On The Edge Of Commitment

by Morgan, Stephen L.

• ISBN13: 9780804744195
• ISBN10: 080474419X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-30
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

The importance of educational certification for labor market success has increased since the 1970s. But social sciences still cannot answer a fundamental question: Who goes to college and why? InOn the Edge of Commitment, Stephen L. Morgan offers a new model of educational achievement to explain why some students are committed to preparation for college. Morgan's model unites in one common framework the forward-looking cost-benefit assessments of students with social influence processes. The model is then used to explain puzzling race differences in patterns of high school achievement and subsequent rates of college enrollment. The book, using this model, makes a major theoretical statement on the process of educational achievement, which will help to launch a new generation of empirical work.

Author Biography

Stephen L. Morgan is Associate Professor of Sociology at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	x
Acknowledgments	xiii
INTRODUCTION
Chapter One Why Do We Need a New Model of Educational Attainment?	3	(32)
COMING TO TERMS WITH THE SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE ON EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Chapter Two Expectation Formation and the Status Socialization Theory of Educational Attainment	35	(22)
Chapter Three Do Beliefs Matter? A Reanalysis of the Relationship Between Educational Expectations and Attainment	57	(42)
A COMMITMENT-BASED MODEL OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Chapter Four The Generation of Preparatory Commitment from Forward-Looking Beliefs	99	(40)
Chapter Five The Evolution of the Beliefs That Determine Commitment	139	(36)
Chapter Six Incorporating Imitative and Normative Sources of Commitment	175	(32)
Chapter Seven A New Agenda for the Sociology of Educational Attainment	207	(12)
References	219	(14)
Index	233