For decades, social theorists have posited--and descriptive accounts have shown--that students isolated by both social class and ethnicity suffer extreme deprivations that limit the effectiveness of equal-opportunity interventions. Even educational programs that yield positive results for moderately disadvantaged students may not prove beneficial…

Sociological research has long been interested in inequalities generated by and within educational institutions. Although relatively rich as a literature, less analytic focus has centered on educational mobility and inequality experiences within graduate training specifically. In this article, we draw on a combination of survey and open-ended…

Despite improved access in expanded postsecondary systems, the great majority of bachelor's degree graduates are taking considerably longer than the allotted four years to complete their four-year degrees. Taking longer to finish one's BA has become so pervasive in the United States that it has become the norm for official statistics released by…

How does schooling affect inequality in students' academic skills? Studies comparing children's trajectories during summers and school years provide a provocative way of addressing this question, but the most persuasive seasonal studies (1) focus primarily on skill gaps between social categories (e.g., social class, race/ethnicity), which…

Although higher education scholars are increasingly exploring disparities within institutions, they have yet to examine how parental involvement contributes to social-class variation in students' experiences. We ask, what role do parents play in producing divergent college experiences for students from different class backgrounds? Relying on…

Prudence Carter is the Jacks Family Professor of Education, Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), and Faculty Director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University. She has authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and essays, and in June 2016, Carter will become Dean of the Graduate School of…

Over the past several decades, research has documented strong relationships between social class and children's cognitive abilities. These initial cognitive differences, which are substantial at school entry, increase as children progress through school. Despite the robust findings associated with this research, authors have generally neglected…

Significant attention has been given to how students become grouped or "tracked" through the courses they share in common. However, this work has yet to be connected to a targeted analysis of the way in which courses are grouped with other courses through the students they co-enroll. Drawing on insights from field theory, the author…

We investigate class differences in youth activity participation with interview, survey, and archival data from a diverse sample of parents (n = 51) in two schools. Findings point toward structural rather than cultural explanations. Working- and middle-class parents overlap in parenting logics about participation, though differ in one respect:…

Cultural capital has been an important but often elusive concept in the study of educational processes and social class reproduction. The authors suggest that this is partly because a country's educational system and ways of evaluating students at different educational transitions set the context for the mechanisms through which embodied and…

The authors use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) to identify variables measured in the fall of 1998 (when the sample's students were in kindergarten) that predict special education placement by the spring of 2004 (when most students were finishing fifth grade).…

This article explores the interrelated influences of social class origins and parental interest on the educational plans of American and Norwegian high school students. The results of the study indicate that parental interest and social class have affect only upon lower and higher class Norwegian and American boys. (DE)

To assess the assumption that IQ tests are equally valid within different social class categories, the article critically reviews major arguments offered by those who reject the assumption and presents regression analyses bearing on the construct validity of an IQ measure within different social class categories. (Author/DB)

Maintains that intellectual ability has become a more important determinant of occupational success in recent decades, resulting in increased social class differences. Finds that, contrary to the usual view, class differences have become smaller and current social problems cannot be ascribed to low-ability people in the lower classes. (CFR)

Examines the effects of social class in the political socialization of education in relation to participation in collective action. Analyzes data from a national survey of high school students. Concludes that political efficacy, student organizational leadership, college preparatory study, and urban school attendance increase the likelihood of…