in the extent to which changing family structures have contributed to the college attainment gap between children from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997 cohorts to estimate extended Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition models that take into account cross-cohort changes in the prevalence of family structures and heterogeneity in the effects of childhood family structure on college attainment. We find that the argument that changes in family structures contributed to diverging destinies in college attainment holds for daughters but not for sons. This result is due to the different changes over time in the effects of childhood family structure by gender and socioeconomic background.

The role of an equity policy in the reproduction of social inequalities: High School Ranking and university admissions in Chile

The High School (HS) Ranking is an equity policy aimed at increasing the enrolment of students from underprivileged contexts in selective higher education institutions in Chile. However, HS Ranking is considered as an admission criterion for all applicants, regardless of their contextual characteristics. In this study, we delve into how students from different high school settings interpret and deploy actions to increase their HS Ranking score. Through a Structural Equation Model with validated survey data (9 schools, N = 1.831), our results show that the role of the schools’ context in the deployment of academic strategies to increase HS Ranking score is significant, even after controlling for academic individual motivation. In a scenario of a highly segregated secondary system these results are relevant for the discussion of the role of HS Ranking – an equity-oriented admission policy – in maintaining the higher education inequalities.

Status, masculinity, and femininity at the intersection of age and gender

Although men are generally awarded greater status than women, little is known about how gendered ageism may affect the gender gap in status. Using an online survey experiment (N = 2473), this study examines how cultural beliefs about status, masculinity, and femininity are differentially affected by men's and women's age. Findings show that aging has little effect on men's perceived status, but aging drives both upswings and downswings in women's perceived status, giving men status advantages during early and late adulthood. Similarly, whereas aging does not affect men's perceived masculinity, aging drives upswings and downswings in women's perceived femininity, depending on current age. Perceived masculinity is more strongly linked to men's status than perceived femininity is to women's. Findings contribute to research on status and gendered ageism, and shed light on how age and gender combine to influence ubiquitous social judgments that are integral to the reproduction of social inequality.

Higher education, democratization policies and the reproduction of social inequalities: case study

Resumo A Universidade Federal de Alfenas (Unifal-MG) aderiu ao Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais (Reuni) e à reserva de vagas. Cabe, agora, conhecer o impacto dessas adesões. Assim, o objetivo geral da pesquisa foi conhecer os efeitos da implantação de políticas públicas na Unifal-MG quanto a suas metas democratizantes de ampliação e diversificação de acesso. Para isso, buscaram-se estes objetivos específicos: mensurar a expansão; qualificar o alunado; conhecer sua distribuição pelos cursos; descrever a dinâmica da evasão; e evidenciar o papel exercido pelas configurações institucionais condutoras da expansão e reguladoras do acesso aos cursos. Investigaram-se os ingressantes da coorte de 2013 de graduação presencial de seus campi-sede, recorrendo-se a métodos quantitativos. Observou-se que seu alunado se expandiu e se diversificou, porém essa diversidade ficou limitada a certas carreiras. As taxas de evasão aumentaram, acometendo sobretudo os novos estudantes, e as configurações institucionais fomentaram uma segmentação interna. Conclui-se que políticas de democratização reproduzem desigualdades porque são acompanhadas de mecanismos que dispõem o público novo, recém-incluído, em vagas menos atraentes. As configurações institucionais condutoras da expansão e reguladoras do acesso contribuíram para a promoção de uma “política de cotas às avessas” e de um acesso dispensável, entregando aos calouros uma situação semelhante à que já têm. Políticas inclusivas conjugadas com conformações que ratificam processos de seleção e eliminação operados pelo sistema de ensino anteriores à universidade preservam um modelo de ensino elitista. Diferenças educativas convertem-se em desigualdades socioeconômicas, e o sistema se legitima sob o mito da democratização. Assim, homologa-se a reprodução.

Interpretation, relevance and the ideological effects of discursive practice

Abstract Research in Critical Discourse Studies has for long recognised the central role that both direct and indirect communicative strategies play in the reproduction of social inequality, but a main proponent of this approach has expressed scepticism with regard to the contribution that theories of pragmatics which specifically focus on speaker intentions can make to its agenda. This paper sets out to examine how relevance theory’s theoretical machinery can be applied to the critical discussion of ideology in discourse, by offering insights that overcome the limitations imposed by this concentration of its precursors on speaker intentions. More specifically, I discuss how the cognitive perspective that relevance theory adopts can inform our understanding of the way in which ideological effects automatically arise during spontaneous utterance interpretation. After accounting for the derivation of these effects, I briefly suggest how it can additionally be taken to underlie the propagation of ideologies through discursive practice.

