Higher Education or Vocational Training? An Empirical Test of the Rational Action Model of Educational Choices Suggested by Breen and Goldthorpe and Esser.

Our aim in this article is to reveal crucial factors affecting the access to higher education claimed in rational action theories in Germany. Data on the educational choices of high school graduates in Saxony support the basic assumptions of the rational choice model suggested by Esser and by Breen...

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Publicado en:Acta Sociologica (Sage Publications, Ltd.) Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 25 - 46
Autores principales: Becker, Rolf, Hecken, Anna Etta
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. Mar2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2009
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        atl: Higher Education or Vocational Training? An Empirical Test of the Rational Action Model of Educational Choices Suggested by Breen and Goldthorpe and Esser.
      aug:
        au:
          Becker, Rolf
          Hecken, Anna Etta
        affil:
          Professor and Director, Department of Sociology of Education and Chair, University of Berne, Switzerland.
          Research Associate, Department of Education and Culture (General Secretary), Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
      su:
        Higher education
        Social classes
        Social status
        Rational choice theory
        Social choice
        Bounded rationality
      sug:
        subj:
          Higher education
          Social classes
          Social status
          Rational choice theory
          Social choice
          Bounded rationality
      keyword:
        class structure
        higher education
        primary effects
        rational choice
        secondary effects
        social inequality of education
        vocational training
        class structure
        higher education
        primary effects
        rational choice
        secondary effects
        social inequality of education
        vocational training
      ab: Our aim in this article is to reveal crucial factors affecting the access to higher education claimed in rational action theories in Germany. Data on the educational choices of high school graduates in Saxony support the basic assumptions of the rational choice model suggested by Esser and by Breen and Goldthorpe. First, working-class children are likely to be diverted from higher education by their self-evaluated school achievement. In contrast to expected economic returns from education, theoretically expected class-specific motives of status maintenance are crucial factors in regard to class-specific educational decisions. Besides class differences of expectations regarding intergenerational upward mobility or educational success at university, it is subjective estimation of educational costs that is pivotal in the decision against higher education in favour of alternative vocational education - depending on the actual allocation of financial capital between social classes. The initial economic distribution among high school graduates leads to socially selective educational decisions and, consequently, to inequality of educational opportunity in higher education. While these rational choice theories explain class-related inequality, they do not explain the gender inequality in higher education marginally favouring women.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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