Collins - 1971 - Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification

Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification
Author(s): Randall Collins

Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 36, No. 6 (Dec., 1971), pp. 1002-1019
Published by: American Sociological Association
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1002 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW
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1963 "Some correlates of urban size: A replica- Harper.
FUNCTIONAL AND CONFLICT THEORIES

OF EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION *
RANDALL COLLINS
University of California, San Diego
American Sociological Review 1971, Vol. 36 (December):1002-1019
Two theories are considered in accounting for the increased schooling required for employ-
ment in advanced industrial society: (a) a technical-function theory, stating that educational
requirements reflect the demands for greater skills on the job due to technological change;
and (b) a conflict theory, stating that employment requirements reflect the efforts of
competing status groups to monopolize or dominate jobs by imposing their cultural
standards on the selection process. A review of the evidence indicates that the conflict theory
is more strongly supported. The main dynamic of rising educational requirements in the
United States has been primarily the expansion of mobility opportunities through the school
system, rather than autonomous changes in the structure of employment. It is argued that
the effort to build a comprehensive theory of stratification is best advanced by viewing
those effects of technological change on educational requirements that are substantiated
within the basic context of a conflict theory of stratification.
EDUCATION has become highly important social mobility. This paper attempts to as-
in occupational attainment in modern sess the adequacy of two theories in account-
America, and thus occupies a central ing for available evidence on the link be-
place in the analysis of stratification and of tween education and stratification: a func-
tional theory concerning trends in technical
* I am indebted to Joseph Ben-David, Bennett skill requirements in industrial societies; and
Berger, Reinhard Bendix, Margaret S. Gordon, a conflict theory derived from the approach
Joseph R. Gusfield, Stanford M. Lyman, Martin
of Max Weber, stating the determinants of
A. Trow, and Harold L. Wilensky for advice and
comment; and to Margaret S. Gordon for making various outcomes in the struggles among
available data collected by the Institute of Indus- status groups. It will be argued that the
trial Relations of the University of California at evidence best supports the conflict theory,
Berkeley, under grants from the U. S. Office of
although technical requirements have im-
Education and U. S. Department of Labor. Their
endorsement of the views expressed here is not
portant effects in particular contexts. It will
implied. be further argued that the construction of a
EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION 1003
general theory of the determinants of strati- tainment after the completion of education
fication in its varying forms is best advanced (Blau and Duncan, 1967:163-205; Eckland,
by incorporating elements of the functional 1965; Sewell et al., 1969; Duncan and
analysis of technical requirements of specific Hodge, 1963; Lipset and Bendix, 1959:189-
jobs at appropriate points within the con- 192). There are differences in occupational
flict model. The conclusion offers an inter- attainment independent of social origins be-
pretation of historical change in education tween the graduates of more prominent and
and stratification in industrial America, and less prominent secondary schools, colleges,
suggests where further evidence is required graduate schools, and law schools (Smigel,
for more precise tests and for further de- 1964:39, 73-74, 117; Havemann and West,
velopment of a comprehensive explanatory 1952:179-181; Ladinsky, 1967; Hargens
theory. and Hagstrom, 1967).
Educational requirements for employment
The Importance of Education have become increasingly widespread, not
A number of studies have shown that the only in elite occupations but also at the
number of years of education is a strong de- bottom of the occupational hierarchy (see
terminant of occupational achievement in Table 1). In a 1967 survey of the San
America with social origins constant. They Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose areas
also show that social origins affect educa- (Collins, 1969), 17%o of the employers sur-
tional attainment, and also occupational at- veyed required at least a high school diploma
Table 1. Percent of Employers Requiring Various Minimum Educational Levels

-of__Employees ,by Occupational Level.
National Survey, 1937-38
Un- Semi- Cleri- Mana- Profes-

skilled skilled Skilled cal gerial sional
Less than high school 99% 97% 89% 33% 32% 9%
High school diploma 1 3 11 63 S4 16
Some college 1 2 23
College degree 3 12 52
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
San Francisco Bay Area, 1967
Less than high school 83% 76% 62% 29% 27% 10%
High School diploma 16 24 28 68 14 4
Vocational training
beyond high school 1 1 10 2 2 4
Some college 2 12 7
College degree 41 70
Graduate degree 3 5
100% 100% 100% 101% 99% 100%

(244) (237) (245) (306) (288) (240)
Sources: H.M. Bell,-Matching Youth and Jobs (Washington: American Council on
Education, p. 264, as analyzed in Lawrence Thomas, The Occu-
pational Structure and Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1956) P. 346u and Randall Collins, "Education and Employmen
unpublished PA.D. dissertation, University of California at
Berkeley, 1969, Table III-1. Bell does not report the number of
employers in the sample, but it was apparently large.
for employment in even unskilled positions; 1 of technological change. Two processes are
a national survey (Bell, 1940) in 1937-1938 involved: (a) the proportion of jobs requir-
found a comparable figure of 1%. At the ing low skill decreases and the proportion
same time, educational requirements appear requiring high skill increases; and (b) the
to have become more specialized, with 38% same jobs are upgraded in skill requirements.
of the organizations in the 1967 survey which (2) Formal education provides the training,
required college degrees of managers pre- either in specific skills or in general capaci-
ferring business administration training, and ties, necessary for the more highly skilled
an additional 15%o preferring engineering jobs. (3) Therefore, educational require-
training; such requirements appear to have ments for employment constantly rise, and
been virtually unknown in the 1920s (Pier- increasingly larger proportions of the popu-
son, 1959:34-54). At the same time, the lation are required to spend longer and longer
proportions of the American population at- periods in school.
tending schools through the completion of The technical-function theory of educa-
high school and advanced levels have risen tion may be seen as a particular application
sharply during the last century (Table 2). of a more general functional approach. The
Careers are thus increasingly shaped within functional theory of stratification (Davis
the educational system. and Moore, 1945) rests on the premises (A)
that occupational positions require particular
The Technical-Function Theory of Educa- kinds of skilled performance; and (B) that
tion positions must be filled with persons who
have either the native ability, or who have
A common explanation of the importance acquired the training, necessary for the
of education in modern society may be performance of the given occupational role.2
termed the technical-function theory. Its
basic propositions, found in a number of 2The concern here is with these basic premises
sources (see, for example, B. Clark, 1962; rather than with the theory elaborated by Davis
Kerr et al., 1960), may be stated as follows: and Moore to account for the universality of
(1) the skill requirements of jobs in in- stratification. This theory involves a few further
propositions: (C) in any particular form of so-
dustrial society constantly increase because
ciety certain occupational positions are function-
ally most central to the operation of the social
1 This survey covered 309 establishments with system; (D) the ability to fill these positions, and/
100 or more employees, representing all major or the motivation to acquire the necessary training,
industry groups. is unequally distributed in the population; (E) in-
Table 2. Percentage Educational Attainment in the United States, 1869-1965.
B.A.'s or M.A.'s or
High School Resident lst prof. 2nd prof. Ph.D.'s
graduates/ college degrees/ degrees/ 1/10 of
pop. 17 yrs. students/ 1/10 of pop. 1/10 of pop. pop.
Period old pop. 18-21 15-24 25-34 25-34
1869-1870 2.0 1.7

