Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification

Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification Author(s): Randall Collins Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 36, No. 6 (Dec., 1971), pp. 1002-1019 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: . Accessed: 20/08/2013 21:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. .

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1002

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

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Warner,W. Lloyd, WilfredC. Bailey, et al.

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Harper.

FUNCTIONAL AND CONFLICT THEORIES OF EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION *

RANDALLCOLLINS Universityof CaliforniaS, anDiego

American Sociological Review 1971, Vol. 36 (December):1002-1019

Two theoriesare consideredin accountingfor the increasedschoolingrequiredfor employment in advancedindustrialsociety: (a) a technical-functiontheory,stating that educational requirementsreflectthe demandsfor greaterskills on the job due to technologicalchange; and (b) a conflict theory, stating that employment requirementsreflect the efforts of competing status groups to monopolize or dominate jobs by imposing their cultural standardson the selectionprocess.A review of the evidenceindicatesthat the conflicttheory is more strongly supported.The main dynamic of rising educationalrequirementsin the UnitedStates has beenprimarilythe expansionof mobility opportunitiesthroughthe school system, ratherthan autonomouschangesin the structureof employment.It is argued that the effort to build a comprehensivetheory of stratificationis best advanced by viewing those effects of technologicalchange on educationalrequirementsthat are substantiated within the basic context of a conflict theory of stratification.

EDUCATION has becomehighlyimportant social mobility. This paper attempts to as-

in occupational attainment in modern sess the adequacy of two theories in account-

America, and thus occupies a central ing for available evidence on the link be-

place in the analysis of stratification and of tween education and stratification: a func-

tional theory concerning trends in technical * I am indebted to Joseph Ben-David, Bennett skill requirementsin industrialsocieties; and

Berger, Reinhard Bendix, Margaret S. Gordon,

Joseph R. Gusfield,Stanford M. Lyman, Martin A. Trow, and Harold L. Wilenskyfor advice and comment; and to MargaretS. Gordonfor making availabledata collectedby the Institute of Indus-

a conflict theory derived from the approach of Max Weber, stating the determinants of various outcomes in the struggles among status groups. It will be argued that the

trial Relations of the University of Californiaat Berkeley, under grants from the U. S. Office of Educationand U. S. Departmentof Labor. Their endorsementof the views expressedhere is not

implied.

evidence best supports the conflict theory, although technical requirements have important effects in particularcontexts. It will be further argued that the constructionof a

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EDUCATIONALSTRATIFICATION

1003

general theory of the determinantsof strati- tainment after the completion of education

fication in its varying forms is best advanced (Blau and Duncan, 1967:163-205; Eckland,

by incorporatingelements of the functional 1965; Sewell et al., 1969; Duncan and

analysis of technical requirementsof specific Hodge, 1963; Lipset and Bendix, 1959:189-

jobs at appropriate points within the con- 192). There are differences in occupational

flict model. The conclusion offers an inter- attainment independent of social origins be-

pretation of historical change in education tween the graduates of more prominent and

and stratification in industrial America, and less prominent secondary schools, colleges,

suggests where further evidence is required graduate schools, and law schools (Smigel,

for more precise tests and for further de- 1964:39, 73-74, 117; Havemann and West,

velopment of a comprehensive explanatory 1952:179-181; Ladinsky, 1967; Hargens

theory.

and Hagstrom, 1967).

The Importance of Education

Educational requirementsfor employment have become increasingly widespread, not

A number of studies have shown that the only in elite occupations but also at the number of years of education is a strong de- bottom of the occupational hierarchy (see terminant of occupational achievement in Table 1). In a 1967 survey of the San

America with social origins constant. They Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose areas

also show that social origins affect educa- (Collins, 1969), 17%oof the employers sur-

tional attainment, and also occupational at- veyed requiredat least a high school diploma

Table 1. Percent of Employers Requiring Various MinimumEducational Levels -of__Employees ,by Occupational Level.

