Education, Class and Labour Force Entry

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The children of Skilled Non-Manual fathers come closest in their distribution at fifth and ..... here are not very informative about the composition of "elite" groupings in modern ... Free Press of Glencoe, 1961, pp. 1-4. 2. .... males, suggests that it is class which is the most important source of early leaving from grammar school,.
EDUCATION, CLASS AND LABOUR FORCE ENTRY Sheelagh Drudy, Dublin Institute of Technology. This article examines the relationship between education, class and labour force entry. The first section reviews some of the ways in which the role of the educational system in industrial societies has been interpreted. The second section presents data on class differences in educational experience, job choice, and the outcome of the transition process. Education and Work The Functionalist Approach In the study of education and its relationship to the economy there have been a number of approaches, of which functionalism has been the dominant one. The functionalist approach to the sociology of education is, perhaps, best characterised in the work of Halsey and Floud. They have suggested that, in an advanced industrial society, the educational system may be viewed as a source of technological innovation and also a vast apparatus of occupational recruitment and training. The notion that an advanced industrial economy requires a well-educated, adaptable and fluid (i.e. geographically and occupationally mobile) labour force is implicit in their account of the relationship between education and the economy(l). These assumptions lead to a number of concerns in the study of the educational system. The first type are connected with the role of schools as organisations. Concerns of the second type have to do with the efficiency of schools as agencies of selection. Contributions on the latter problem are relevant here. In Britain this has been the area of dominant concern in the sociology of education (2). The preoccupa­ tion with inequality of educational opportunity has been justified in several ways. For example, from the point of view of social justice, it has been argued that the influence of 'birth' should be eliminated (3). It has also been argued that the best contribution that the educational system can make to the economic problem is to send forward recruits to the labour force, 'potentially mobile, with or without further education as may be necessary, within the widest possible range of occupations, whether by guidance, direction or merely in response to the prevailing patterns of economic incentive' (4). Hence, the 'wastage of talent' should be kept to a minimum. In Britain, over the years, there was a growing realisation that in spite of free education there was still considerable wastage of talent. This was due to unequal access to advanced levels of education by the different classes. This realisation led to the argument that universal free education was no panacea to the problem of unequal opportunity and the utilisation of manpower to maximum efficiency (5). This concern about wastage of talent was evidenced in the Crowther Report (6). The authors of this Report felt that providing more schooling would be the way to tackle the problem. The wastage of talent debate also, of course, led to demands for the abolition of the tripartite system and an end to selection at eleven years of age. It likewise influenced the growth of the comprehensive system of secondary education throughout Britain. By the end of the 1960s concern about inequality of opportunity and wastage brought about the conviction that full-time education should be provided to the age of 18(7). 63

The direct relationship between education and opportunity, implied in the studies just outlined, has itself been the subject of some debate (8). Studies have argued that opportunities are governed by factors outside the realm of the school - such as the general exigencies of a complicated industrial society (9). The notion that increased years of schooling and educational investment will automatically bring greater economic growth and individual well-being - sometimes called the "human capital" theory - has met with a good deal of criticism (10). Ginzberg asserts that there is just tenuous evidence of increased benefit to the individual and society from the rapid expansion of investments in public education. He argues, for example, that there is no clear evidence to suggest that the new emphasis on careers education will lead to lower unemployment, higher earnings or a larger national product (11). It has also been pointed out that efforts to keep young people in school seem to be more an artifact of loose labour market conditions than of real job entry requirements. Educational requirements do not necessarily serve well as a screening device with respect to either potential or actual performance (12). It is, however, interesting to note that after serious questioning of the assumptions underlying the relationship between education and work from within functionalism itself, many authors still retain a good deal of confidence in the ability of the educational system to fulfill an important role in the solution of economic problems. Education, it is suggested, has an important role to play in avoiding structural imbalance in the economy(13), or it can make it possible for industry to introduce new techniques or more efficient methods of organising work (14). Among those who look to change in the educational system as a method of extending opportunities, there has been a great deal of recent interest in further and continuing education, especially for the poorly qualified. Some have called for programmes of research to develop new types of continuing education (15). Others have suggested the universal provision of post-school education (16). As regards entry to the labour force, certain patterns emerge within the functional­ ist paradigm. The most influential of these are the "developmental" theories. In these the emphasis is on the individual and her/his occupational "choice". Choice was originally seen as an irreversible process taking place in stages and resulting eventu­ ally in adjustment to work, or in the implementation of some concept of the self (17). This emphasis on the individual was eventually broadened to include more "structural" or economic variables, but with the individual still as the prime mover in the decision-making process (18). Further theories have mainly consisted of formula­ tions relating to the process of occupational socialisation and allocation (19). How­ ever, in one development within functionalism the notion has arisen that different attainments could be accounted for, not by ambitions, but by "opportunity structures", i.e. that different groups of school leavers stand in varying degrees of social proximity to different types of occupation. These degrees of proximity are argued to be inherent in the class background of the leavers and the structure of the educational institutions they are leaving(20). Underlying much of the functionalist concern with inequality of opportunity, wastage of talent, and differential access to education of the various classes has been an acceptance of inequality as both legitimate and inevitable (21). The problem has been less one of reducing inequalities of income and conditions of life, (22) than one of giving children from the working class their "meritocratic due" (23). 64

