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five - Sorting and (much) more: prior ability, school effects and the impact of ability tracking on educational inequalities in achievement
- Edited by Andreas Hadjar, Université du Luxembourg, Christiane Gross, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
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- Book:
- Education Systems and Inequalities
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 08 June 2016, pp 95-114
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Summary
The problem
There is hardly a country without educational inequalities based on social origin. The results of sociological research on inequality in general, international comparative studies, and some systematic comparisons between national studies, however, reveal clear differences (see inter alia, Kao and Thompson, 2003; Müller and Kogan, 2010: 252ff.; Hanushek and Wößmann, 2011). From the very beginning, the various hypotheses of the causes for cross-country differences have suggested the vital importance of educational systems, which differ considerably in terms of their institutional design both internationally and regionally. The core of the discussions on educational systems consists of a question concerning the specific effects of differentiation according to achievement (‘ability tracking’) as compared to integration with a largely common learning, possibly even up to the end of compulsory education.
Ability tracking is justified by the presumption that a homogenisation of learning environments in terms of performance and/or dispositions is advantageous – including for academically weaker pupils. The argument in opposition to such sorting is that less talented pupils could no longer benefit from the more favourable learning environment of an integrated school and would possibly perform worse due to an assignment to lower valued types of schools, entailing stigmatisation and negative self-perception. This will particularly apply if the differentiation is empirically also a matter of stratification: a vertical sorting, for example, into more academic general education in contrast to non-academic, specific or vocational education, varying in terms of the curricula's demands and the qualifications and certificates, which are connected with different levels of prestige and career opportunities (see Allmendinger, 1989: 239ff.; Meier and Schutz, 2007: 5ff.; van de Werfhorst and Mijs, 2010: 409ff.; Betts, 2011: 343ff.). The empirical evidence seems to be clear: pupils apparently display no higher achievement in cases of differentiation, but the effect of social origin, and thus educational inequality, is reinforced when compared to integration without institutional sorting. It is therefore not appropriate to refer to a trade-off between social permeability and the level of achievement in cases of a differentiated educational system. All (recent) reviews of the state of research agree on this: ‘it can be widely taken for granted that early tracking is furthermore associated with the generation of more educational inequality with particular disadvantage for lower class and migrant families’ (Müller and Kogan, 2010: 227, emphasis added).
4 - An Integrative Theory of Action: The Model of Frame Selection
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- By Hartmut Esser, University of Mannheim Germany, Clemens Kroneberg, University of Cologne Germany
- Edited by Edward J. Lawler, Cornell University, New York, Shane R. Thye, University of South Carolina, Jeongkoo Yoon
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- Book:
- Order on the Edge of Chaos
- Published online:
- 05 December 2015
- Print publication:
- 09 December 2015, pp 63-85
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Summary
Abstract
The question of how norm adherence comes about against all temptations and fears of exploitation continues to loom large in the explanation of social order. It also divides major paradigms in the social sciences, most notably the normative paradigm that views norms as unconditional imperatives and the utilitarian paradigm that regards them as one conditional incentive among others. We introduce the model of frame selection (Esser 2009; Kroneberg 2014) as an integrative theory of action that reconciles these views and allows one to consider the interplay of interests, institutions, and ideas in the explanation of social order. Building on and formalizing insights gained in cognitive social psychology, this dual-process model pinpoints the conditions under which norms will be followed spontaneously rather than being subject to trade-offs. The model yields specific and testable hypotheses and has been applied in diverse fields of sociological research.
THE PROBLEM
The emergence of social order constitutes one of the fundamental problems in the social sciences. It involves the reliable regulation and stabilization of actions within social situations, even against conflicting interests and opportunities. This problem varies in character and severity, ranging from achieving coordination among actors with shared interests to ensuring mutual cooperation despite incentives to free ride in social dilemmas, to overcoming conflicts in which the gain of one actor involves the other's loss. These different problems call for different solutions. Coordination problems can be solved by simple agreements or conventions. Dilemma situations, however, already constitute a problem of “antagonistic cooperation”: notwithstanding the potential gains of mutual cooperation, there is always the temptation to free ride on others’ contributions as well as the fear that one's own contribution will be exploited. This particularly applies to the production of collective goods, which also includes the establishment of institutions that are capable of enforcing order in case of conflicts. Norms constitute an especially important (although not the only) solution to the problem of social order. However, the crucial question then becomes whether and how norm adherence comes about against all temptations and fears of exploitation.
6 - Federal Republic of Germany
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- By Hartmut Esser, University of Essen, Hermann Korte, Ruhr University, Bochum
- Tomas Hammar
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- Book:
- European Immigration Policy
- Published online:
- 05 November 2011
- Print publication:
- 10 October 1985, pp 165-205
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Summary
Immigration and immigration policy
In many respects the present situation in Germany in regard to immigration and immigrants is unprecedented. A great number of immigrant families are preparing for a permanent stay and some form of “integration”; moreover, easing the tension between integration and cultural autonomy is being considered on a political level. The situation now differs fundamentally from that of the past, when foreign workers were either clearly defined as seasonal workers and subjected to rigid Germanization during their stay (and in the Second World War forced into war production) or else used as an easily transferable labor pool to compensate for manpower shortages in certain branches of the economy. Yet policymakers have found it difficult to grasp this difference and to act accordingly, which is why the current reorientation of immigration policy has been so difficult.
To understand the novelty of the present situation and to appreciate the obstacles faced in changing from a “guestworker” policy to an “immigration” policy, one must begin by examining the varied history of population movements and foreign labor migration into the German Reich and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).
Until 1885 Germany was mainly an emigration country (Armengand 1971:163fT). Germans emigrated primarily to the United States and, to a lesser extent, to Canada, Australia, and South America. A number of Germans settled down to work as administrators and merchants or founded new settlements in the Baltic, Poland, and Russia.