Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 1985"

The spread of the multidivisional form among large firms, 1919–1979

Abstract: The multidivisional form is the favored form of organization for the large firms that dominate the American economy. This study takes up the causes of the dissemination of that form among large firms from 1919 to 1979. Five theories are initially proposed as possible explanations for the changes observed and these theories are operationalized and tested. The model that seems most consistent with the data emphasizes the ability of key actors to alter structure under three circumstances: when the firm has a product-related or -unrelated strategy (which is consistent with Chandler's, 1962 theorizing); when the corporate presidents have a background in sales or finance; and when other firms in the industry alter their structures. The implications of these results for theories of organizational change are discussed with special reference to the importance of conceiving how actors operate with varying rationalities in this process.

Unemployment and crime rates in the post- world war ii united states: a theoretical and empirical analysis

Abstract: Using annual time-series data for the United States, 1946-1982, two hypotheses are tested: (1) The level of the unemployment rate in any given year will have a negative partial contemporaneous effect on detrendedfluctuations (increases or decreases) in seven Index Crime rates (homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in that year. (2) Unemployment-rate fluctuationsfrom one year to the next will have a positive partial effect on detrended crime-rate fluctuations in the next year. These hypotheses are developed from a theoretical model that identifies the former with a criminal opportunity effect, and the latter with a criminal motivation effect, of aggregate unemployment on crime. For burglary, robbery and larceny-theft, empirical support is found for the expected pattern of partial effects. However, the relative sizes of the effects are such that the total impacts of unemployment-through both partial effects-are negative. In addition, only the negative-levels effect is exhibited for homicide and motor vehicle theft, while rape and aggravated assault show no consistent association with either levels orfluctuations in the unemployment rate. Interpretations for these findings are discussed.

Political democracy and the size distribution of income

Abstract: This paper reviews the major theoretical arguments that link political democracy with economic inequality. It then shows that previous empirical analyses of the linkage have produced inconclusive results because they have suffered from specification, measurement, and sample-composition problems. A nonrecursive model is proposed that overcomes many of these limitations. Using 2SLS and a new weighted 2SLS procedure, we find no evidence of direct effects of political democracy on income inequality, or vice versa. However, economic development influences both variables, while world-system position, Protestantism, and British colonial experience affects political democracy. Population age-structure and systematic measurement error induce changes in income inequality. The paper concludes with a discussion both of the flaws in prior arguments linking democracy with inequality, and of the political processes that undermine any such linkage. In democracies the poor have more sovereign power than the men of property; for they are more numerous and the decisions of the majority prevail. Aristotle, The Politics, 1962:237 Where one set of people possesses a great deal and the other nothing, the result is either extreme democracy [mob rule] or unmixed oligarchy or a tyranny due to the excesses of the other two. Aristotle, The Politics, 1962:173 Debate over the linkage between political democracy and social equality has a venerable history. At least since Aristotle, many have held that by reducing inequalities in the distribution of political power, democracy helps to reduce inequalities of wealth and status. Paralleling this view, it also has been argued that extreme inequalities in wealth undermine democratic political structures. At the same time, it has been suggested that democracy and inequality have no meaningful bearing on each other. This paper offers a fresh approach to the democracy-inequality linkage. We begin with a survey of the pertinent substantive arguments and the assumptions on which they are based. This is followed by a review of representative empirical studies which shows that those studies have generated inconclusive results. Further, there is no readily apparent way to resolve these differences, because, as we indicate below, the empirical studies have employed a variety of samples, measurement procedures, and model specifications. Finally, we report our own empirical analysis, which seeks to correct some of the major specification and measurement problems of previous work. This analysis is based on a more comprehensive data set than has been available in the past, and centers on 60 Western and Third World countries.

Income Inequality, Regime Repressiveness, and Political Violence

Abstract: Death rate from political violence is postulated to vary cross-nationally as a positively accelerated time-lagged function of income inequality and as a nonmonotonic inverted "U" function of regime repressiveness. The former hypothesis is consistent with approaches to the explanation of collective political violence that emphasize the general concept of discontent or, more specifically, relative deprivation; the latter hypothesis is consistent with a political-process version of the resource mobilization approach. In the context of a multivariate model estimated across two decades, 1958-67 and 1968-77, support is found for the inequality hypothesis. Support also is foundfor the regime repressiveness hypothesis in the decade (1968-77) for which the index of regime repressiveness is available. The U-curve effect of regime repressiveness appears to have stronger impact on variation in rates of deadly political violence than the positively accelerated effect of income inequality.