Social Reproduction Marxist contributions on education fall into two principal areas of interest - ideology, and the reproduction of labour (social reproduction). It is primarily with the second of these two that we shall concern ourselves here. Social reproduction deals with the extended reproduction of classes (including their expansion) and identifies two aspects. First, there is the extended reproduction of the places occupied by the "agents". These places mark out the structural determination of classes, i.e. the manner in which determination by the structure (relations of production, political and ideological domination and subordination) operates in class practices. Secondly, there is the reproduction and distribution of the agents themselves to these places. The second aspect is thought to be subordinate to the first. Thus, while it is true that the agents themselves must be reproduced, or "trained", in order to occupy certain places, it is equally true that the distribution of agents does not depend on their own choices but on the reproduction of these places themselves (24). It is contended that, in relation to the vast majority of working class children, educational institutions perform an important class-confirming role (25). Within this genre the functions of the educational system in capitalist societies are examined in detail in the work of Pierre Bourdieu. He argues that the relative autonomy of the educational system enables it to serve external demands under the guise of independence and neutrality, i.e. to conceal the social functions it performs and so to perform them more effectively (26). The most important of these social functions appear to be fourfold: (i) to contribute to the reproduction of the structure of class relations (social reproduction) and skilled labour power(27) in so doing to produce agents endowed with the system of predispositions (habitus) (28) which is capable of engendering practices adapted to the structures; (ii) to contribute to social stability, in societies based upon democratic ideals, by allowing the controlled mobil­ ity of a limited category of individuals, carefully selected and modified by and for individual ascent; (iii) to legitimate the perpetuation of the social order and the transmission of power and privileges (29); (iv) to hide its objective function, that is, to mask the objective truth of its relationship to the structure of class relations (30). This last, Bourdieu reiterates again and again, is the educational system's most hidden and most specific function. These considerations lead Bourdieu to point to the relationship between "objec­ tive structures" and "subjective expectations". Each individual act of choice by which a child excludes himself from access to a stage of education, or resigns himself to a "devalorised" type of course, takes account of the ensemble of the objective relations (which pre-existed this choice and will outlast it) between his class and the educational system. Therefore, Bourdieu says, the structure of the objective chances of social upgrading according to the class of origin, and the structure of the chances of upgrading through education, condition agents' dispositions towards education and towards upgrading through education - dispositions which in turn play a determining role in defining the likelihood of entering a certain level of education, adhering to its norms and succeeding in it, and hence the actual likelihood of social upgrading (31). In general, according to this scheme, children and their families make their own choices by reference to the constraints which determine them. Even when the choices seem to them to follow simply from taste or vocational sense, they nevertheless indicate the roundabout effects of objective conditions. Therefore, the structure of the objective chances of social mobility, and of the chances of a social mobility by 65

means of education, conditions attitudes to school. These attitudes are most im­ portant in defining the chances of access to education, of accepting the values' and norms of the school and of succeeding within this framework, and thus rising in society. Subjective hopes shared by all individuals with the same objective (statisti­ cal) future, and reinforced by the group's pressure for conformity, are no more than objective chances intuitively perceived and gradually internalised. Bourdieu takes to task those functionalist sociologists, "victims of the ideological effect of the school", who are inclined to isolate dispositions and predispositions towards education - "hopes", "aspirations", "expectations", "motivations" - from their social conditions of production. They forget, he argues, that objective condi­ tions determine both aspirations and the degree to which they can be satisfied (32).

