CONSEQUENCES OF EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION WOUT ULTEE RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN THE NETHERLANDS EQUALSOC – SOCCULT BERLIN APRIL 11, 2008

A SHIFT IN SOCIOLOGY’S QUESTIONS FROM MACRO QUESTIONS ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY MAKE FOR SMALLER INCOME DIFFERENCES MORE SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LESS CULTURAL DISTINCTION

AND FROM MICRO QUESTIONS ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH INDIVIDUAL EDUCATION MAKES FOR MORE PARTICIPATION IN HIGH CULTURE AND MORE SPORT ACTIVITY

TO THE MACRO – MICRO PARADOX HOW IT IS POSSIBLE THAT DESPITE THE INDIVIDUAL RELATION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND CULTURE AND SPORT AND DESPITE EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION IN MOST INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES BOOK READING STAGNATES AND OVERWEIGHT RISES ?

SOCIOLOGY’S PIVOTAL QUESTION IN THE 1960S AND 1970S LENSKI CUTRIGHT WILENSKY HEWITT

WHEREAS EACH MAJOR ADVANCE IN TECHNOLOGY MADE FOR LARGER INCOME DIFFERENCES THE SHIFT FROM AGRICULTURE TO INDUSTRY AND THE ENSUING ECONOMIC GROWTH MADE FOR SMALLER INCOME DIFFERENCES WAS THIS THE CASE BECAUSE POLITICAL IDEAS BECOME MORE ACTIVIST AND EGALITARIAN ?

SOCIOLOGY’S PIVOTAL QUESTION IN THE 1980S AND 1990S HEATH GOLDTHORPE ERIKSON

DOES SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES MAKE FOR MORE RELATIVE CLASS MOBILITY AND FOR LESS RELATIVE EDUCATIONAL INHERITANCE ?

THE FOLLOW-UP QUESTION IS WHETHER CLASS VOTING IS DECLINING IF IT IS, THEN THERE WILL BE NO TREND TOWARDS SMALLER INCOME DIFFERENCES, MORE CLASS MOBILITY AND LESS EDUCATIONAL INHERITANCE

ALL THESE QUESTIONS ARE ABOUT JOBS AND THE INCOME PEOPLE DRAW FROM THEIR JOBS BUT WHAT DO PEOPLE FROM A CERTAIN CLASS DO WITH THEIR HIGHER INCOME IN HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES WHERE PEOPLE WORK FOR EIGHT HOURS A DAY FIVE DAYS A WEEK WITH A MONTH OF HOLIDAYS A YEAR ?

AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND BOURDIEU’S 1970S QUESTION GAINS IN PERTINENCE : DO HIGH CULTURE AND SPORT MAKE TO THE SAME EXTENT FOR DISTINCTION IN SOCIETIES WITH STRONG EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION ?

DOES SOCIAL DEMOCRACY MAKE ACCESS TO HIGH CULTURE MORE EQUAL ? ULTEE, BATENBURG & GANZEBOOM 1993 WITH FIGURES FOR THE 1980S

ODDS RATIO’S FOR THE RELATION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND VISITING THE THEATER HUNGARY6.5AUSTRALIA4.6 POLAND6.9CANADA2.4 CZECHOSLOVAKIA6.0UNITED STATES5.0 DENMARK4.8BELGIUM5.5 FINLAND5.8FRANCE6.3 NORWAY4.0NETHERLANDS2.9 SWEDEN3.8UNITED KINGDOM3.4 WEST – GERMANY5.3

THESE ODDS RATIO’S DO NOT PROVIDE A CLEAR CONFIRMATION BUT THEN, THE ODDS RATIO’S ARE NOT STRICTLY COMPARABLE SINCE THET STEM FROM QUITE DIFFERENT SURVEYS AND PERHAPS SOCIAL DEMOCRACY WAS MORE INTERESTED IN MAKING SPORT POSSIBLE FOR THE MASSES THAN THE OPENING UP THE THEATRE OR OTHER FORMS OF HIGH CULTURE

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS THAT THE DATA PERTAINED TO WHOLE POPULATIONS WHEREAS POPULATIONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BROKEN DOWN INTO COHORTS SINCE COHORTS PICK UP FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES THE CONSEQUENCES OF A COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC LEVEL AND POLITICAL SITUATION AT THE AGE OF LEGALLY BECOMING ADULT ( INGLEHART’S SILENT REVOLUTION )

STRICTLY COMPARABLE DATA FOR VARIOUS HIGH CULTURE ACTIVITIES AND FOR SPORT ARE AVALIABLE FOR THE 2000S FOR ALL EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES THANKS TO RECENT EUROBAROMETER SURVEYS

