Recent trends in the process of stratification.
Using the 14 annual cross-sections from the General Social Survey, we specify a "basic model" of attainment and describe the year-by-year fluctuations in its parameters. The results are partially consistent with theories describing the gradual growth of universalistic patterns of stratification and mobility. Under a linear model of educational achievement, we find that the direct effects of race are weakening and the returns to class-based advantages are declining in tandem. The contours of the socioeconomic "gender gap" are also changing in important ways, with the male intercept declining at a rapid pace and the female term registering small and insignificant year-by-year gains. At the same time, the returns to experience and schooling are increasing for men, whereas the corresponding returns for women have remained stable over the 15-year period. This pattern of interaction effects implies that the size of the gender gap varies over time and across different population groups.
Grusky
D B
DB
Department of Sociology, Stanford University, California 94305.
DiPrete
T A
TA
D002322:Career Mobility; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009790:Occupations; D012737:Sex Factors; D012922:Social Change; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014931:Women, Working / Q000706:statistics & numerical data