Entry to the Labour Force Introduction In order to investigate the relevance of the foregoing approaches, surveys were carried out in the Peterborough area of Eastern England. Thefirstsurvey was carried out among 847 boys and girls leaving from thefifthand sixth forms of Local Authority schools in the Peterborough Education Area in 1976. A "follow-up" survey of a sample of 80 respondents from the original 847 was conducted in 1978-79. Functionalism and Marxism both attach importance to the relationship of the class system and the educational system. In this article the Census of Population Social Class Classification is used as an indicator of class position (33). School leavers have been allocated to class positions on the basis of their father's occupation. Class and Schooling If we turn first to look at the educational level at which respondents were leaving school (called "schooling" here for convenience) it is evident that social class back­ ground has a very important effect (see Table 1). 66

Table 1: Schooling by Social Class Background Social Class 1

Social Class 2

Social Class 3N

%

%

%

%

%

%

Fifth Form

39.5

68.5

79.1

86.9

96.3

81.8

Sixth Form

60.5

31.5

20.9

13.1

3.7

18.2

Total* %

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

43

45

91

314

162

753

Schooling

Social Social Class 3M Classes 4&5

Total

Leaving from:

N

Gamma = 0.595 * In this and subsequent tables, those in the "missing, father dead, retired", etc. or "don't know" categories are omitted. We can see here that, overall, the majority of the leavers were leaving at the minimum school leaving age. Nevertheless, Table 1 illustrates a strong relationship between social class and the level from which respondents left school. Children in Social Classes 1 and 2 were substantially over-represented among those leaving from the sixth form. The children of Skilled Non-Manual fathers come closest in their distribution at fifth and sixth form to that of the respondents as a whole. Neverthe­ less, they too were slightly over-represented among the sixth form leavers. The children of manual workers, on the other hand, were markedly under-represented among sixth formers. For example, the children of Social Class 1 workers were over sixteen times more likely to be leaving from the sixth form than the children of Social Class4 and 5 fathers, and almost five times more likely than Skilled Manual children. This finding is paralleled in other studies of the relationship between class and educational experience, whether carried out from the functionalist, Marxist or other theoretical perspective (34). But how likely is a particular class or section to "elimi­ nate itself from the school system at an early age, as Bourdieu suggests? The data here throws some light on this question. Of those leavers whose fathers were manual workers, the vast majority were leaving from the fifth form. A majority also of children whose fathers were in Skilled Non-Manual or in Intermediate occupations were leaving from the fifth form. However, the majority of children with Social Class 1 fathers were leaving from the sixth form. To some extent, therefore, early "selfelimination" from the educational system is the "typical" experience of all except Social Class 1 children. However, it becomes much more "typical" as one moves through the various levels of the class system from Social Class 2 to Social Classes 4 and 5. In Social Classes 4 and 5 early self-elimination is an almost universal experience.

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Class and Qualifications We shall now turn to look at the relationship between class and qualifications. These are presented in Table 2 and Table 3, and are based upon actual examination results obtained from the schools subsequent to the first stage of the field-work. Students had sat for three different examinations - GCE 'O' levels and 'A' levels and CSEs. For the fifth form a classification based upon 'O' level and CSE results is presented. Some students had sat for subjects in both of these examinations. Those who had entered for no examinations at all are also included in the analysis. In the case of those leaving from the sixth form, only 'A' level results are analysed.

Table 2:

Examination Results, by Social Class Background (Fifth Form Leavers)

Examination Results

Social Class 1

Social Class 2

Social Class 3N

Category *

%

%

%

%

%

%

10.2

15.7

6.0

3.9

7.1

Rank 1

Social Social Class 3M Classes 4&5 Total

2

73.4

32.7

27.1

27.2

15.6

26.3

3

13.3

32.7

34.3

29.5

33.1

31.1

4

13.3

24.4

22.9

37.3

47.4

35.5

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

15

98

70

268

154

605

Total % N

Gamma = 0.276 *

Leavers were ranked ;according to examination results. Those in Rank 1 are the most highly qualified ;and those in Rank 4 the most poorly qualified(35).

This Table shows us that the majority of fifth form leavers were poorly qualified. Just over a third fell into the two higher rank categories (i.e. those with some 'O' levels). There is an association between social class and qualifications among fifth formers. The children of Non-Manual workers are better represented in Ranks 1 and 2, while Manual workers' children are the most likely to be found in the most poorly qualified category.