National Survey, 1937-38

Un-

Semi-

Cleri- Mana- Profes-

skilled skilled Skilled cal

gerial sional

Less than high school High school diploma Some college College degree

99% 1

100%

97% 3

100%

89% 11

100%

33% 63

1 3 100%

32% S4

2 12 100%

9% 16 23 52 100%

San Francisco Bay Area, 1967

Less than high school

83% 76% 62% 29% 27% 10%

High School diploma

16

24

28

68

14

4

Vocational training beyond high school

1

1

10

2

2

4

Some college

2

12

7

College degree

41

70

Graduate degree

3

5

Sources:

100% 100% 100% 101%

(244)

(237)

(245)

(306)

99% 100% (288) (240)

H.M. Bell,-Matching Youth and Jobs (Washington: American Council on

Education,

p. 264, as analyzed in Lawrence Thomas, The Occu-

pational Structure and Education (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,

1956) P. unpublished

346PuA.Dan. ddRissaenrdtaatllionC, ollinsU, nive"rEsidtyucatioofn

and Employment," California at

Berkeley, 1969, Table III-1. Bell does not report the number of

employers in the sample, but it was apparently large.

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AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

for employmentin even unskilledpositions; 1 of technological change. Two processes are

a national survey (Bell, 1940) in 1937-1938 involved: (a) the proportionof jobs requir-

found a comparable figure of 1%. At the ing low skill decreases and the proportion

same time, educationalrequirementsappear requiring high skill increases; and (b) the

to have become more specialized, with 38% same jobs are upgradedin skill requirements.

of the organizationsin the 1967 survey which (2) Formal education provides the training,

required college degrees of managers pre- either in specific skills or in general capaci-

ferringbusiness administrationtraining, and ties, necessary for the more highly skilled

an additional 15%opreferring engineering jobs. (3) Therefore, educational require-

training; such requirementsappear to have ments for employment constantly rise, and

been virtually unknown in the 1920s (Pier- increasingly larger proportions of the popu-

son, 1959:34-54). At the same time, the lation are requiredto spendlongerand longer

proportionsof the American population at- periods in school.

tending schools through the completion of The technical-function theory of educa-

high school and advanced levels have risen tion may be seen as a particular application

sharply during the last century (Table 2). of a more general functional approach. The

Careers are thus increasingly shaped within functional theory of stratification (Davis

the educational system.

and Moore, 1945) rests on the premises (A)

that occupationalpositions requireparticular

The Technical-Function Theory of Education

A common explanation of the importance of education in modern society may be termed the technical-function theory. Its

kinds of skilled performance; and (B) that positions must be filled with persons who have either the native ability, or who have acquired the training, necessary for the performanceof the given occupational role.2

basic propositions, found in a number of sources (see, for example, B. Clark, 1962; Kerr et al., 1960), may be stated as follows: (1) the skill requirements of jobs in industrial society constantly increase because

1 This survey covered 309 establishmentswith 100 or more employees, representingall major industry groups.

2The concern here is with these basic premises rather than with the theory elaboratedby Davis and Moore to account for the universality of stratification.This theory involves a few further propositions: (C) in any particularform of society certain occupationalpositions are functionally most central to the operation of the social

system; (D) the ability to fill these positions,and/ or the motivationto acquirethe necessarytraining, is unequallydistributedin the population; (E) in-

Table 2. Percentage Educational Attainment in the United States, 1869-1965.

Period

High School graduates/ pop. 17 yrs.

old

Resident college students/ pop. 18-21

B.A.'s or lst prof. degrees/ 1/10 of pop.

15-24

M.A.'s or 2nd prof. degrees/ 1/10 of pop.

25-34

Ph.D.'s 1/10 of pop.

25-34

1869-1870 1879-1880 1889-1890 1899-1900 1909-1910 1919-1920

1929-1930 1939-1940 1949-1950

1959-1960 1963

1965

2.0

1.7

2.5

2.7

3.5

3.0

6.4

4.0

1.66

0.12

0.03

8.8

S.1

1.85

0.13

0.02

16.8

8.9

2.33

0.24

0.03

29.0

12.4

4.90

0.78

0.12

50.8

15.6

7.05

1.24

0.15

59.0

29.6

17.66

2.43

0.27

65.1

34.9

17.72

3.25

0.42

76.3

38.0

19.71

5.02

0.73

Sources:

Historical Statistics of the United States, Series A-28-29, H 327338; Statistical Abstract of the United States 1966, Tables 3 and. 194; Digest of Educational Statistics (U. S. Office of Education, 1967), Tables 66 and 88.

