DSOC 27A11 - Educational Inequality and Education Policy
This seminar is designed to introduce students to the study of educational inequality and education policy. We begin by reviewing the main goals, achievements and outstanding challenges in education policy at the beginning of the 21st century. Specifically, we take a historical perspective to review the progress made with respect to providing education to large parts of the world's population and with respect to reducing gender inequality in education. We then turn to one key policy challenge of the early 21st century—reducing the inequalities in education between individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds. We examine the social processes that may account for these educational inequalities and discuss whether and how different policies can address them.
Please note that you can enrol either in this course OR in the course entitled ‘Social Inequality, Social Mobility, and Social Policy', but not in both courses.
Reeves, A., Friedman, S., Rahal, C., & Flemmen, M. (2017). The decline and persistence of the old boy: private schools and elite recruitment 1897 to 2016. American Sociological Review, 82(6), 1139–1166.
Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life', in Grusky, D. (2018) The inequality reader. Routledge. Also see optional video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HN9ydNktAc&list=PLZapTuSHtu-CeejcJGLVBLqNT-ipS0Idh&index=13
Betthäuser, B. A., Kaiser, C., & Trinh, N. A. (2021). Regional Variation in Inequality of Educational Opportunity across Europe. Socius, 7, https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211019890
Heckman, J. J. (2013). Giving kids a fair chance. MIT Press. [read pp. 1-41, 63-67, 91-96, 107-112] Also see optional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b_uBIOcd20