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Table 3 examines the social class distribution of 'A' level passes among sixth formers. Table 3:

Examination Results, by Social Class Background (Sixth Form Leavers) Social Social Class 3M Classes 4&5

Social Class 1

Social Class 2

Social Class 3N

%

%

%

%

%

%

16.0

16.3

21.1

22.0

-

17.9

1

16.0

11.6

10.5

14.6

16.7

13.4

2

28.0

25.6

36.8

26.8

50.0

29.1

3-5

40.0

46.5

31.6

36.6

33.3

39.6

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

25

43

19

41

6

No. of 'A' Level Passes

None

Total % N

Total

134

Gamma = 0.060

It appears that the relationship between social class and the number of 'A' level passes is rather weak, although there is a slightly greater tendency for Social Class 1 and 2 children to have obtained more than three 'A' level passes. It would appear, therefore, that most of the social class effects have already taken place in the fifth form. These effects are two-fold: social class is related both to the proportions which leave from the fifth form, and to the level of qualifications. Class and Post-School Education There has recently been an increase in interest in the provision of education after school. This has occurred chiefly among those who feel that changes in the educa­ tional system are a way of extending opportunities (36). The development of continu­ ing education for adults is suggested as a major priority for government in OECD member countries (37). The European Community has also emphasised the develop­ ment of systems of further training and permanent or continuing education (38). Developments such as these, as well as recent programmes at national levels, suggest that adult and continuing education will expand even further in the future. It is, therefore, of interest to us to assess the degree of class influence on decision-making as regards post-school education. In Peterborough, a high proportion (38.2%) of those leaving from the fifth form did not intend to pursue any education after school. Just over a third (34.8%) proposed to take courses in "further education" (these are mainly full-time voca­ tional courses carried on in technical colleges, e.g. catering or secretarial training). A 69

quarter (26.0%) intended to take up apprenticeships, while a small proportion (1.0%) wished eventually to avail of some form of higher education. The majority of sixth form leavers (42.6%) wished to do a degree at university or polytechnic. A further quarter (24.5%) hoped to enter for teacher-training courses or other forms of higher education (e.g. HND programmes). Just under a fifth (18.7%) of the sixth formers envisaged following a specific vocational course in further education, while only 14.2% intended to do no form of post-school training (39). Social class background did influence decision-making at both fifth and sixth form levels. In the case of fifth formers social class was related to the proportion hoping to avail of both further and higher education. Of those from Social Class 1 families, 75% planned to enter "further education", and 6.3% hoped to proceed to higher educa­ tion. On the other hand, the proportions from the Semi- and Unskilled Manual group were 24.2% with plans to do "further education", while nobody from this group planned any future higher education. Semi- and Unskilled workers' children were more likely to have planned to do no post-school education than Social Class 1 children (45.1% and 18.7%). Among sixth form leavers the main social class effect was to be observed among those planning university or polytechnic degree courses. A total of 63.7% of the children from Social Class 1 intended to do such courses, while the proportion among the children of Semi- and Unskilled workers was 16.7%. Courses in "further education" were more favoured by Social Class 4 and 5 children (50.0% of them) than by Higher Professional children (13.6%) at the sixth form. However, as regards the remaining courses there was little class variation(40). We have seen that there is a clear relationship between social class and the three educational variables examined here. There is also, of course, a close association between the variables themselves. That between post-school educational planning and the level of education at which respondents were leaving school is obvious. There was a great deal of interaction between post-school planning and the examination results which were eventually obtained by the leavers. At the fifth form, the greatest contrast was between those who did and did not achieve 'O' level passes. This contrast was to be observed chiefly among those planning to do courses in "further education" (41). A total of 51.2% of those who eventually did achieve one or more planned "further education", whereas just 27.5% of those without 'O' levels did so. Differences were also to be observed in the numbers planning no post-school educa­ tion - 45% without, but just 21.4% with, 'O' levels. Among sixth formers there was a very clear distinction between those who eventu­ ally achieved two or more 'A' level passes and those who obtained no 'A' levels or only one. This distinction was most obvious among those planning university or polytechnic degree courses (6.9% with 1 or less 'A' levels, and 62.8% with 2 or more) and among those who had decided not to pursue education after school (32.8% with 1 or less 'A' levels and 3.2% with 2 or more). The findings here provide little support for the "human capital" argument which suggests that more years of education and better qualifications will ease the transition from school to work and open up opportunities. In a sense the reverse of the human capital theory appears to be the case. The image of a progression of gates closing, rather than of doors opening, may be more appropriate. Those who leave school with the lowest qualifications are the least likely to acquire any further qualifications after 70

leaving school. Among those who did plan to avail of post-school education, those with the lower qualifications were planning to take the courses which offered the lower level qualifications. Indeed, those with the higher qualifications, the greater number of years of schooling, and the more ambitious educational plans were the most likely to have job expectations in the most "advantaged" categories - in particular, Higher Professional or Intermediate work (42). While an increase in the amount of post-school education available may have an important part to play in the transition from school to work in the current recession, thefindingshere suggest that some changes in thinking and practice are necessary. The way in which the different tiers of the educational system progressively build upon the qualifications already achieved does serve to further confirm those most likely to be at a disadvantage in the labour market in their disadvantaged positions. Class and Occupational Choice It has already been shown that class has a very clear influence on access to the higher levels of education, on qualifications and on post-school educational planning. Each of these variables also independently influences occupational choice. In this paper occupational choice is indicated by the jobs which the respondents said they "ex­ pected" to get after school, henceforth called "expectations". Table 4 examines the direct relationship between class and choice (expectations). Table 4: Occupational Expectations (Choice), by Social Class Background Social Social Class 3M Classes 4&5 Total