School market and the democratization of education: one step forward, two steps back. The case of the Canadian Province of Quebec

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to show that since the 1980s, educational inequalities in Quebec have gradually been reconfigured through the school market. The results obtained from a sample (N = 24,085) of a cohort of students who entered their first year of secondary school in 2002–2003 and who were observed for up to ten years (2012–2013) show that the influence of social origin on educational inequalities operates in large part via mediation of the type of institution attended. The results indicate that enrollment in selective schools, whether public or private, is closely associated to the social characteristics of the students: socioeconomic and ethnocultural origin, gender and mother tongue. In addition, there is a strong association between attendance at these same institutions, access to higher education and graduation. We conclude that the persistence of the reproduction of social inequalities in education is the result of the interactive and combined effects of social power relations related to class and ethnicity, and the current organization of public policies in education. This reveals a paradox as school markets have been promoted by public policies in the name of strengthening democratization and improving the quality of education.

What Is the Relationship between Higher Education and Neoliberalism in the United States?

What Is the Relationship between Higher Education and Neoliberalism in the United States?

Epistemic injustice and epistemic positioning: towards an intersectional political economy

This article introduces the concept of epistemic positioning to theorize the relationship between identity-based epistemic judgements and the reproduction of social inequalities, including those of gender and ethnicity/race, in the academia. Acts of epistemic positioning entail the evaluation of knowledge claims based on the speaker’s stated or inferred identity. These judgements serve to limit the scope of the knowledge claim, making it more likely speakers will be denied recognition or credit. The four types of epistemic positioning – bounding (reducing a knowledge claim to elements of personal identity), domaining (reducing a knowledge claim to discipline or field associated with identity), non-attribution (using the claim without recognizing the author) and appropriation (presenting the claim as one’s own) – are mutually reinforcing. Given the growing importance of visibility and recognition in the context of increasing competition and insecurity in academic employment, these practices play a role in the ability of underrepresented groups to remain in the academic profession.

Decline or redeployment? The sociology of work in the UK

This paper takes issue with previous influential accounts of the evolution and contemporary potency of the Sociology of work (SoW) in the UK by challenging mythologies which have grown up around the trajectory of the sub-discipline. This paper is based on a sociological analysis of the political, organisational and social forces which have shaped the sub-discipline and comprehensive examination of its broad and complex canon. This enables a refutation of previous orthodoxies which suggest that a clearly defined SoW previously existed in, and emerged from, the narrow confines of Sociology departments only, and relatedly, that a ‘Golden Age’ of SoW research existed in the post WW II era and that its ending led to the irrevocable decline of the sub-discipline. These misinterpretations are politically problematic in that they laud an era of research which neglected complex and important questions in relation to who holds power and how that is exercised and in relation to the reproduction of social inequality within work and employment and furthermore, are based on a narrow interpretation of the SoW. This paper overturns conventional wisdom about the contemporary importance and relevance of the sub-discipline: where others have identified decline we explore SoW’s relationship to power and inequality and the spread and breath of its impact and concludes that the spread of discipline beyond the narrow confines of academia offers opportunities for radical social change.

Enactments of Curriculum Policies in Greek Secondary Education: Regulative Discourses and the Reproduction of Social Inequalities

Many critical research studies have documented the complex ways in which global policies on school curricula are reshaped at national and local levels. This paper focuses on the discourses which regulate the recontextualizations of global policies in local school settings. The paper presents an empirical study on the enactments of language curricula in the Greek school education system. Using Bernstein’s theory of knowledge pedagogization, we analyze data produced by semi-structured interviews and classroom observations in five lower secondary state schools with socially and ethnically diverse student populations, in the inner city of Athens. Our findings show that, while the socially disadvantaged schools are regulated by discourses on inclusion, in the more advantaged schools of the study regulative discourses are related to performance management concerns. The paper points to the potential implications of such discourses, claiming that challenging educational inequalities requires to identify and act upon the discourses regulating teachers’ practices.

Maternal Stress and Pregnancy Outcomes Evidence from a Natural Experiment: The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that the reproduction of social background inequality starts at birth and even in the womb. We advance the understanding of the inequality in early life outcomes by analysing whether prenatal stress affects prematurity and low birth weight and how this effect varies by parental socio-economic status (SES). To address the endogeneity of prenatal maternal stress and pregnancy outcomes, we use a natural experiment and consider the 2004 Madrid train bombings as an exogenous source of stress. We analyse administrative data referring to the whole population of newborns in Spain between 2000 and 2005 and use a difference-in-differences design with a synthetic control approach. We find that children exposed to the Madrid bombing had a higher risk of prematurity and low birth weight, and that this detrimental effect is consistently concentrated among low-SES offspring. We discuss four possible mechanisms to explain this heterogeneity and rely on findings of previous research and on information from additional data to test their plausibility. In the conclusions, we highlight the broader implications of our findings for the reproduction of social inequalities across generations