Competing Trends in the Sociological Theorization of Choice in Education

Author(s):

Mathieu Ichou(presenting / submitting)Sonja Kosunen(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

28. Sociologies of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

28 SES 10, Educational Choices: Theory and Practice

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-12

15:30-17:00

Room:

D-305

Chair:

Eric Mangez

Contribution

In the past three decades, two trends have characterized most European educational systems: the construction of local educational markets and the increased differentiation of pupils’ academic trajectories between tracks and options. A common consequence of these two trends is the heightened role of different forms of choice in the creation of educational inequalities. Choices in education have been empirically studied as a product of the interaction between different actors of the field: families and students with differing backgrounds and resources; teachers and school leaders; schools and other institutions; and local, national and international policies and regulations. Numerous attempts have been made to quantify educational choices and their consequences on, often subtle, differentiations in pupils’ academic trajectories (e.g. Lucas, 2001; Shavit, Arum & Gamoran, 2007; see Breen & Jonsson, 2005, for a review).

The increased importance of “choice” in the social and scientific arenas calls for a systematic theoretical clarification of the notion of choice. This paper aims to take on this task by offering an analysis of the ways in which sociologists have theorized choice, focused on, but not limited to, choices in education. The analysis identifies the main ways in which the concept of choice has been defined and used during the past 30 years in mainstream sociological literature.

Method

Inspired by Stevens’s innovative approach to literature reviews (Stevens, 2007), we employed a dedicated three-step methodology to sample the literature in a systematic way. First, we identified the 12 most relevant American, British and French journals and systematically examined their tables of contents from 1980 to 2012. Second, using appropriate queries, we searched bibliographical databases (ERIC and Sociological Abstracts). Third, we inspected the bibliographic references contained in the articles found in the two previous steps to identify additional relevant works for review. The resulting sample includes both journal articles and books and contains more than 200 references on sociological theories of choice.

Expected Outcomes

A preliminary review of the selected references shows the central role played by rational choice theoretical models in shaping debates on the sociological conceptions of choice. Three types of contributions can be identified: 1) attempts to adjust and amend, to varying extents, the original economic rational choice models to adapt to sociological complexities (e.g. Breen & Goldthorpe, 1997; van Zanten, 2009); 2) radical critiques that aim to replace rational choice models by entirely alternative conceptions of choice (e.g. Ball, Bowe & Gewirtz, 1996; Ball et al., 2002); 3) a few works that do not take rational choice models as a reference (either positive or negative) and strive to construct their own model of choice in a relative “theoretical autonomy” (e.g. Correll, 2001; Crompton & Lyonnette, 2005).

References

Ball, S. J., R. Bowe, and S. Gewirtz. 1996. "School Choice, social class and distinction: the realisation of social advantage in education." Journal of Education Policy 11(3):89-113. Ball, S. J., J. Davies, M. David, and D. Reay. 2002. "'Classification' and 'Judgement': Social Class and the 'Cognitive Structures' of Choice of Higher Education." British Journal of Sociology of Education 23(1):51-72. Breen, R., and J. H. Goldthorpe. 1997. "Explaining Educational Dfferentials: Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory." Rationality and Society 9(9):275-305. Breen, R., and J. O. Jonsson. 2005. "Inequality of Opportunity in Comparative Perspective: Recent Research on Educational Attainment and Social Mobility." Annual Review of Sociology 31:223-243. Correll, S. J. 2001. "Gender and the Career Choice Process: The Role of Biased Self-Assessments." American Journal of Sociology 106(6):1691-1730. Crompton, R., and C. Lyonette. 2005. "The new gender essentialism – domestic and family ‘choices’ and their relation to attitudes." The British Journal of Sociology 56(4):601-620. Lucas, S. 2001. "Effectively maintained inequality: education transitions, track mobility, and social background effects." American Journal of Sociology 106(6):1642-1690. Shavit, Yossi , Richard Arum, and Arum Gamoran. 2007. Stratification in higher education: A comparative study. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Stevens, P. A. J. 2007. "Researching race/ethnicity and educational inequality in English secondary schools: a critical review of the research literature between 1980 and 2005." Review of Educational Research Quarterly 77(2):147-185. van Zanten, A. 2009. Choisir son école. Stratégies familiales et médiations locales. Presses Universitaires de France.

Author Information

Mathieu Ichou (presenting / submitting)

Sciences Po

Sociology

Paris

Sonja Kosunen (presenting)

University of Helsinki

Institute of Behavioral Sciences