Social Class 1

Social Class 2

Social Class 3N

Expectations*

%

%

%

%

Social Class 1

29.4

13.6

9.4

2.8

1.6

7.0

Social Class 2

44.2

21.4

27.1

15.7

8.7

18.5

Social Class 3N

17.6

32.5

31.7

34.6

32.5

32.5

23.1

25.9

40.2

48.5

34.4

%

%

Social Class 3M

-

Social Classes 4&5

8.8

9.4

5.9

6.7

8.7

7.6

%

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

N

34

254

126

616

Total

117

85

Gamma = 0.328 *

Those who were uncertain of their expectations, or■ whose answers were too vague to be classified, are excluded from this Table.

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Here we can see that approximately one-third of the leavers' expectations fall into the Skilled Manual category, while a further third fell into the Skilled Non-Manual one(43). Just under one-fifth of the total chose Intermediate work, while a further 7% expected to obtain Higher Professional jobs in due course. Only 7.6% of the leavers chose from the Semi- or Unskilled Manual categories. However, if we divide the occupations into manual and non-manual ones, we can sec that 58.0% of these respondents had non-manual expectations. There is a clear relationship between these expectations and the respondents' social class. Variations are to be observed in particular at three of the social class levels -1,2 and 3M. In these categories the most marked differences are to be found between those from Social Class 1 and others. If we look along the Social Class 1 row of the respondents' expectations, we see that the proportion of children of Social Class 1 workers is eighteen times that of the children of Semi- and Unskilled workers; more than ten times that of Skilled Manual workers; three times that of Non-Manual workers' children and more than twice that of the children from Social Class 2. Again, looking along the row of Social Class 2 expectations, Social Class 1 children are better represented than others. In both these categories (1 and 2) the children of manual workers are less well-represented than the children of non-manual workers generally. Marked differences between the expectations of the various social classes are also to be observed in the Skilled Manual category. None of the Social Class 1 children have such expectations, while only one quarter of both the Social Class 2 and 3N children do. On the other hand, a total of 40% of the children of Skilled, and almost half the children from the Semi- and Unskilled groups expect to be Skilled Manual workers. In view of the concentration of the expectations of Social Class 1 children around the various types of professional work it may at first appear surpris­ ing that over 8% of them had Semi and Unskilled manual expectations. In fact this percentage was represented by only three respondents, all boys. Two of these were rural fifth formers who expected to be agricultural workers, one of whom intended ultimately to go on to agricultural college. The other boy was unsure what his 'A' level results would be and thought he would have to take a job as a labourer. Class and Occupational "Outcome" At the time of the "follow-up" survey interviews were carried out with a sample of 80 of the original respondents. Of these, 60.0% were in employment. The remainder were mainly full-time students (36.2%), but there was a small proportion (3.8%) who were unemployed. In order to assess the "outcome" of the transition from school to work the analysis included not only the job categories of those currently employed, but also the immediate expectations of those not in the workforce. The latter were included since it seemed likely that the vast majority of respondents who had spent three to four years in full-time post-school education and who obtained employment, would get the expected job for which they had been in training, or one closely related to it. It was felt that the analysis should include this group, especially since they represent the Professional occupations. The variable which includes the expectations of these respondents, as well as the jobs of those in employment, is called "occupa­ tional outcome" here. Since less than a fifth of the original group were leaving school from the sixth form, it was obvious that a simple random sample was likely to give too few sixth form leavers to make meaningful comparisons possible on many variables. It was there72

fore decided to over-sample sixth-formers in a stratified random sample, and to weight the sample later when the need to compare with the first stage sample arose. As the unweighted results have the effect of "skewing" the variable "occupational outcome" because of the inclusion of the sixth form leavers. Table 5 presents the weighted distributions and thus enables us to compare the second survey with the first one(44). Table 5: Occupational Outcome, by Social Class Background Social Class 1

