CONSEQUENCES OF EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION

WOUT ULTEERADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN THE NETHERLANDS

EQUALSOC – SOCCULTBERLIN APRIL 11, 2008

A SHIFT IN SOCIOLOGY’S QUESTIONS

FROM MACRO QUESTIONS ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH

ECONOMIC GROWTH ANDSOCIAL 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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