1879-1880 2.5 2.7
1889-1890 3.5 3.0
1899-1900 6.4 4.0 1.66 0.12 0.03
1909-1910 8.8 S.1 1.85 0.13 0.02
1919-1920 16.8 8.9 2.33 0.24 0.03
1929-1930 29.0 12.4 4.90 0.78 0.12
1939-1940 50.8 15.6 7.05 1.24 0.15
1949-1950 59.0 29.6 17.66 2.43 0.27
1959-1960 65.1 34.9 17.72 3.25 0.42
1963 76.3 38.0
1965 19.71 5.02 0.73
Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States, Series A-28-29, H 327-

338; Statistical Abstract of the United States 1966, Tables 3 and.
194; Digest of Educational Statistics (U. S. Office of Education,
1967), Tables 66 and 88.
The technical-function theory of education The only available evidence on this point
may be viewed as a subtype of this form of consists of data collected by the U. S. De-
analysis, since it shares the premises that partment of Labor in 1950 and 1960, which
the occupational structure creates demands indicate the amount of change in skill re-
for particular kinds of performance, and that quirements of specific jobs. Under the most
training is one way of filling these demands. plausible assumptions as to the skills pro-
In addition, it includes the more restrictive vided by various levels of education, it ap-
premises (1 and 2 above) concerning the pears that the educational level of the U. S.
way in which skill requirements of jobs labor force has changed in excess of that
change with industrialization, and concerning which is necessary to keep up with skill re-
the content of school experiences. quirements of jobs (Berg, 1970:38-60).
The technical-function theory of educa- Over-education for available jobs is found
tion may be tested by reviewing the evidence particularly among males who have gradu-
for each of its propositions (la, lb, and 2).3 ated from college and females with high
As will be seen, these propositions do not school degrees or some college, and appears
adequately account for the evidence. In order to have increased between 1950 and 1960.
to generate a more complete explanation, it
Proposition (2): Formal education provides
will be necessary to examine the evidence for
required job skills. This proposition may be
the underlying functional propositions, (A)
tested in two ways: (a) Are better educated
and (B). This analysis leads to a focus on
employees more productive than less edu-
the processes of stratification-notably group
cated employees? (b) Are vocational skills
conflict-not expressed in the functional
learned in schools, or elsewhere?
theory, and to the formalization of a conflict
(a) Are better educated employees more
theory to account for the evidence.
productive? The evidence most often cited
Proposition (la): Educational requirements for the productive effects of education is
of jobs in industrial society increase because indirect, consisting of relationships between
the proportion of jobs requiring low skill aggregate levels of education in a society and
decreases and the proportion requiring high its overall economic productivity. These are
skill increases. Available evidence suggests of three types:
that this process accounts for only a minor
(i) The national growth approach involves
part of educational upgrading, at least in a calculating the proportion of growth in the
society that has passed the point of initial U. S. Gross National Product attributable to
industrialization. Fifteen percent of the in- conventional inputs of capital and labor;
these leave a large residual, which is at-
crease in education of the U. S. labor force
tributed to improvements in skill of the labor
during the twentieth century may be at- force based on increased education (Schultz,
tributed to shifts in the occupational struc- 1961; Denison, 1965). This approach suffers
ture-a decrease in the proportion of jobs from difficulty in clearly distinguishing among
technological change affecting productive ar-
with low skill requirements and an increase
rangements, changes in the abilities of work-
in proportion of jobs with high skill require- ers acquired by experience at work with new
ments (Folger and Nam, 1964). The bulk technologies, and changes in skills due to
of educational upgrading (857%) hasformal oc- education and motivational factors
associated with a competitive or achieve-
curred within job categories.
ment-oriented society. The assignment of a
large proportion of the residual category to
Proposition (lb): Educational requirements
education is arbitrary. Denison (1965) makes
of jobs in industrial society rise because the this attribution on the basis of the increased
same jobs are upgraded in skill requirements. income to persons with higher levels of edu-
cation interpreted as rewards for their con-
equalities of rewards in wealth and prestige evolve tributions to productivity. Although it is a
to ensure that the supply of persons with the nec- common assumption in economic argument
essary ability or training meshes with the structure that wage returns reflect output value, wage
of demands for skilled performance. The problems returns cannot be used to prove the produc-
of stating functional centrality in empirical terms tive contribution of education without circu-
have been subjects of much debate. lar reasoning.
3 Proposition 3 is supported by Tables 1 and 2. (ii) Correlations of education and level of
The issue here is whether this can be explained economic development for nations show that
by the previous propositions and premises. the higher the level of economic development
of a country, the higher the proportion of its on the job or casually (Clark and Sloan,
population in elementary, secondary, and 1966:73). Retraining for important techno-
higher education (Harbison and Myers,
logical changes in industry has been carried
1964). Such correlations beg the question of
causality. There are considerable variations out largely informally on-the-job; in only a
in school enrollments among countries at the very small proportion of jobs affected by
same economic level, and many of these technological change is formal retraining in
variations are explicable in terms of political
educational institutions used (Collins, 1969:
demands for access to education (Ben-David,
1963-64). Also, the overproduction of edu- 147-158; Bright, 1958).
cated personnel in countries whose level of The relevance of education for nonmanual
economic development cannot absorb them occupational skills is more difficult to evalu-
suggests the demand for education need not
ate. Training in specific professions, such as
come directly from the economy, and may
run counter to economic needs (Hoselitz,
medicine, engineering, scientific or scholarly
1965). research, teaching, and law can plausibly be
(iii) Time-lag correlations of education and considered vocationally relevant, and possi-
economic development show that increases in bly essential. Evidences comparing particular
the proportion of population in elementary
degrees of educational success with particular
school precede increases in economic develop-
ment after a takeoff point at approximately kinds of occupational performance or success
30-50% of the 7-14 years old age-group in are not available, except for a few occupa-
school. Similar anticipations of economic de- tions. For engineers, high college grades and
velopment are suggested for increases in
degree levels generally predict high levels of
secondary and higher education enrollment,
although the data do not clearly support this technical responsibility and high participa-
conclusion (Peaslee, 1969). A pattern of ad- tion in professional activities, but not neces-
vances in secondary school enrollments pre- sarily high salary or supervisory responsi-
ceding advances in economic development is bility (Perrucci and Perrucci, 1970). At the
found only in a small number of cases (12
of 37 examined in Peaslee, 1969). A pattern
same time, a number of practicing engineers
of growth of university enrollments and sub- lack college degrees (about 40% of engineers
sequent economic development is found in 21 in the early 1950s; see Soderberg, 1963:
of 37 cases, but the exceptions (including the 213), suggesting that even such highly tech-
United States, France, Sweden, Russia, and
nical skills may be acquired on the job. For
Japan) are of such importance as to throw
serious doubt on any necessary contribution academic research scientists, educational
of higher education to economic develop- quality has little effect on subsequent pro-
ment. The main contribution of education to ductivity (Hagstrom and Hargens, 1968).
economic productivity, then, appears to occur
For other professions, evidence is not availa-
at the level of the transition to mass literacy,
and not significantly beyond this level.
ble on the degree to which actual skills are
learned in school rather than in practice.
Direct evidence of the contribution of edu- In professions such as medicine and law,
cation to individual productivity is sum- where education is a legal requirement for
marized by Berg (1970:85-104, 143-176). It admission to practice, a comparison group
indicates that the better educated employees of noneducated practitioners is not available,
are not generally more productive, and in at least in the modern era.
some cases are less productive, among sam- Outside of the traditional learned profes-
ples of factory workers, maintenance men, sions, the plausibility of the vocational im-
department store clerks, technicians, secre- portance of education is more questionable.
taries, bank tellers, engineers, industrial re- Comparisons of the efforts of different oc-
search scientists, military personnel, and cupations to achieve "professionalization"
federal civil service employers. suggest that setting educational requirements
and bolstering them through licensing laws
(b) Are vocational skills learned in school,
or elsewhere? Specifically vocational educa- is a common tactic in raising an occupation's
tion in the schools for manual positions is prestige and autonomy (Wilensky, 1964).
virtually independent of job fate, as gradu- The result has been the proliferation of nu-
ates of vocational programs are not more merous pseudo-professions in modern so-
likely to be employed than high school drop- ciety; nevertheless these fail to achieve
outs (Plunkett, 1960; Duncan, 1964). Most strong professional organization through lack
skilled manual workers acquire their skills of a monpolizable (and hence teachable)
skill base. Business administration schools processes of social organization It may be