Occupational Outcome

Social Social Social Social Class 2 Class 3N Class 3M Classes 4&5 %

%

1.6

2.0

4.8

44.3

6.6

8.2

11.5

19.5

-

36.6

16.3

23.2

-

53.8

55.7

27.0

32.7

34.7

30.8

8.9

-

28.2

40.8

25.8

%

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

N

57

198

32

264

217

768

%

%

%

Social Class 1

35.4

4.3

-

Social Class 2

20.6

13.5

Social Class 3N

13.2

Social Class 3M Social Classes 4 & 5 Total

Total

%

Gamma = 0.292

Table 5 shows us that, two and a half years after leaving school, the majority of the sample were engaged in manual work (60.5%). Just under a quarter were in the Skilled Non-Manual category. Just over a tenth were to be found in the Intermediate category while the proportion in the Higher Professional category was less than 5%. The chief contrast between outcome and choice (Table 4) is the much larger propor­ tion in the Semi- skilled and Unskilled Manual category. The proportions with outcomes in the various Non-Manual categories (Social classes 1, 2 and 3N) were markedly smaller than in the case of expectations while that in the Skilled Manual category was almost identical. Although social class is related to occupational outcome, the relationship is not a clearcut one. Social Class 1 children continue to show the pattern of advantage which was observed earlier in the analysis. The children of fathers in Social Class 4 and 5 are most likely to be in Semi- and Unskilled employment. However, the relationship between social class and outcome is less obvious for the children of fathers in the intervening social classes. For example, it is the children of Skilled Non-Manual fathers who are most likely to be in or about to enter, both Intermediate jobs and 73

Skilled Manual work. Children of Skilled Manual fathers have the highest proportion in Skilled Non-Manual work. The gamma value of 0.292 for this Table is lower than that deriving from the relationship between social class and expectation (see Table 4). Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that, overall, children of non-manual fathers, whether Professional, Intermediate or Skilled Non-Manual, have an advantage over others in relation to Social Classes 1 and 2 jobs. Non-manual children are almost six times more likely to enter Social Class 1 occupations than manual children - the proportions are 9.7% and 1.7% respectively. In the case of entry to Social Class 2 jobs, the proportions were 18.3% for the children of non-manual and 7.3% for the children of manual workers. Similar patterns are observable in some of the recent findings on mobility in Britain, especially those of Goldthorpe(45). As with those of Goldthorpe, the data here are not very informative about the composition of "elite" groupings in modern British society (these would form a large proportion of the "bourgeoisie" in Marxist parlance). However, as with Goldthorpe's mobility study, there is evidence both of a certain amount of heterogeneity of social origins among entrants to what he calls the "service" class (here roughly equivalent to Social Classes 1 and 2), and also of a capacity on the part of members of this class to transmit social advantage to their offspring. In fact, Goldthorpe has noted that, among the latter, "intergenerational stability" has progressively increased even while expanding. Also evident, both here and in Goldthorpe's study, is a rather broad basis of recruitment to the Skilled Non-Manual group. In the Peterborough study, there appears, at first glance, to be rather more heterogeneity of origins among those entering working class occupations than in Goldthorpe's mobility study. However, if we use the total of those in manual employment (465) as the base on which to calculate our percentages, we find that 65.7% of them had fathers who were manual workers, which comes close to the 70% reported by Goldthorpe. There is, therefore, evidence of a tendency for groups at the upper and lower levels of the social class structure to "solidify". In egalitarian terms, it can be said that those at the upper levels provide distinct advantages for their children in the matter of access to jobs at the same level, while by comparison, those in manual employment are at a disadvantage. However, of the variables examined here, "schooling" has the strongest association with occupational outcome(46). In fact, 85.6% of those in. or entering, Social Class 1 or 2 occupations were sixth form leavers. We saw earlier that class background and schooling (i.e. access to the sixth form) are closely related. Furthermore, qualifications and post-school education augment the advantages or disadvantages resulting from late or early leaving. In this way, it is clear that class position not only affects the outcome of occupational entry but that, to an important degree, this relationship is mediated and reinforced by the educational system. It is possible to see in these findings support for Bourdieu's contention that one of the functions of the educational system is to contribute to the reproduction of the structure of class relations,(47) and that the practices of education provide individu­ als with ideas of available opportunities for their class.

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Summary and Conclusions To summarise, while there is heterogeneity of social origins among entrants to Social Class 1 and 2, data relating to fathers' occupation indicate that members of these social classes show the greatest tendency to transmit their own social advantages. There is a broad base of recruitment to Skilled Non-Manual employment. While a certain amount of heterogeneity of social origins was evident among those currently in manual employment, the vast majority of manual workers had fathers who were in manual work. When these findings are considered together with the findings which related social class to educational factors, it becomes clear that class background not only affects the outcome of the transition from school to work but that this relationship is mediated through and reinforced by the educational system. In this way, this study provides support for the contention that the educational system contributes to the reproduction of the structure of class relations, thus performing a class-confirming role. Thus, these findings present a challenge to the functionalist interpretations which have dominated studies of the transition from school to work for so long.