Spatial assimilation as a socioeconomic outcome

Abstract: Patterns of ethnic and racial segregation in U.S. cities are examined. Specifically the authors replicate earlier analyses of census tract data in selected cities by using individual-level data from the 1970 census. "Prior findings were reconfirmed thereby validating the theory of spatial assimilation and reinforcing earlier substantive conclusions. Results also indicate that to the extent that ecological biases affect the pattern of results errors of substantive interpretation are conservative in nature. Thus models estimated using census tract data for 1980 (when appropriate micro information will not be available) are not likely to yield erroneous conclusions." (EXCERPT)

Work Organization and Workforce Commitment: A Study of Plants and Employees in the U.S. and Japan

Abstract: We address the hypothesis that organizational commitment is higher among Japanese than U. S. workers and that this commitment gap may be an outcome of the greater prevalence of "welfare corporatist" structures in Japanese firms. With data from a survey of over 8,000 employees in nearly 100 plants in Japan and the United States, we estimate a multilevel model of the processes shaping individuals' organizational commitment and work satisfaction. Consistent with a theory of "corporatist" control, we find that participatory work structures and employee services ("paternalism") are more typical of Japanese plants yet function in both countries to raise commitment and morale. Other evidence for and against predictions from "corporatist" theory is discussed.

The quality and stability of remarriages: the role of stepchildren

Abstract: This paper separates the effects of remarriage and presence of stepchildren on the stability and satisfaction of second marriages. Using a [U.S.] nationwide probability sample of 1673 married individuals interviewed in 1980 and again in 1983 [the authors] show that the higher divorce rate among remarriages is limited to the most complex form of remarriage: where both spouses have been previously married and there are stepchildren in the household....In addition to breaking up their families through divorce stepfamilies are shown to move teenagers out of the home and empty the nest faster than biological families. [They] conclude that the presence of stepchildren is a destabilizing influence within remarriages and a major contributor to the somewhat greater rate of divorce. (EXCERPT)

The Variable Effects of Education on Liberal Attitudes: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of Anti-Semitism Using Public Opinion Survey Data.

Abstract: The effects of education on liberal values are shown to be not universal, but rather, to vary systematically cross-nationally. These effects are interpreted as a form of socialization-not as psychodynamic or class effects-and they are investigated in a comparative-historical perspective, using attitudes on anti-Semitism as the dependent variable. Selznick and Steinberg's hypothesis that education's liberalizing effects represent the influence of the "official," Enlightenment culture in the United States is expanded and applied cross-nationally in the United States, West Germany, Austria, and France. It is argued that this effect varies according to two determinants of Enlightenment culture: the length of time a country has had a liberal-democratic regime form, and the degree of religious heterogeneity in the country.

Ties to Conventional Institutions and Delinquency: Estimating Reciprocal Effects.

Abstract: Social control theory hypothesizes that ties to conventional institutions control or inhibit most people most of the time from acting on deviant motives. Our research examines the relationship between juvenile delinquency and ties to conventional institutions, defined by recent researchers as attachment to parents and school. Assuming a recursive causal structure, extant research regresses delinquency on social attachment. The findings, showing a negative effect of attachment on delinquency, have been used to support social control theory. We question the recursiveness assumption. It seems reasonable to assume that delinquency is as likely to affect attachment as attachment is to affect it. Our research estimates a nonrecursive model using OLS crosslag and simultaneous equation methods. The findings suggest that the effects are reciprocal and contingent on social status and, thus, raise serious questions about the validity of extant research as a test of social control theory. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1985. Copyright © 1985 by the American Sociological Association) Social Control Theory Delinquency Causes Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile Offender Social Attachment 07-02

Sex and Power in Interaction: Conversational Privileges and Duties

Abstract: This paper examines conversational behavior which previous research suggests is differentiated on the basis of sex. Interaction is conceptualized in terms of a sexual division of labor wherein men dominate conversation and women behave in a supportive manner. The literature raises the question of whether these differences in conversational patterns are tied to power as well as sex. A study was designed to determine which of a set of variables reflecting conversational duties and privileges are linked to power, to sex, or to both. The data were coded from interactions of intimate couples divided among those with both partners sharing power equally and those where one partner has more power. Three types of couples were compared: cross-sex couples, male couples, and female couples. Interruptions and back channels are linked to power regardless of the sex of the actor, as are tag questions, although the rarity of their occurrence makes any conclusions tentative. The more powerful person interrupts his or her partner more and produces lower rates of back channels and tag questions. Talking time and question asking seemed linked to both sex and power, though not in any simple way. The results of the analyses of minimal responses and overlaps proved inconclusive.