represent such an effort. (See Pierson, 1959: suggested that the "demands" of any oc-
9, 55-95, 140; Gordon and Howell, 1959: 1- cupational position are not fixed, but repre-
18, 40, 324-337). Descriptions of general, sent whatever behavior is settled upon in
nonvocational education do not support the bargaining between the persons who fill
image of schools as places where skills are the positions and those who attempt to con-
widely learned. Scattered studies suggest that trol them. Individuals want jobs primarily
the knowledge imparted in particular courses for the rewards to themselves in material
is retained only in small part through the goods, power, and prestige. The amount of
next few years (Learned and Wood, 1938: productive skill they must demonstrate to
28), and indicate a dominant student culture hold their positions depends on how much
concerned with nonacademic interests or clients, customers, or employers can suc-
with achieving grades with a minimum of cessfully demand of them, and this in turn
learning (Coleman, 1961; Becker et al., depends on the balance of power between
1968). workers and their employers.
The technical-function theory of educa- Employers tend to have quite imprecise
tion, then, does not give an adequate ac- conceptions of the skill requirements of most
count of the evidence. Economic evidence jobs, and operate on a strategy of "satisfic-
indicates no clear contributions of education ing" rather than optimizing-that is, setting
to economic development, beyond the provi- average levels of performance as satisfactory,
sions of mass literacy. Shifts in the propor- and making changes in procedures or per-
tions of more skilled and less skilled jobs sonnel only when performance falls notice-
do not account for the observed increase in ably below minimum standards (Dill et al.,
education of the American labor force. Edu- 1962; March and Simon, 1958:140-141).
cation is often irrelevant to on-the-job pro- Efforts to predict work performance by ob-
ductivity and is sometimes counter-produc- jective tests have foundered due to difficulties
tive; specifically vocational training seems in measuring performance (except on spe-
to be derived more from work experience cific mechanical tasks) and the lack of con-
than from formal school training. The qual- trol groups to validate the tests (Anastasi,
ity of schools themselves, and the nature of 1967). Organizations do not force their em-
dominant student cultures suggest that ployees to work at maximum efficiency; there
schooling is very inefficient as a means of is considerable insulation of workers at all
training for work skills. levels from demands for full use of their
skills and efforts. Informal controls over out-
Functional and Conflict Perspectives put are found not only among production
workers in manufacturing but also among
It may be suggested that the inadequacies sales and clerical personnel (Roy, 1952;
of the technical-function theory of education
Blau, 1955; Lombard, 1955). The existence
derive from a more basic source: the func-
of informal organization at the managerial
tional approach to stratification. A funda- level, the widespread existence of bureau-
mental assumption is that there is a gen-
cratic pathologies such as evasion of responsi-
erally fixed set of positions, whose various bility, empire-building, and displacement of
requirements the labor force must satisfy. means by ends ("red tape"), and the fact
The fixed demand for skills of various types,
that administrative work is only indirectly
at any given time, is the basic determinant of
related to the output of the organization,
who will be selected for what positions. So-
suggest that managers, too, are insulated
cial change may then be explained by speci-
from strong technological pressures for use
fying how these functional demands change
of technical skills. On all levels, wherever
with the process of modernization. In keep-
informal organization exists, it appears that
ing with the functional perspective in gen-
eral, the needs of society are seen as deter- standards of performance reflect the power
mining the behavior and the rewards of the of the groups involved.
individuals within it. In this light, it is possible to reinterpret the
However, this premise may be questioned body of evidence that ascriptive factors con-
as an adequate picture of the fundamental tinue to be important in occupational success
even in advanced industrial society. The mobilization of particular minority groups