Acknowledgements This research was carried out while the author was a Calouste Gulbenkian Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. The support provided by the College is gratefully acknowledged. I am also indebted to the Social Science Research Councilfor financial assistance, and to colleagues and friends at the Cambridge University Departments of Education and Social and Political Sciences for useful criticism.

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References 1. Halsey, A.H., Floud. J and Anderson, C. A. (eds.), Education, Economy and Society. New York, The Free Press of Glencoe, 1961, pp. 1-4. 2. See for example: Floud, J., Halsey, A.H. and Martin, F.M., Social Class and Educational Opportunity, London, Heinemann, 1956; Craft, M. (ed.), Family, Class and Education, London, Longman, 1970; Silver, H., Equal Opportunity in Education, London, Methuen, 1973; Halsey, A.H., Heath, A.F. and Ridge, J.M., Origins and Destinations, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1980. 3. Musgrove, F., The Family, Education and Society, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966. 4. Floud, J., "Social Class Factors in Educational Achievement", in Craft, M.(ed.), op. cit., pp.34-48. 5. Stevenson, R.M., "Stratification. Education and Occupational Orientation: a Parallel Study and Review", British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 9, 1958, pp.42-52. 6. Central Advisory Council for Education (The Crowther Report), 15 to 18, London, HMSO. 1959 pp.131-132, 453-457. 7. Benn, C., and Simon, B., Half Way There, London, McGraw-Hill, 1970. 8. See for example: Anderson, S.A., "A Sceptical Note on Education and Mobility", in Halsey, Floud and Anderson, op.cit.,pp.164-179; and Glickman, M.J.A., "Education and Work: an Anthropological View of the Transition Process", in Brannen, P. (ed.), Entering the World of Work: Some Sociological Perspectives, London, HMSO. 1975, pp.27-51. 9. Carter, M.P., Into Work, Harmondsworth. Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1966. 10. Reubens, B.G., Bridges to Work, London, Martin Robertson, 1977. 11. Ginzberg. E., The Manpower Connection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1975, pp.38-44. 12. Berg, I., "Education and Work", in Ginzberg, E., and the Conservation of Human Resources Staff, Manpower Strategy for the Metropolis, New York, Columbia University Press, 1968, pp.115-137; and Berg, I., Education and Jobs, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1973, pp.33-35. 13. Emmerij, L., "Education and Employment: Some Preliminary Findings and Thoughts", International Labour Review, Vol. 107, 1973, pp.31-42. 14. de Virville, M., "Research into Education and the Economic System: the Determining Role of Company Policies", in Council of Europe, School and After, Windsor, NFER, 1978, pp.20-38. 15. King, E., "Current Assumptions on the Nature and Purpose of Secondary Education and its Relation to Education 16-19", and Sellin, B., "Purposes and Effectiveness of Current Research into the Education of Young People Who Are at Work", in Neave, G.(ed.), Research Perspectives on the Transition from School to Work, Amsterdam, Swets and Zeitlinger, 1978, pp.21-33 and 53-61. 16. Burgess, T., Education After School, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1977, p.88. 17. Ginzberg, E., Ginsburg, S., Axelrad, S. and Herma, J.L. Occupational Choice: an Approach to a General Theory, New York, Columbia University Press, 1951; and Super, D.E., "A Theory of Voca­ tional Development", in Peters, H.J. and Hansen, J.L. (eds.), Vocational Guidance and Careeer Development, New York, Macmillan, 1966, pp.99-109. 18. Ginzberg. 1975. op.cit.,p.2. 19. Musgrave, P.W., "Towards a Sociological Theory of Occupational Choice", Sociological Review, Vol. 15, 1967, pp.33-46; Sofer, C., "Introduction", in Williams, W.M. (ed.). Occupational Choice, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1974, pp. 13-57.