Professional Networks and the Institutionalization of a Single Mind Set

Abstract: The personal networks and the attitudes toward clients of a unique set of bureaucratic professionals-corporate giving officers-are examined. Motivated by the finding that the corporate support of a nonprofit is a function of a firm's reputation among contributions professionals (Galaskiewicz, 1985), this paper examines the structure of these professionals' networks and tests to see if proximity results in two giving officers recognizing andlor thinking well of the same nonprofits in their community. Data were analyzedfrom a survey of 150 publicly-held business corporations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. The more proximate two officers were in the network, the more likely they were to evaluate prospective donees in the same way. Professional associations had an indirect effect on how giving officers evaluated nonprofits in that actors who belonged to the same association were more proximate in the contact network. Highly professionalized contributions staff in different firms tended to recognize the same nonprofits in their task environment, independent of their proximity in the network. Finally, job status had an indirect effect on how staff evaluated nonprofits. Under conditions of environmental uncertainty, or when two officers were not members of the same professional association, job status influenced proximity in the network. Thus job status, professional associations, and proximity in the professional network each in its own way had some effect on the knowledge and evaluations of giving officers in our case study.

Unwelcome immigrants: the labor market experiences of 1980 (Mariel) Cuban and Haitian refugees in South Florida.

Abstract: This article examines the situation of 2 recently arrived and disadvantaged immigrant groups in the context of 2 competing theoretical traditions: classical assimilation and recent labor market segmentation theories. Predictions of both concerning US labor market entry of foreign minorities and determinants of subsequent mobility are tested on the basis of representative surveys; most are not confirmed. The analysis supports the hypothesis of heterogeneous modes of incorporation into the labor market including substantial numbers of refugees who remain outside of it. Sizable proportions have only managed to find fringe employment in a energing informal economy in south Florida. Among Cubans employment in the ethnic enclave is associated with positive returns comparable to those of entry into the "primary" labor market. Haitians lack an enclave option and thus cluster into secondary and informal employment although most remain without work. Determinants of these various situations are examined on the basis of multivariate logistic regressions. Implications of results for immigration theory and policy are discussed. (authors)

Ontogenesis and sociogenesis: Problematics for theory and research about development and socialization across the lifespan.

Abstract: Linking biographical, social and historical change is a long-standing objective within social psychology. Life-span research on human development, socialization and aging is renewing this tradition across the behavioral sciences under a different rubric-life course and life-span research. As yet, there is no internally consistent, interdisciplinary framework of concepts about developmental change in individuals and in organizational and cultural contexts that might guide the multi-level, multi-disciplinary study of these relationships. We suggest that a metatheoretical perspective, developmental contextualism, may provide an integrating framework. We note that recent controversies in psychology and sociology over definitions of development and the relative importance of ontogeny and socialization have neglected to model processes of biological, psychological and sociocultural change as interacting and leading to probabilistic rather than deterministic outcomes in a population. Based in developmental contextualism, we offer a model of human development as a person-population process. We present a method for distinguishing between behavioral change in general and probabilistic development over the lifespan, using duration-dependent rates of change as a necessary but not sufficient criterion. We identify different contexts of duration dependence, based on various forms of time-graded transitions: age grades, event grades, and history grades.

Assimilation in the United States: An Analysis of Ethnic and Generation Differences in Status and Achievement.