social mobility data summarized at the onset rather than by an increased economic need
of this paper show that social origins have to select by achievement criteria.
a direct effect on occupational success, even Goode (1967) has offered a modified func-
after the completion of education. Both case tional model to account for these disparities:
studies and cross-sectional samples amply that work groups always organize to pro-
document widespread discrimination against tect their inept members from being judged
Negroes. Case studies show that the opera- by outsiders' standards of productivity, and
tion of ethnic and class standards in employ- that this self-protection is functional to the
ment based not merely on skin color but on organizations, preventing a Hobbesian com-
name, accent, style of dress, manners, and petitiveness and distrust of all against all.
conversational abilities (Noland and Bakke, This argument re-establishes a functional
1949; Turner, 1952; Taeuber et al., 1966; explanation, but only at the cost of under-
Nosow, 1956). Cross-sectional studies, based mining the technological view of functional
on both biographical and survey data, show requirements. Further, Goode's conclusions
that approximately 60 to 70% of the Amer- can be put in other terms: it is to the ad-
ican business elite come from upper-class and vantage of groups of employees to organize
upper-middle-class families, and fewer than so that they will not be judged by strict
15% from working-class families (Taussig performance standards; and it is at least
and Joselyn, 1932:97; Warner and Abeg- minimally to the advantage of the employer
glen, 1955:37-68; Newcomer, 1955:53; to let them do so, for if he presses them
Bendix, 1956:198-253; Mills, 1963:110- harder he creates dissension and alienation.
139). These proportions are fairly constant Just how hard an employer can press his
from the early 1800's through the 1950's. employees is not given in Goode's functional
The business elite is overwhelmingly Protes- model. That is, his model has the disad-
tant, male, and completely white, although vantage, common to functional analysis in
there are some indications of a mild trend its most general form, of covering too many
toward declining social origins and an in- alternative possibilities to provide testable
crease of Catholics and Jews. Ethnic and explanations of specific outcomes. Functional
class background have been found crucial analysis too easily operates as a justification
for career advancement in the professions as for whatever particular pattern exists, as-
well (Ladinsky, 1963; Hall, 1946). Sexual serting in effect that there is a proper reason
stereotyping of jobs is extremely widespread for it to be so, but failing to state the condi-
(Collins, 1969:234-238). tions under which a particular pattern will
In the traditional functionalist approach, hold rather than another. The technical ver-
these forms of ascription are treated as re- sion of job requirements has the advantage
sidual categories: carry-overs from a less of specifying patterns, but it is this specific
advanced period, or marks of the imperfec- form of functional explanation that is jet-
tions of the functional mechanism of place- tisoned by a return to a more abstract func-
ment. Yet available trend data suggest that tional analysis.
the link between social class origins and oc- A second hypothesis may be suggested:
cupational attainment has remained con- the power of "ascribed" groups may be the
stant during the twentieth century in Amer- prime basis of selection in all organizations,
ica (Blau and Duncan, 1967:81-113); the and technical skills are secondary considera-
proportion of women in higher occupational tions depending on the balance of power.
levels has changed little since the late nine- Education may thus be regarded as a mark
teenth century (Epstein, 1970:7); and the of membership in a particular group (possi-
few available comparisons between elite bly at times its defining characteristic), not
groups in traditional and modern societies a mark of technical skills or achievement.
suggest comparable levels of mobility Educational requirements may thus reflect
(Marsh, 1963). Declines in racial and ethnic the interests of whichever groups have power
discrimination that appear to have occurred to set them. Weber (1968:1000) interpreted
at periods in twentieth-century America may educational requirements in bureaucracies,
be plausibly explained as results of political drawing especially on the history of public
administration in Prussia, as the result of "breeding," "respectability," "propriety,"

efforts by university graduates to monopo- "cultivation," "good fellows," "plain folks,"
lize positions, raise their corporate status, etc. Thus the exclusion of persons who lack
and thereby increase their own security and the ingroup culture is felt to be normatively
power vis-h-vis both higher authorities and legitimated.
clients. Gusfield (1958) has shown that edu- There is no a priori determination of the
cational requirements in the British Civil number of status groups in a particular so-
Service were set as the result of a power ciety, nor can the degree to which there is
struggle between a victorious educated up- consensus on a rank order among them be
per-middle-class and the traditional aristoc- stated in advance. These are not matters of
racy. definition, but empirical variations, the
To summarize the argument to this point: causes of which are subjects of other devel-
available evidence suggests that the techni- opments of the conflict theory of stratifica-
cal-functional view of educational require- tion. Status groups should be regarded as
ments for jobs leaves a large number of facts ideal types, without implication of neces-
unexplained. Functional analysis on the more sarily distinct boundaries; the concepts re-
abstract level does not provide a testable main useful even in the case where associa-
explanation of which ascribed groups will tional groupings and their status cultures are
be able to dominate which positions. To fluid and overlapping, as hypotheses about
answer this question, one must leave the the conflicts among status groups may re-
functional frame of reference and examine main fruitful even under these circumstances.
the conditions of relative power of each Status groups may be derived from a num-
group. ber of sources. Weber outlines three: (a)
differences in life style based on economic
A Conflict Theory of Stratification situation (i.e., class); (b) differences in life
situation based on power position; (c) differ-
The conditions under which educational
ences in life situation deriving directly from
requirements will be set and changed may be
cultural conditions or institutions, such as
stated more generally, on the basis of a
geographical origin, ethnicity, religion, edu-
conflict theory of stratification derived from
cation, or intellectual or aesthetic cultures.
Weber (1968:926-939; see also Collins,
B. Struggle for Advantage. There is a con-
1968), and from advances in modern organi-
tinual struggle in society for various "goods"
zation theory fitting the spirit of this ap-
-wealth, power, or prestige. We need
proach.
make no assumption that every individual
A. Status groups. The basic units of so-
is motivated to maximize his rewards; how-
ciety are associational groups sharing com-
ever, since power and prestige are inherently
mon cultures (or "subcultures"). The core
scarce commodities, and wealth is often con-
of such groups is families and friends, but
tingent upon them, the ambition of even a
they may be etxended to religious, educa-
small proportion of persons for more than
tional, or ethnic communities. In general,
equal shares of these goods sets up an im-
they comprises all persons who share a
plicit counter-struggle on the part of others
sense of status equality based on participa-
to avoid subjection and disesteem. Indi-
tion in a common culture: styles of language,
viduals may struggle with each other, but
tastes in clothing and decor, manners and
since individual identity is derived primarily
other ritual observances, conversational top-
from membership in a status group, and be-
ics and styles, opinions and values, and pre-
cause the cohesion of status groups is a key
ferences in sports, arts, and media. Participa-
resource in the struggle against others, the
tion in such cultural groups gives individuals
their fundamental sense of identity, espe- primary focus of struggle is between status
cially in contrast with members of other as- groups rather than within them.
sociational groups in whose everyday culture The struggle for wealth, power, and pres-
they cannot participate comfortably. Sub- tige is carried out primarily through organi-
jectively, status groups distinguish them- zations. There have been struggles through-
selves from others in terms of categories of out history among organizations controlled
moral evaluation such as "honor," "taste," by different status groups, for military con-
quest, business advantage, or cultural (e.g., Once groups of employees of different

