The literature on neighborhood effects on schooling theorizes that neighborhood cultural context is an important mechanism generating such effects. However, explanations that rely on subcultural theories, such as oppositional culture, have met with considerable criticism on empirical grounds, and no alternative account of the cultural context of…

This article provides new estimates of the causal effect of cultural capital on academic achievement. The author analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth--Children and Young Adults and uses a fixed effect design to address the problem of omitted variable bias, which has resulted in too optimistic results in previous research.…

Studies of teacher satisfaction suggest that satisfaction is related to both the racial composition and the organizational structure of the schools in which teachers work. In this article, the authors draw from theories of race and organizations to examine simultaneously the effects of school type (traditional public vs. charter) and racial…

Tests the common assumption that educational reformers and reform debates are bounded by the logic of folk norms by investigating the efforts to reform the General Certificate of Education examinations in English secondary schools between 1966 and 1976. Maintains that established folk norms did influence the substance of reform efforts.…

Using data from the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity, this study investigates the effects of migration on the progress of children in school. Concludes that migration negatively affects school progress only among students with less-educated parents. (Author/JDH)

Examines how parental cultural capital contributes to children's educational attainment in the Netherlands, emphasizing participation in beaux arts and reading behavior. Explores the claims of cultural reproduction theory and cultural mobility theory on the interaction of parents' educational background and their cultural capital. Discusses the…

In this article, the authors examine educational stratification in Taiwan against the background of an ethnically based political economy. They investigate how educational attainment is related to ethnicity and other background factors, such as parental class and education, and if these relationships changed over time as Taiwan became a more…

Reports on a study of African-American college students at a state university in the Midwest. The study examined the effects of marginality on their college experience and performance. Identifies six reactions to marginality and provides case study examples of each. Includes extensive references and verbatim comments from the students. (MJP)

Examines factors that contribute to changes in teachers over time and the meanings that teachers attach to such factors. Indicates, among other things, that students have a humanizing effect on teachers. Qualitative data are discussed in terms of Turner's theoretical discussion of self and symbolic interaction theory. (TRS)

This study examined how the promotion of choice in three schools affected the structure of early adolescent peer culture. The very structure of the roles and incentive systems in the schools, by failing to address the social context of individualism, fostered an ethos of possessive individualism. (RM)

Identifies four components of family capital that are important for the educational attainment of children: human capital, financial capital, social capital, and cultural capital. The relative importance of each component is illustrated by a case study of socialist Czechoslovakia where social capital was operationalized by membership in the…

Examines the link between racial inequality in schooling and differences in cultural capital, parents' socialization of their children into high-status culture. Reveals an interconnection between the integration of blacks into high-status culture and the black-white convergence in schooling. Suggests cultural capital possesses potential for upward…