Abstract: This paper uses a new data source to investigate differences in occupational achievement among a large number of ethnic groups. The November, 1979 Current Population Survey is a unique source since it provides information on both the ancestry and nativity of a large national sample of respondents. These data are particularly valuable because they permit the identification of first-, secondand thirdor higher-generation individuals, thereby providing a clearer picture of the process of assimilation. We focus upon the achievements of men, age 20 to 64 classified simultaneously by nativity and ethnicity. Not surprisingly, there are notable differences in the occupational attainment of foreign-born men. Some of these differences are due to the diverse social and economic backgrounds of the different nationalities, but important differences in the rates of return to background characteristics are also evident. The assimilation perspective predicts that eventually ethnic background will no longer be an important determinant of socioeconomic achievement. By the third generation, we find this to be true for the most part, although important exceptions are discussed in this paper.

Toward a multilevel distributive justice theory

Abstract: This theory of distributive justice integrates and refines ideas from the equity, distributive justice and relative deprivation approaches in a formal framework spanning levels of analysis. It assumes that individuals form judgments about the propriety of reward allocations based upon social comparisons across individuals, groups or standards, and that all such comparisons are potential sources for feelings of injustice and justice-restoring behaviors. When linked with Jasso's (1980) theory of aggregate consequences of individual justice evaluations, we have the capability to investigate theoretically and empirically certain individualandlor aggregate-level behavior as determined by a small set of individual andlor aggregate properties. Research is reported in which individuals responded to unjust pay allocations in a multi-person, multi-group setting-a simulated organization. Hypotheses derived from the theory were concerned with predicting the relative impact of (1) different degrees of injustice (a logarithmic response function was tested); (2) individual versus collective injustices (conditions under which one or the other should predominate were tested); and (3) different numbers of injustices in a situation (increasing the number of injustices was predicted to decrease the impact of each). All of the hypotheses were supported.

Talking Social Structure : Discourse, Domination and the Watergate Hearings

Abstract: While all conversation requires use of context to make communication meaningful, one interactant always has the potential of depriving another of this communicative resource. Power can thus be achieved by insisting that all accounts meet a formal test of literal, objective truth-a test that no account can pass. At stake in the success of such a maneuver is the capacity to control conversation and thereby determine substantive outcomes. Through analysis of Watergate Hearings videotapes, we show how such a power struggle is managed as a moment-to-moment, sequential unfolding of manipulations among interactants. The larger goal is to display the mechanisms through which social process and social structure cohere through interaction.

Varieties of Normative Consensus

Abstract: The empirical study of consensus has long been impeded by lack of an adequately conceptualized appropriate measurement model. Using the study of social norms as an example, this paper presents such a model based on components of variance. A key feature of the model is an explicit acknowledgment of error variance and its role in generating phenotypical dissensus in empirical data sets. The paper distinguishes among threshold dissensus, a condition in which persons differ in their intensities of adherence to norms, segmented dissensus, in which persons differ in the norms to which they subscribe, and structureless domains, a condition in which individuation in norms applies.

On The Functions of Social Conflict among Children.

Abstract: 1979 The Capitalist World-Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Walton, John 1977 "Accumulation and comparative urban systems: theory and some tentative contrasts of Latin America and Africa." Comparative Urban Research 5:5-18. Williams, Kirk and Michael Timberlake 1984 "Structured inequality, conflict, and control: a cross-national test of the threat hypothesis." Social Forces 63:414-32.

Does arrest really deter wife battery? An effort to replicate the findings of the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment.

Abstract: In this paper we try to replicate the findings from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment (Sherman and Berk, 1984). Using longitudinal data from the criminal justice system on 783 wife-battery incidents, an ex post factor design coupled with a propensity-score analysis reveals that arrests substantially reduce the number of new incidents of wife battery. In addition, the reductions are greatest for batterers whom the police would ordinarily be especially inclined to arrest. Policy and theoretical implications are discussed. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1985. Copyright © 1985 by the American Sociological Association) Domestic Violence Intervention Arrest Effects Domestic Violence Offender Spouse Abuse Offender Spouse Abuse Intervention Deterrence Male Offender Male Violence Adult Male Adult Offender Adult Violence Law Enforcement Intervention Offender Arrest Violence Against Women Partner Violence California Replication Studies 11-01

Social mobility and fertility revisited: some new models for the analysis of the mobility effects hypothesis.