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EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION

1005

The technical-function theory of education The only available evidence on this point

may be viewed as a subtype of this form of consists of data collected by the U. S. De-

analysis, since it shares the premises that partment of Labor in 1950 and 1960, which

the occupational structure creates demands indicate the amount of change in skill re-

for particularkinds of performance,and that quirements of specific jobs. Under the most

training is one way of filling these demands. plausible assumptions as to the skills pro-

In addition, it includes the more restrictive vided by various levels of education, it ap-

premises (1 and 2 above) concerning the pears that the educational level of the U. S.

way in which skill requirements of jobs labor force has changed in excess of that

changewith industrialization,and concerning which is necessary to keep up with skill re-

the content of school experiences.

quirements of jobs (Berg, 1970:38-60).

The technical-function theory of educa- Over-education for available jobs is found

tion may be tested by reviewingthe evidence particularly among males who have gradu-

for each of its propositions (la, lb, and 2).3 ated from college and females with high

As will be seen, these propositions do not school degrees or some college, and appears

adequatelyaccountfor the evidence.In order to have increasedbetween 1950 and 1960.

to generate a more complete explanation, it will be necessary to examine the evidence for the underlying functional propositions, (A) and (B). This analysis leads to a focus on the processesof stratification-notably group conflict-not expressed in the functional theory, and to the formalizationof a conflict theory to account for the evidence.

Proposition (2): Formal education provides required job skills. This proposition may be tested in two ways: (a) Are better educated employees more productive than less educated employees? (b) Are vocational skills learned in schools, or elsewhere?

(a) Are better educated employees more productive? The evidence most often cited

Proposition (la): Educational requirements for the productive effects of education is

of jobs in industrialsociety increase because indirect, consisting of relationships between

the proportion of jobs requiring low skill aggregatelevels of educationin a society and

decreases and the proportion requiring high its overall economic productivity. These are

skill increases. Available evidence suggests of three types:

that this process accounts for only a minor part of educational upgrading, at least in a society that has passed the point of initial industrialization. Fifteen percent of the increase in education of the U. S. labor force during the twentieth century may be attributed to shifts in the occupational structure-a decrease in the proportion of jobs with low skill requirementsand an increase in proportionof jobs with high skill requirements (Folger and Nam, 1964). The bulk of educational upgrading (857%) has occurredwithin job categories.

Proposition (lb): Educational requirements of jobs in industrial society rise because the same jobs are upgradedin skill requirements.

equalitiesof rewardsin wealth and prestigeevolve to ensurethat the supplyof personswith the necessaryability or trainingmesheswith the structure of demandsfor skilled performanceT. he problems of stating functional centralityin empiricalterms have been subjects of much debate.

3 Proposition3 is supportedby Tables 1 and 2. The issue here is whether this can be explained

(i) The nationalgrowthapproachinvolves calculatingthe proportionof growth in the U. S. GrossNationalProductattributableto conventionalinputs of capital and labor; these leave a large residual, which is attributedto improvementisn skill of the labor force basedon increasededucation(Schultz, 1961; Denison, 1965). This approachsuffers fromdifficultyin clearlydistinguishinagmong technologicalchangeaffectingproductivearrangementsc, hangesin the abilitiesof workers acquiredby experienceat workwith new technologies,and changes in skills due to formal education and motivational factors associated with a competitive or achievement-orientedsociety. The assignmentof a large proportionof the residualcategoryto educationis arbitraryD. enison(1965) makes this attributionon the basis of the increased incometo personswith higherlevels of education interpretedas rewardsfor their contributionsto productivity.Althoughit is a common assumptionin economic argument that wage returnsreflectoutputvalue, wage returnscannotbe used to prove the productive contributionof educationwithoutcircular reasoning.

