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Social Class, Ability and Choice of Subject in Secondary and Tertiary Education in Britain
Author(s) -
WERFHORST HERMAN G.,
SULLIVAN ALICE,
CHEUNG SIN YI
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/0141192032000057366
Subject(s) - cultural capital , social class , higher education , social reproduction , class (philosophy) , sociology , school choice , subject (documents) , social position , psychology , social capital , social psychology , social science , social relation , political science , law , artificial intelligence , library science , computer science
This article examines the impact of family background (social class, cultural and economic capital) and ability on the choice of subjects in secondary and tertiary education in Britain. Using a framework that integrates rational choice perspectives and cultural reproduction theory, we assume that children take their parents' social position as a reference for their own choices, and are guided mainly by the amount of economic and cultural capital that is available within the family. Using longitudinal data from the 1958 British birth cohort (N =13,245), the empirical analysis shows that children from higher social class backgrounds achieved a higher standard in both humanities and scientific subjects in primary and secondary school. Furthermore, children of the professional class were relatively likely to choose the prestigious subjects of medicine and law in university, independent of ability. Both absolute and relative levels of ability were relevant to the choice of subject at degree level, as it was found that people chose subjects that they were relatively good at compared to other subjects. This concept of ‘comparative advantage’ gives additional insight into field‐of‐study choices, but does not explain the gender segregation across disciplines.