THESE DATA SHOULD BE ANALYZED WITHIN EQUALSOC AND SOCCULT THIS SHOULD BE DONE BY BRINGING IN COUNTRY MEASURES FOR COHORT --TIED BOUND GOVERNMENTAL SPENDING ON HIGH CULTURE AND ON SPORT WHETHER THIS IS SPENDING BY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OR BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

HOWEVER THE QUESTION OF THE EFFECT OF COHORT – TIED GOVERNMENTAL SPENDING ON SELECTIVE PARTICIPATION IN HIGH CULTURE AND ON SELECTIVE SPORT ACTIVITY STILL LOOKS LIKE A MACRO QUESTION

WHAT IS THE WEIGHT OF A PERSON’S OWN EDUCATION THE EDUCATION OF THIS PERSON’S PARENTS AND THE EDUCATION OF THIS PERSON’S SPOUSE IN DETERMINING THIS PERSON’S CULTURAL ACTIVITIES ?

TO ANSWER THIS MICRO QUESTION ULTEE & N.D. DE GRAAF 1991 APPLIED SOBEL’S DIAGONAL REFERENCE MODELS TO DATA FOR THE NETHERLANDS IN 1974 AND 1983 FOR ATTENDING CONCERTS, VISITING MUSEUMS AND INSPECTING MONUMENTS WITH DATA AVAILABLE FOR THE 1990S AND 2000S THEY FOUND THAT IF THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL EDUCATION IS 1, THAT OF A PERSON’S SPOUSE IS 2 AND THAT OF A PERSON’S OWN EDUCATION 3

DOES THE 1 : 2 : 3 RULE APPLY TO OTHER COUNTRIES AND COHORTS WITHIN COUNTRIES? IF THIS QUESTION IS RAISED, A MICRO QUESTION EXPANDS INTO A MACRO QUESTION WHETHER THE DATA FOR THIS EXPANSION ARE AVALIABLE IS A POINT OF DISCUSSION FOR EQUALSOC - SOCCULT

THERE ARE INTERESTING MICRO – MACRO PARADOXES AND THEY SHOULD BE DEALT WITH WITHIN EQUALSOC AND SOCCULT

HOW TO CONNECT MACRO QUESTIONS WITH MICRO QUESTIONS ? THE COULANGEON MICRO – MACRO PARADOX FROM 2007 IT IS KNOWN THAT AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL MORE EDUCATION MAKES FOR MORE READING IT ALSO IS KNOWN THAT EDUCATION EXPANDED BUT THE PREDICTION THAT READING IS INCREASING DOES NOT HOLD !

COULANGEON ARGUES THAT THIS MICRO – MACRO PARADOX CANNOT BE DISMISSED BY POINTING TOWARDS THE ILL EFFECTS OF TELEVISION INDEED THE MICRO – MACRO PARADOX MAY BE EXPANDED: WHEREAS MORE EDUCATION MAKES FOR MORE SPORT EDUCATION HAS EXPANDED WHILE OVERWEIGHT IS RISING

THE COULANGEON - SOLUTION OF THE PARADOX PRECISELY BECAUSE EDUCATION EXPANDED, READING DID NOT INCREASE PEOPLE’S READING AS ADULTS IS NOT ONLY DETERMINED BY THEIR EDUCATION IT IS ALSO DETERMINED BY PARENTAL EDUCATION AS WELL AS BY CLIMATE IN THEIR CLASSES AT UPPER SECUNDARY SCHOOL AND CLASSES AT UPPER SECUNDARY SCHOOL HAVE BECOME LESS ‘ ELITIST ’ IN COMPOSITION

MIGHT THE COULANGEON - EXPLANATION BE TESTED WITH THE EUROBARAMETER DATA ? THE EUROBAROMETERS DO NOT INFORM ON THE PARENTS OF RESPONDENTS NOR ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE UPPER - SECUNDARY SCHOOLS IN A COUNTRY

HOWEVER THE EUROBAROMETERS CONTAIN INDIVIDUAL AGE AS A VARIABLE AND IT IS POSSIBLE TO RECODE THE AGE VARIABLE INTO APPROXIMATE MEASURES FOR THE UPPER – SECUNDARY SCHOOL COMPOSITION OF PERSONS FROM VARIOUS BIRTH COHORTS BY WAY OF OTHER DATA SOURCES LIKE LABOUR FORCE SURVEYS

ARE THERE DATA SETS FOR EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERS MAKING POSSIBLE A MORE DIRECT TEST OF COULANGEON’S EXPLANATION OF THE MICRO - MACRO PARADOX ?

ARE THERE DATA SETS FOR EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERS MAKING POSSIBLE AN AN ESTIMATION OF SOBEL’S THREE-WAY DIAGONAL REFERENCE MODELS FOR VARIOUS DECADES?

THIS PRESENTATION IS POSTED ON MY PERSONAL WEBSITE SEARCH GOOGLE FOR WOUT ULTEE AND THE FIRST HIT IS MY WEBSITE