Abstract: Previous designs for the analysis of the mobility effects hypothesis do not incorporate explanatory variables other than origins destination and mobility and most designs fail to parametrize the effects of origins and destinations in a substantively defensible fashion. Sobel (1981) proposed a class of models for the analysis of mobility effects that parametrizes the effects of origins and destinations in a sociologically meaningful fashion but his models do not allow for the introduction of explanatory variables other than mobility. This paper shows how to incorporate covariates in the models proposed by Sobel thereby allowing for a better assessment of the mobility effects hypotheses. Estimation of the new models is discussed and the relationship between social mobility and fertility as previously considered by Blau and Duncan (1967) is reexamined. Alghough this reexamination largely confirms the negative results obtained by Blau and Duncan (1967) on mobility effects the models proposed here also yield previously unobtainable conclusions about the relative import of various origin and destination categories in the acculturation process and the differential impact of various explanatory variables. The relative impact of origins and destinations on fertility depends upon origin status; for example origins and destinations are equally important among those with farm origins but origin status is more central than destination status among those with higher white-collar origins. Also the impact of the explanatory variables on fertility interacts with origin status.

User's Guide to Ratio Variables

Abstract: Some sociologists intuit a necessary relation between ratio variables with common components, and they warn that observed relations between such variables are likely to be "artifactual." In rebuttal, other sociologists argue that the use of ratio variables is justified when the ratios themselves, rather than their components, are of "theoretical interest." Both arguments are based on mistaken ideas about estimating causal effects in nonexperimental research. To realize unbiased estimates, social scientists often must controlfor a dominant confounding variable Z (e.g., population size). One control procedure is to divide the other variables by Z, i.e., to use ratio variables. Contrary to the "artifactuality" argument, this control procedure does not introduce bias; but contrary to the "theoretical interest" argument, the control procedure need not be restricted to instances where the ratios themselves are of theoretical interest. Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, theoretical interest is not a reliable guide for determining whether or not to use ratio variables.

Toward a Theory of Ethnic Solidarity in Modern Societies

Abstract: Ethnic resurgences in modern societies are examined within the framework of a general model of collective action, of which ethnic collective action is a particular instance. Social trends associated with industrialization may affect groups in such a way that ethnicity becomes a more convenient basis for mobilization than others, e.g., class. In such cases, ethnic solidarity is a natural outcome of development. Historical scenarios associated with this possibility are discussed.

Professionalization of American Scientists: Public Science in the Creation/ Evolution Trials

Abstract: The boundary between science and religion has long been a site for cultural and professional conflict. We examine the testimony of scientists at the Scopes "Monkey Trial" in 1925 and at the McLean "Creation-Science" trial in 1981-82. The two trials were public occasions for scientists to present ideologies of science .that legitimated their professional claims to cognitive authority, public financing and control over part of the public school curriculum. The rhetoric of scientists at each trial was directed toward a separate professional goal: at Scopes, scientists differentiated scientific knowledge from religious belief in a way that presented them as distinctively useful but complementary; at McLean, the boundary between science and religion was drawn to exclude creation scientists from the profession. Both goals-41) differentiation of a valued commodity uniquely provided by science, and (2) exclusion of pseudoscientists-are important for scientists' establishment of a professional monopoly over the market for knowledge about nature. Each goal, however, required different descriptions of "science" at the two trials, and we conclude that this ideological flexibility has contributed to the successful professionalization of scientists in American society.

How work roles influence perception: Structural-cognitive processes and organizational behavior.

Abstract: This article develops a model of how workers perceive each other at work, and shows why subordinate workers underevaluate their fellow subordinates and overevaluate their managers. The guiding thesis is that (1) organizational factors systematically bias the information that actors have about each other, and (2) cognitive and motivational limits on the ability to process information do not allow actors to correct for the biased source of their information. The main hypothesis tested is that those who are high in an organizational hierarchy and who do high-skill-level tasks are perceived more favorably on selected role-related traits than are others of equal ability in the organization. The hypothesis is tested by creating an experimental corporate office. As predicted, clerks rate managers more favorably on selected traits than they rate fellow clerks, even though subjects were assigned to the two roles on a random basis. A structural-cognitive model best accounts for the results. Recently, Jackman and Senter (1983) found that people believe that thriftiness, industriousness and intelligence increase as one ascends the class ladder. Furthermore, they found that poor and working-class respondents believe this as well as members of the upper classes. Although Jackman and Senter's data do not address specific occupations, their findings suggest that people make trait distinctions between occupations as well as classes. Thus, it seems likely that people think secretaries are less talented, ambitious, aggressive, etc., than their bosses. Yet, given the extreme skew of women's participation in the labor force, it is probable that secretaries are often more intelligent than their bosses, just as line workers are sometimes more intelligent than their foremen, and junior executives more talented than senior ones. In these cases, the question arises as to whether workers can accurately perceive each others' talents and abilities. In other words, are there organizational, cognitive and motivational factors that cause subordinate workers to overevaluate their managers and to underevaluate their fellow workers?