religious) hegemony, and intricate sorts of status groups are formed at various positions
interorganizational alliances are possible. In (middle, lower, or laterally differentiated) in
the more complex societies, struggle between the organization, each of these groups may
status groups is carried on in large part be expected to launch efforts to recruit more
within organizations, as the status groups members of their own status group. This
controlling an organization coerce, hire, or process is illustrated by conflicts among
culturally manipulate others to carry out whites and blacks, Protestants and Catholics
their wishes (as in, respectively, a conscript and Jews, Yankee, Irish and Italian, etc.
army, a business, or a church). Organiza- found in American occupational life
tional research shows that the success of (Hughes, 1949; Dalton, 1951). These con-
organizational elites in controlling their sub-flicts are based on ethnically or religiously
ordinates is quite variable. Under particular founded status cultures; their intensity rises
conditions, lower or middle members have and falls with processes increasing or de-
considerable de facto power to avoid com- creasing the cultural distinctiveness of these
pliance, and even to change the course of the groups, and with the succession of advan-
organizations (see Etzioni, 1961). tages and disadvantages set by previous out-
This opposing power from below is comes of these struggles which determine the
strengthened when subordinate members organizational resources available for further
constitute a cohesive status group of their struggle. Parallel processes of cultural con,
own; it is weakened when subordinates ac- flict may be based on distinctive class as well
quiesce in the values of the organization as ethnic cultures.
elite. Coincidence of ethnic and class boun- C. Education As Status Culture. The main
daries produces the sharpest cultural dis- activity of schools is to teach particular
tinctions. Thus, Catholics of immigrant ori-status cultures, both in and outside the class-
gins have been the bulwarks of informal room. In this light, any failure of schools to
norms restricting work output in American impart technical knowledge (although it may
firms run by WASPs, whereas Protestants also be successful in this) is not important;
of native rural backgrounds are the main schools primarily teach vocabulary and in-
"rate-busters" (O. Collins et al., 1946). flection, styles of dress, aesthetic tastes, val-
Selection and manipulation of members in ues and manners. The emphasis on socia-
terms of status groups is thus a key weapon bility and athletics found in many schools is
in intraorganizational struggles. In general, not extraneous but may be at the core of the
the organization elite selects its new members status culture propagated by the schools.
and key assistants from its own status group Where schools have a more academic or vo-
and makes an effort to secure lower-level em- cational emphasis, this emphasis may itself
ployees who are at least indoctrinated to be the content of a particular status culture,
respect the cultural superiority of their statusproviding sets of values, materials for con-
culture.4 versation, and shared activities for an asso-
ciational group making claims to a particular
4 It might be argued that the ethnic cultures basis for status.
may differ in their functionality: that middle-
Insofar as a particular status group con-
class Protestant culture provides the self-discipline
and other attributes necessary for higher organi- trols education, it may use it to foster con-
zational positions in modern society. This version
of functional theory is specific enough to be sub- cient managers are selected for survival. The oligo-
ject to empirical test: are middle-class WASPs polistic situation in large-scale American business
in fact better businessmen or government adminis- since the late 19th century does not seem to pro-
trators than Italians, Irishmen, or Jews of patri- vide such a mechanism; nor does government
monial or working class cultural backgrounds? employment. Schumpeter (1951), the leading ex-
Weber suggested that they were in the initial positor of the importance of managerial talent
construction of the capitalist economy within the in business, confined his emphasis to the formative
confines of traditional society; he also argued period of business expansion, and regarded the
that once the new economic system was established, large, oligopolistic corporation as an arena where
the original ethic was no longer necessary to run advancement came to be based on skills in organi-
it (Weber, 1930:180-183). Moreover, the func- zational politics (1951:122-124); these personalistic
tional explanation also requires some feedback skills are arguably more characteristic of the patri-
mechanism whereby organizations with more effi- monial cultures than of WASP culture.
trol within work organizations. Educational century, this rivalry was an important basis
requirements for employment can serve both for the founding of large numbers of colleges
to select new members for elite positions who in the U. S., and of the Catholic and Lu-
share the elite culture and, at a lower level of theran school systems. The public school
education, to hire lower and middle em- system in the U. S. was founded mainly
ployees who have acquired a general respect under the impetus of WASP elites with the
for these elite values and styles. purpose of teaching respect for Protestant
and middle-class standards of cultural and
Tests of the Conflict Theory of Educational religious propriety, especially in the face of
Stratification Catholic, working-class immigration from
Europe (Cremin, 1961; Curti, 1935). The
The conflict theory in its general form is
content of public school education has con-
supported by evidence (1) that there are
sisted especially of middle-class, WASP cul-
distinctions among status group cultures-
ture (Waller, 1932:15-131; Becker, 1961;
based both on class and on ethnicity-in
Hess and Torney, 1967).
modern societies (Kahl, 1957:127-156, 184-
At the elite level, private secondary schools
220); (2) that status groups tend to occupy
for children of the WASP upper class were
different occupational positions within orga-
founded from the 1880s, when the mass in-
nizations (see data on ascription cited
doctrination function of the growing public
above); and (3) that occupants of different
schools made them unsuitable as means of
organizational positions struggle over power
maintaining cohesion of the elite culture it-
(Dalton, 1959; Crozier, 1964). The more
self (Baltzell, 1958:327-372). These elite
specific tests called for here, however, are of
schools produce a distinctive personality
the adequacy of conflict theory to explain
type, characterized by adherence to a distinc-
the link between education and occupational
tive set of upper-class values and manners
stratification. Such tests may focus either
(McArthur, 1955). The cultural role of
on the proposed mechanism of occupational schools has been more closely studied in
placement, or on the conditions for strong
Britain (Bernstein, 1961; Weinberg, 1967),
or weak links between education and occupa-
and in France (Bourdieu and Passeron,
tion.
1964), although Riesman and his colleagues
Education As a Mechanism of Occupa-
(Riesman, 1958; Jencks and Riesman, 1968)
tional Placement. The mechanism proposed
have shown some of the cultural differences
is that employers use education to select
among prestige levels of colleges and uni-
persons who have been socialized into the
versities in the United States.
dominant status culture: for entrants to
(b) Evidence that education has been
their own managerial ranks, into elite cul-
used as a means of cultural selection may be
ture; for lower-level employees, into an at-
found in several sources. Hollingshead's
titude of respect for the dominant culture
(1949:360-388) study of Elmtown school
and the elite which carries it. This requires
children, school dropouts, and community
evidence that: (a) schools provide either
attitudes toward them suggests that em-
training for the elite culture, or respect for
ployers use education as a means of selecting
it; and (b) employers use education as a
employees with middle-class attributes. A
means of selection for cultural attributes.
1945-1946 survey of 240 employers in New
(a) Historical and descriptive studies of
Haven and Charlotte, N. C. indicated that
schools support the generalization that they
they regarded education as a screening device
are places where particular status cultures
for employees with desirable (middle-class)
are acquired, either from the teachers, from
character and demeanor; white-collar posi-
other students, or both. Schools are usually
tions particularly emphasized educational
founded by powerful or autonomous status
groups, either to provide an exclusive educa- selection because these employees were con-
tion for their own children, or to propagate sidered most visible to outsiders (Noland
respect for their cultural values. Until re- and Bakke, 1949:20-63).
cently most schools were founded by re- A survey of employers in nationally prom-
ligions, often in opposition to those foundedinent corporations indicated that they re-
by rival religions; throughout the 19th garded college degrees as important in hiring
potential managers, not because they were Variations in Linkage between Education
