Life trajectories and education in a welfare state were examined from two points of departure. The ways in which education as a system is related to social origin, gender, and career were analyzed in a longitudinal study following a cohort of 671 students (329 males and 342 females) in a Swedish community through the educational system and into…

The working of the educational system in a welfare state was examined in a longitudinal study of a cohort (initially 1,029) of students followed from age 7 to age 23 years. An initial sample included 329 males and 342 females, of whom 352 had working class careers and 319 had middle class careers. Relationships among social origin, gender, and…

As part of a continuing evaluation of the Swedish school system, changes in intelligence test scores from 1960 to 1995 were studied in relation to cohort, gender, and socioeconomic background. Changes in verbal, spatial, and reasoning ability were studied by comparing results on identical tests given to representative samples of Swedish…

The effects of the financial aid reform introduced in Sweden in the mid-1960s were assessed, with emphasis placed on possible effects on young people from lower socioeconomic strata. The study group is a nationally representative sample of persons born in 1948, who were also studied in 1961 in relation to background, interests, aptitudes, and…