Job Involvement Through the Life Course: A Panel Study of Three Age Groups

Abstract: Utilizing panel data for three age groups from the 1972-73 and 1977 Quality of Employment Surveys, this study investigates the interrelations of work experiences and subjective job involvement in three age groups that are indicative of different career stages. Whereas job involvement is quite volatile in the initial stage of the work career, it becomes more stable, supporting the "aging stability hypothesis," as workers grow older. Work experiences and rewards also change less as workers age, suggesting that the growing stability with age in job involvement occurs in the context of an increasingly stable work environment. Work autonomy exerts a significant influence on job involvement in all age groups. However, the fact that this intrinsic dimension of work has the strongest influence on involvement in the youngest cohort supports the contention that there is a highly formative stage in young adulthood, after which time the person becomes more resistant to environmental pressures to change. The findings also suggest that the effects ofjob involvement on occupational achievement may be specific to the middle stage of the career. The results of this study indicate the potential of applying a life-span developmental perspective to the study of the sources and consequences of job involvement.

Nativity intermarriage and mother-tongue shift

Abstract: This study is concerned with the process of the continuation of unique language among native-born generations of immigrants in the United States. The author examines changes in language between generations in relation to linguistic and ethnic intermarriage. "The analysis based on 1976 Survey of Income and Education data shows that non-English languages disappear between generations as patterns of social interaction widen to include intimate associations outside of the non-English-language community and outside of the ethnic descent group." (EXCERPT)

Disorganization and the New Mexico Prison Riot of 1980

Abstract: "Breakdown" theorists postulate that collective action results from social disorganization and increased levels of discontent. Data on the 1980 New Mexico prison riot provide support for certain aspects of this model. From 1970 to 1975, the State Penitentiary provided inmates with employment opportunities and recreational programs. These integrating activities were sharply curtailed after 1975. As a consequence, inmates experienced strong feelings of deprivation, and inter-inmate violence increased. The 1980 riot reflected the disintegration of the previous five years. No one element was in control of the riot, and the level of brutality surpassed that of any other U.S. prison riot. Few researchers now defend a "breakdown" or "disorganization" model of collective action, even though it dominated the field just two decades ago (Kornhauser, 1959; Smelser, 1962; Davies, 1962). According to the model, collective action arises from a breakdown in the structures of solidarity-church, family, work, and voluntary organizations-that normally channel people into conventional behavior. The fact that the "breakdown" model is called what it is-rather than the "crisis" or "shock" model, say-reflects an underlying presumption that in normal times social structures exist which keep people from mobilizing for conflict. Two complementary facets of the breakdown model emphasize different sets of these controlling structures. A Durkheimian (and Parsonian) facet emphasizes control over the individual's emotions, thoughts, and appetites. In normal times, the individual is integrated into the social whole; he feels a sense of commonality with other sectors of the society; his appetites are restrained to a manageable level. According to this view, then, disorganization produces collective action for two reasons. First, disorganization frees individuals from the regulatory mechanisms that inhere in social organization. Urbanization and migration, for example, uproot individuals from their social, political, and recreational activities, producing a mass of isolated, anomic individuals. These marginal individuals are then readily "available" for mobilization (Kornhauser, 1959; Smelser, 1962). Second, disorganization increases "discontent" within a population. The isolated, anomic individual develops new, unpredictable, and potentially unfulfillable desires; he develops irrational beliefs about how they can be fulfilled; he seeks to escape and overcome his isolation and discontent through collective action

Number of siblings and educational mobility

Abstract: The relationship between number of children in the family and level of educational attainment in the United States is explored. The data are from the Occupational Changes in a Generation 1962 and 1973 surveys and the General Social Survey 1972-1983. The results suggest that for white males the influence of fathers education on sons schooling has been dependent on number of siblings. The impact of changes in family size over time is noted. (ANNOTATION)