Socioeconomic Disparities in Adolescents’ Expected Occupational Status in the United States and the United Kingdom

• In Event: Educational regimes and success in the life course: The Role of digital literacy, transnational competencies and personality in schooled societies

Proposal

In a seminal work published in the American Sociological Review in 1960, American sociologist Ralph Turner introduced the concepts of sponsored and contest mobility in relation to social norms and control mechanisms concerning social mobility. According to Turner (1960), a contest mobility society is one in which elite status is determined by an individual’s efforts through open competition. In contrast, a sponsored mobility society is one in which elite status is granted to a select few chosen by the existing elite group. Turner (1960) described the United States and the United Kingdom as representative of contest mobility and sponsored mobility societies, respectively. This is because American society tends to avoid making early social status determinations, much like refraining from prematurely predicting the outcome of a sports game (Turner, 1960). By contrast, British society tends to select capable individuals as early as possible and provides elite education exclusively to them (Turner, 1960).
According to Turner (1960), one possible consequence of the differing value systems governing social mobility is that the influence of adolescents’ social origins on their occupational expectations is more pronounced in a sponsored mobility society like the United Kingdom than in a contest mobility society like the United States. This is because, in a sponsored mobility society, only a select few individuals, often from high socioeconomic status (SES) families, are chosen early on to pursue prestigious positions. In contrast, a contest mobility society encourages all individuals to aspire to high-ranking positions, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds. Although several studies have examined the impact of family SES on adolescents’ occupational expectations in the United States (Reynolds et al., 2006; Schneider & Stevenson, 1999) and the United Kingdom (Croll, 2008; Schoon, Martin, & Ross, 2007; Schoon & Parsons, 2002) individually, there is limited research directly comparing the magnitude of this impact between the two countries.
Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to test Turner’s theory of sponsored vs. contest mobility by examining whether the influence of family SES on adolescents’ expected occupational status is smaller in the United States than in the United Kingdom. To achieve this, we utilize nationally representative data for 15-year-old students from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Our results suggest that American students have significantly higher expected occupational statuses compared to their British counterparts. While family SES significantly influences adolescents’ expected occupational status in both the United States and the United Kingdom, the effect of family SES on expected occupational status is significantly smaller in the United States than in the United Kingdom. These results support Turner’s (1960) theory, demonstrating that the impact of family SES on students’ occupational expectations is more pronounced in a sponsored mobility society like the United Kingdom compared to a contest mobility society like the United States. As such, our study offers valuable insights into the relevance of Turner’s theory and highlights the differing roles of family SES in shaping occupational expectations across different educational systems.

Authors

• Soo-yong Byun, Penn State University

• Janice H Kim, University of Glasgow

• Suyoung Park, Pennsylvania State University

• Sujin Kim