thought to ensure technical skills, but rather and Occupation
to indicate "motivation" and "social experi-
ence" (Gordon and Howell, 1959:121). Busi- The conflict model may also be tested by
ness school training is similarly regarded, lessexamining the cases in which it predicts edu-
as evidence of necessary training (as em- cation will be relatively important or unim-
ployers have been widely skeptical of the portant in occupational attainment. Educa-
utility of this curriculum for most positions) tion should be most important where two
than as an indication that the college gradu- conditions hold simultaneously: (1) the
ate is committed to business attitudes. Thus, type of education most closely reflects
employers are more likely to refuse to hire membership in a particular status group,
liberal arts graduates if they come from a and (2) that group controls employment
college which has a business school than if in particular organizational contexts. Thus,
their college is without a business school education will be most important where
(Gordon and Howell, 1959:84-87; see also the fit is greatest between the culture
Pierson, 1959:90-99). In the latter case, of the status groups emerging from schools,
the students could be said not to have had and the status group doing the hiring; it will
a choice; but when both business and liberal be least important where there is the greatest
arts courses are offered and the student disparity between the culture of the school
chooses liberal arts, employers appear to and of the employers.
take this as a rejection of business values. This fit between school-group culture and
Finally, a 1967 survey of 309 California employer culture may be conceptualized as
organizations (Collins, 1971) found that a continuum. The importance of elite educa-
educational requirements for white-collar tion is highest where it is involved in selec-
workers were highest in organizations which tion of new members of organizational elites,
placed the strongest emphasis on normative and should fade off where jobs are less elite
control over their employees.s Normative (either lower level jobs in these organiza-
control emphasis was indicated by (i) relations, or jobs in other organizations not con-
tive emphasis on the absence of police recordtrolled by the cultural elite). Similarly,
for job applicants; (ii) relative emphasis on schools which produce the most elite gradu-
a record of job loyalty; (iii) Etzioni's (1961) ates will be most closely linked to elite oc-
classification of organizations into those with cupations; schools whose products are less
high normative control emphasis (financial, well socialized into elite culture are selected
for jobs correspondingly less close to elite
professional services, government, and other
organizational levels.
public services organizations) and those with
In the United States, the schools which
remunerative control emphasis (manufactur-
produce culturally elite groups, either by
ing, construction, and trade). These three
virtue of explicit training or by selection of
indicators are highly interrelated, thus mutu-
students from elite backgrounds, or both, are
ally validating their conceptualization as in-
the private prep schools at the secondary
dicators of normative control emphasis. The
level; at the higher level, the elite colleges
relationship between normative control em-
(the Ivy league, and to a lesser degree the
phasis and educational requirements holds
major state universities); at the profes-
for managerial requirements and white-collar
sional training level, those professional
requirements generally, both including and
schools attached to the elite colleges and
excluding professional and technical posi-
universities. At the secondary level, schools
tions. Normative control emphasis does not
which produce respectably socialized, non-
affect blue-collar education requirements.
elite persons are the public high schools
(especially those in middle-class residential
5Sample consisted of approximately one-third areas); from the point of view of the culture
of all organizations with 100 or more employees of WASP employers, Catholic schools (and
in the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose
all-black schools) are less acceptable. At the
metropolitan areas. See Gordon and Thal-Larsen
(1969) for a description of procedures and other level of higher education, Catholic and black
findings. colleges and professional schools are less
elite, and commercial training schools are the lective in this regard, choosing not only from
least elite form of education. Ivy League law schools but from a group
In the United States, the organizations whose background includes attendance at
most clearly dominated by the WASP upper elite prep schools and colleges (Smigel, 1964:
class are large, nationally organized business 39, 73-74, 117). There are also indications
corporations, and the largest law firms (Dom- that graduates of ethnically-dominated pro-
hoff, 1967:38-62). Those organizations more fessional schools are most likely to practice
likely to be dominated by members of mi- within the ethnic community; this is clearly
nority ethnic cultures are the smaller and the case among black professionals. In gen-
local businesses in manufacturing, construc- eral, the evidence that graduates of black
tion, and retail trade; in legal practice, solo colleges (Sharp, 1970:64-67) and of Catho-
rather than firm employment. In government lic colleges (Jencks and Riesman, 1968:357-
employment, local governments appear to be 366) have attained lower occupational posi-
more heavily dominated by ethnic groups, tions in business than graduates of white
whereas particular branches of the national Protestant schools (at least until recent
government (notably the State Department years) also bolsters this interpretation.
and the Treasury) are dominated by WASP It is possible to interpret this evidence ac-
elites (Domhoff, 1967: 84-114, 132-137). cording to the technical-function theory of
Evidence on the fit between education and education, arguing that the elite schools
employment is available for only some of provide the best technical training, and that
these organizations. In a broad sample of the major national organizations require the
organizational types (Collins, 1971) educa- greatest degree of technical talent. What is
tional requirements were higher in the bigger necessary is to test simultaneously for tech-
organizations, which also tended to be orga- nical and status-conflict conditions. The most
nized on a national scale, than in smaller direct evidence on this point is the California
and more localistic organizations.6 The find- employer study (Collins, 1971), which ex-
ing of Perrucci and Perrucci (1970) that amined the effects of normative control em-
upper-class social origins were important in phasis and of organizational prominence,
career success precisely within the group of while holding constant the organization's
engineers who graduated from the most pres- technological modernity, as measured by the
tigious engineering schools with the highest number of technological and organizational
grades may also bear on this question; since changes in the previous six years. Techno-
the big national corporations are most likely logical change was found to affect educa-
to hire this academically elite group, the tional requirements at managerial and white-
importance of social origins within this group collar (but not blue-collar) levels, thus
tends to corroborate the interpretation of giving some support to the technical-func-
education as part of a process of elite cul- tion theory of education. The three variables
tural selection in those organizations. -normative control emphasis, organizational
Among lawyers, the predicted differences prominence, and technological change-each
are clear: graduates of the law schools at-
tached to elite colleges and universities are
7Similar processes may be found in other so-
more likely to be employed in firms, whereas cieties, where the kinds of organizations linked to
graduates of Catholic or commercial law particular types of schools may differ. In England,
schools are more likely to be found in solo the elite "public schools" are linked especially to
the higher levels of the national civil service (Wein-
practice (Ladinsky, 1967). The elite Wall
berg, 1967:139-143). In France, the elite Ecole
Street law firms are most educationally se- Polytechnique is linked to both government and
industrial administrative positions (Crozier, 1964:
238-244). In Germany, universities have been
8 Again, these relationships hold for managerial linked principally with government administration,
requirements and white-collar requirements gen- and business executives are drawn from elsewhere
erally, both including and excluding professional (Ben-David and Zloczower, 1962). Comparative
and technical positions, but not for blue-collar analysis of the kinds of education of government
requirements. Noland and Bakke (1949:78) also officials, business executives, and other groups in
report that larger organizations have higher educa-contexts where the status group links of schools
tional requirements for administrative positions differ is a promising area for further tests of con-
than smaller organizations. flict and technical-functional explanations.
independently affected educational require- Historical Change