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20. Roberts, K., "The Entry into Employment: an Approach Towards a General Theory". Sociological Review, Vol. 16. 1968. pp. 165-184; and Roberts, K., "The Developmental Theory of Occupational Choice: A Critique and an Alternative", in Esland, G., Salaman, G. and Speakman, M.(eds.). People and Work. Open University Press, 1975, pp. 134-146. 21. Marshall, T.H., "Social Selection in the Welfare State", in Hopper, E. (ed.), Readings in the Theory of Education Systems. London. Hutchinson. 1971, pp.38-55. 22. Tussing, A.D., "Equity and the Financing of Education", in Kennedy, S.(ed.), One Million Poor?, Dublin, Turoe Press. 1981, pp.20l-216. 23. Halsey, Heath and Ridge, op. cit., p.209. 24. Poulantzas, N., Classes in Contemporary Capitalism, London. Verso, 1978. pp. 14-38. 25. Miliband, R., The State in Capitalist Society. London, Quartet Books, 1973. pp.214-215. 26. Bourdieu, P., and Passeron, J. C., Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London. Sage Publications, 1977, pp.30, 74, 78, 101-102, 117-118, 155-156, 208, 227-228. 27. Bourdieu, P., and Boltanski, L., "Qualifications and Jobs", in Two Bourdieu Texts, University of Birmingham. CCS. Stencilled Occasional Papers, 1977, pp.8-14. 28. Bourdieu defines the habitus as "a system or systems of durable, transportable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures, that is, as principles of the generation and structuring of practices and representations which can be objectively "regulated" and "regular" without in any way being the product of obedience to rules, objectively adapted to their goals without presuppos­ ing a conscious aiming at ends or an express mastery of the operations necessary to attain them and. being all this, collectively orchestrated without being the product of the orchestrating action of a conductor". Bourdieu, P., Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge University Press, 1977, p.72. 29. Bourdieu, P., "Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction", in Brown, R. (ed.), Knowledge, Education and Cultural Change. London. Tavistock Publications, 1973. pp.71-112. 30. Bourdieu and Passeron. op. cit. 31. Ibid. 32. Ibid. See also Bourdieu. 1973. op. cit. 33. I have argued elsewhere that, under certain specific conditions, it is possible to use the Census classification as an indicator of class, and 1 have shown how this data can be successfully compared with results obtained in other studies using different scales. See: Drudy, S.M., School Leavers in Transition: Choice, Orientations and the Entry to Work. PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1981. One reason that this is possible is that, because of the nature of this enquiry and others similar to it whether on a large or a limited scale (for example. Goldthorpe, J. H., Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1980) a small but very powerful social group is omitted or seriously under-sampled, i.e. the wealth-owning bourgeoisie. The existence of this group and its size can be gauged from official figures on the distribution of wealth (Royal Commission on Income and Wealth. Report No. 7, London. HMSO, 1979). Social Class 1 refers to Higher Professional jobs (such as doctors, lawyers); Social Class 2 work is also classed as "Intermediate" (i.e. lower professional, managerial, technicians); Social Class 3N is the Skilled Non-Manual category (most kinds of office work and certain service workers); Social Class 3M is the Skilled Manual grouping; Social Classes 4 and 5 are the Semiand Unskilled Manual categories, including workers in service industries. Since the numbers with expectations in Social Class 5 were very small, it is incorporated throughout the analysis with Social Class 4. 34. One of the most important recent works carried out into class experiences and education in Britain is that by Halsey and his colleagues (Halsey, Heath and Ridge, op. cit.). This latter study, although confined to males, suggests that it is class which is the most important source of early leaving from grammar school, and that the working class boy is much less likely to continue into the sixth form than is his "service class" (i.e. middle class) counterpart. In the period studied, these researchers suggest that access to the sixth form has been a crucial point of social selection. This conclusion is supported in this present study but it is clear that it operates in the case of females as well as males.

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35.

For a detailed discussion see Drudy, op. cit.

36.

For example, Burgess, op. cit., King, op. cit., Sellin, op. c i t .

37. O E C D , Education and Working Life in Modern Society, Paris, OECD, 1975, pp.8-9. 16. 3S.

Commission of the European Communities, For a Community Policy on Education, Bulletin of the European Communities. Supplement 10/73, p. 11.

39.

The follow-up survey indicated that the majority (over two-thirds) of the leavers had done as they originally planned in post-school education.

40.

That is, apprenticeships in the case of fifth formers, and university or polytechnic degree courses in the case of sixth formers.

41.

Many of these courses did not demand ' O ' levels as a minimum qualification.

42.

For evidence on this point see Drudy, op. cit.

43.

There was a very clear sexual divide here - the vast majority of the Non-Manual expectations were held by girls, while the majority having Skilled Manual expectations were boys.

44.

The base number here are inevitably small. This should be borne in mind during the analysis. For a discussion of the sampling procedure and the method of weighting, see Drudy, op. cit.

45. Goldthorpe, op. cit. 46.

Drudy, op. cit.

47.

Bourdieu, P., "The School as a Conservative Force: Scholastic and Cultural Inequalities", in Eggleston, J. (ed.), Contemporary Research in the Sociology of Education, London, Methuen, 1974, pp.32-46.

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