ments, in particular contexts. Technological
The rise in educational requirements for
change produced significantly higher educa-
employment throughout the last century may
tional requirements only in smaller, localistic
be explained using the conflict theory, and
organizations, and in organizational sectors
incorporating elements of the technical-func-
not emphasizing normative control. Organi-
tional theory into it at appropriate points.
zational prominence produced significantly
The principal dynamic has centered on
higher educational requirements in organiza-
changes in the supply of educated persons
tions with low technological change, and in
caused by the expansion of the school sys-
sectors de-emphasizing normative control.
tem, which was in turn shaped by three
Normative control emphasis produced sig-
conditions:
nificantly higher educational requirements
(1) Education has been associated with
in organizations with low technological
high economic and status position from the
change, and in less prominent organizations.
colonial period on through the twentieth
Thus, technical and normative status condi-
century. The result was a popular demand
tions all affect educational requirements;
for education as mobility opportunity. This
measures of association indicated that the
demand has not been for vocational educa-
latter conditions were stronger in this sam-
tion at a terminal or commercial level, short
ple.
of full university certification; the demand
Other evidence bearing on this point con-
has rather focused on education giving entry
cerns business executives only. A study of the
into the elite status culture, and usually only
top executives in nationally prominent busi-
those technically-oriented schools have pros-
nesses indicated that the most highly edu-
pered which have most closely associated
cated managers were not found in the most
themselves with the sequence of education
rapidly developing companies, but rather in
leading to (or from) the classical Bachelor's
the least economically vigorous ones, with
degree (Collins, 1969:68-70, 86-87, 89, 96-
highest education found in the traditionalistic
101).
financial and utility firms (Warner and
(2) Political decentralization, separation
Abegglen, 1955:141-143, 148). The business
of church and state, and competition among
elite has always been highly educated in rela-
religious denominations have made founding
tion to the American populace, but education
schools and colleges in America relatively
seems to be a correlate of their social origins
easy, and provided initial motivations of
rather than the determinant of their success
competition among communities and reli-
(Mills, 1963:128; Taussig and Joslyn, 1932:
gious groups that moved them to do so. As
200; Newcomer, 1955:76). Those members
a result, education at all levels expanded
of the business elite who entered its ranks
faster in America than anywhere else in
from lower social origins had less educa-
the world. At the, time of the Revolution,
tion than the businessmen of upper and
there were nine colleges in the colonies; in
upper-middle-class origins, and those busi-
all of Europe, with a population forty times
nessmen who inherited their companies were
that of America, there were approximately
much more likely to be college educated than
sixty colleges. By 1880 there were 811 Amer-
those who achieved their positions by entre-
ican colleges and universities; by 1966, there
preneurship (Bendix, 1956:230; Newcomer,
were 2,337. The United States not only
1955:80).
began with the highest ratio of institutions
In general, the evidence indicates that edu-
of higher education to population in the
cational requirements for employment reflect
world, but increased this lead steadily, for
employers' concerns for acquiring respecta- the number of European universities was not
ble and well-socialized employees; their con- much greater by the twentieth century than
cern for the provision of technical skills in the eighteenth (Ben-David and Zloczower,
through education enters to a lesser degree. 1962).
The higher the normative control concerns (3) Technical changes also entered into
of the employer, and the more elite the the expansion of American education. As
organization's status, the higher his educa- the evidence summarized above indicates:
tional requirements. (a) mass literacy is crucial for beginnings of
full-scale industrialization, although demand degree was displacing the high school degree
for literacy could not have been important as the minimal standard of respectability;
in the expansion of education beyond ele- in the late 1960s, graduate school or special-
mentary levels. More importantly, (b) there ized professional degrees were becoming
is a mild trend toward the reduction in the necessary for initial entry to many middle-
proportion of unskilled jobs and an increase class positions, and high school graduation
in the promotion of highly skilled (profes- was becoming a standard for entry to
sional and technical) jobs as industrialism manual laboring positions. Education has
proceeds, accounting for 15%o of the shift thus gradually become part of the status
in educational levels in the twentieth century culture of classes far below the level of the
(Folger and Nam, 1964). (c) Technological original business and professional elites.
change also brings about some upgrading in The increasing supply of educated per-
skill requirements of some continuing job sons (Table 2) has made education a rising
positions, although the available evidence requirement of jobs (Table 1). Led by the
(Berg, 1970:38-60) refers only to the dec- biggest and most prestigious organizations,
ade 1950-1960. Nevertheless, as Wilensky employers have raised their educational re-
(1964) points out, there is no "professionali- quirements to maintain both the relative
zation of everyone," as most jobs do not prestige of their own managerial ranks and
require considerable technical knowledge on the relative respectability of middle ranks.8
the order of that required of the engineer Education has become a legitimate standard
or the research scientist. in terms of which employers select employ-
The existence of a relatively small group ees, and employees compete with each other
of experts in high-status positions, however, for promotion opportunities or for raised
can have important effects on the structure prestige in their continuing positions. With
of competition for mobility chances. In the the attainment of a mass (now approaching
United States, where democratic decentrali- universal) higher education system in mod-
zation favors the use of schools (as well as ern America, the ideal or image of technical
government employment) as a kind of pa- skill becomes the legitimating culture in
tronage for voter interests, the existence of terms of which the struggle for position
even a small number of elite jobs fosters goes on.
a demand for large-scale opportunities to Higher educational requirements, and the
acquire these positions. We thus have a higher level of educational credentials of-
"contest mobility" school system (Turner, fered by individuals competing for position
1960); it produced a widely educated popu- in organizations, have in turn increased the
lace because of the many dropouts who demand for education by the populace. The
never achieve the elite level of schooling at
which expert skills and/or high cultural
8 It appears that employers may have raised
status are acquired. In the process, the status their wage costs in the process. Their behavior is
value of American education has become nevertheless plausible, in view of these considera-
diluted. Standards of respectability are al- tions: (a) the thrust of organizational research
ways relative to the existing range of culturalsince Mayo and Barnard has indicated that ques-
tions of internal organizational power and control,
differences. Once higher levels of education of which cultural dominance is a main feature,
become recognized as an objective mark of take precedence over purely economic considera-
elite status, and a moderate level of educa- tions; (b) the large American corporations, which
have led in educational requirements, have held
tion as a mark of respectable middle-level
positions of oligopolistic advantage since the late
status, increases in the supply of educated19th century, and thus could afford a large
persons at given levels result in yet higher
internal "welfare" cost of maintaining a well-
socialized work force; (c) there are inter-organi-
levels, becoming recognized as superior, and
zational wage differentials in local labor markets,
previously superior levels become only aver-
corresponding to relative organizational prestige,
age. and a "wage-escalator" process by which the
Thus, before the end of the nineteenth wages of the leading organizations are gradually
emulated by others according to their rank
century, an elementary school or home edu-
(Reynolds, 1951); a parallel structure of "educa-
cation was no longer satisfactory for a mid-
tional status escalators" could plausibly be expected
dle-class gentleman; by the 1930s, a college to operate.
interaction between formal job requirements background of employers varies in its fit
and informal status cultures has resulted in with the educational culture of prospective
a spiral in which educational requirements employees. Such analysis of "old school tie"
and educational attainments become ever networks may also simultaneously test for
higher. As the struggle for mass educational the independent effect of the technical re-
opportunities enters new phases in the uni- quirements of different sorts of jobs on
versities of today and perhaps in the gradu- the importance of education. Inter-nation
ate schools of the future, we may expect a comparisons provide variations here in the
further upgrading of educational require- fit between types of education and particu-
ments for employment. The mobilization of lar kinds of jobs which may not be available
demands by minority groups for mobility within any particular country.
opportunities through schooling can only The full elaboration of such analysis
contribute an extension of the prevailing would give a more precise answer to the
pattern. historical question of assigning weight to
various factors in the changing place of
Conclusion education in the stratification of modern
societies. At the same time, to state the
It has been argued that conflict theory
conditions under which status groups vary
provides an explanation of the principal dy-
in organizational power, including the power
namics of rising educational requirements
to emphasize or limit the importance of
for employment in America. Changes in the
technical skills, would be to state the basic
technical requirements of jobs have caused
elements of a comprehensive explanatory
more limited changes in particular jobs.
theory of the forms of stratification.
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MOBILITY AND FERTILITY 1019
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SOCIAL MOBILITY AND FERTILITY *
KEITH HOPE
Nuffield College, Oxford, England
American Sociological Review 1971, Vol. 36 (December):1019-1032
In several recent studies the effects of mobility or status inconsistency on a dependent vari-
able have been quantified by means of an an additive model in which sets of constants have
been fitted to two principles of classification. In examining a particular application of this
model, the following paper begins by suggesting the possibility that the underlying hypothesis
may be more adequately represented by a symmetrical model which fits one and the same
set of constants to both principles of classification.
The second purpose of the paper is to show that, whether or not the symmetrical model is
deemed to be the more appropriate, the basic hypothesis can be adequately tested only by the
formulation of likely alternatives and the employment of tests which are specific to those
alternatives.
Thirdly, a consideration of two alternatives to the basic mode-one of which is simply

a linear transformation of the other-implicitly demonstrates that some of the problems
(of multicollinearity or identification) which are associated with quantitative studies of dif-
ference variables such as inconsistency or mobility are analogous to the pseudo-problems
generated by the concept of rotation in factor analysis.
The generalization of the methods employed to more than two principles of classification
and to more than one dependent variable is obvious.
Preamble ** hypothesis," particularly to the form 1 in

which it was advanced by R. A. Fisher in
IN their work on The American Occupa-
The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection.
tional Structure Blau and Duncan (19-
Various formulations of the hypothesis are
67) devote a number of pages to a dis-
cited. It is claimed that the hypothesis is re-
cussion of what they call "the mobility
futed if the data exemplify a particular pat-
tern, which they term "the additive hy-
* This paper is one of a number of working pothesis." In this paper data which have
papers prepared for the Oxford Social Mobility
previously been held to satisfy the additive
Project which is financed by the Social Science Re-
search Council. This work will appear from time hypothesis are re-examined to see whether in
to time in volumes published by the Oxford Uni- fact they satisfy that hypothesis, either in
versity Press under the general title Oxford Studies its original form or in a modified form.
in Social Mobility.
** This preamble grew out of comments and
criticisms on the following sections of the paper 1In considering their argument, it is important
which were made by Mrs. Jean Floud and Professor to note that the mobility which Blau and Duncan
0. D. Duncan. As a reward for my attack on his subject to empirical test is mobility of the present
hypothesis, Professor Duncan has, with his usual generation. They make only passing reference to
generosity, supplied me with data on which further the Galton-Fisher hypothesis of the inheritance of
studies of fertility and mobility may be carried (voluntary or involuntary) infertility, which is a
out. Although we appear to disagree on several mechanism whereby the mobility of an antecedent
points, he and I are in entire agreement on the need generation might affect the fertility of the following
to replicate findings such as those reported here. generation. This restriction is apparent in their
The additive hypothesis, in an approximate form, argument that if differential fertility were com-
has already stood up to several replications and is pletely explained by social mobility then there
to that extent on a surer footing than the mobility would be no differential fertility by class among
effect which I claim to detect, persons who do not change their class,

Collins - 1971 - Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification

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Collins - 1971 - Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification

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Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification

Author(s): Randall Collins

American Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and

status." American Sociological Review 20 cation." American Journal of Sociology 69

FUNCTIONAL AND CONFLICT THEORIES

American Sociological Review 1971, Vol. 36 (December):1002-1019

Table 1. Percent of Employers Requiring Various Minimum Educational Levels

Un- Semi- Cleri- Mana- Profes-

Less than high school 99% 97% 89% 33% 32% 9%

High school diploma 1 3 11 63 S4 16

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

San Francisco Bay Area, 1967

High School diploma 16 24 28 68 14 4

100% 100% 100% 101% 99% 100%

Table 2. Percentage Educational Attainment in the United States, 1869-1965.

1869-1870 2.0 1.7

Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States, Series A-28-29, H 327-

skill base. Business administration schools processes of social organization It may be

even in advanced industrial society. The mobilization of particular minority groups

administration in Prussia, as the result of "breeding," "respectability," "propriety,"

quest, business advantage, or cultural (e.g., Once groups of employees of different

independently affected educational require- Historical Change

and C. Arnold Anderson (eds), Education, Domhoff, G. William

impact." Pp. 541-565 in James S. Coleman Pierson, Frank C.

SOCIAL MOBILITY AND FERTILITY *

Nuffield College, Oxford, England

American Sociological Review 1971, Vol. 36 (December):1019-1032

Thirdly, a consideration of two alternatives to the basic mode-one of which is simply

Preamble ** hypothesis," particularly to the form 1 in

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