(ii) Correlationsof educationand level of economicdevelopmentfor nationsshow that

by the previous propositionsand premises.

the higherthe level of economicdevelopment

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1006

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

of a country,the higherthe proportionof its on the job or casually (Clark and Sloan,

population in elementary, secondary, and higher education (Harbison and Myers, 1964). Such correlationsbeg the questionof

1966:73). Retraining for important technological changes in industry has been carried

causality.There are considerablevariations out largely informally on-the-job; in only a

in schoolenrollmentsamongcountriesat the very small proportion of jobs affected by

same economic level, and many of these technological change is formal retraining in

variationsare explicablein terms of political demandsfor accessto education(Ben-David, 1963-64). Also, the overproductionof edu-

educational institutions used (Collins, 1969: 147-158; Bright, 1958).

cated personnelin countrieswhose level of The relevanceof education for nonmanual

economic developmentcannot absorb them occupationalskills is more difficult to evalu-

suggeststhe demandfor educationneed not come directly from the economy, and may run counter to economic needs (Hoselitz,

ate. Training in specific professions, such as medicine, engineering, scientific or scholarly

1965).

research, teaching, and law can plausibly be

(iii) Time-lagcorrelationos f educationand considered vocationally relevant, and possi-

economicdevelopmentshowthat increasesin the proportionof populationin elementary schoolprecedeincreasesin economicdevelop-

bly essential. Evidences comparingparticular degreesof educationalsuccesswith particular

ment after a takeoffpoint at approximately kinds of occupationalperformanceor success

30-50% of the 7-14 years old age-groupin are not available, except for a few occupa-

school.Similaranticipationsof economicde- tions. For engineers,high college grades and

velopment are suggested for increases in secondaryand higher educationenrollment, althoughthe data do not clearlysupportthis

degree levels generally predict high levels of technical responsibility and high participa-

conclusion(Peaslee, 1969). A patternof ad- tion in professionalactivities, but not neces-

vances in secondaryschool enrollmentspre- sarily high salary or supervisory responsi-

cedingadvancesin economicdevelopmentis found only in a small numberof cases (12 of 37 examinedin Peaslee,1969). A pattern

bility (Perrucci and Perrucci, 1970). At the same time, a number of practicing engineers

of growthof universityenrollmentsand sub- lack college degrees (about 40% of engineers

sequenteconomicdevelopmenits foundin 21 in the early 1950s; see Soderberg, 1963:

of 37 cases,but the exceptions(includingthe United States, France, Sweden,Russia, and Japan) are of such importanceas to throw seriousdoubt on any necessarycontribution

213), suggesting that even such highly technical skills may be acquired on the job. For academic research scientists, educational

of higher education to economic develop- quality has little effect on subsequent pro-

ment.The maincontributionof educationto ductivity (Hagstrom and Hargens, 1968).

economicproductivityt,hen,appearsto occur at the level of the transitionto massliteracy, andnot significantlybeyondthis level.

For other professions,evidence is not available on the degree to which actual skills are

learned in school rather than in practice.

Direct evidenceof the contributionof edu- In professions such as medicine and law,

cation to individual productivity is sum- where education is a legal requirement for

marizedby Berg (1970:85-104, 143-176). It admission to practice, a comparison group

indicates that the better educated employees of noneducatedpractitionersis not available,

are not generally more productive, and in at least in the modern era.

some cases are less productive, among sam- Outside of the traditional learned profes-

ples of factory workers, maintenance men, sions, the plausibility of the vocational im-

department store clerks, technicians, secre- portance of education is more questionable.

taries, bank tellers, engineers, industrial re- Comparisons of the efforts of different oc-

search scientists, military personnel, and cupations to achieve "professionalization"

federal civil service employers.

suggest that setting educationalrequirements

(b) Are vocationalskills learnedin school, or elsewhere? Specifically vocational education in the schools for manual positions is virtually independent of job fate, as graduates of vocational programs are not more

and bolstering them through licensing laws is a commontactic in raisingan occupation's prestige and autonomy (Wilensky, 1964). The result has been the proliferation of numerous pseudo-professions in modern so-

likely to be employed than high school drop- ciety; nevertheless these fail to achieve

outs (Plunkett, 1960; Duncan, 1964). Most strongprofessionalorganizationthroughlack

skilled manual workers acquire their skills of a monpolizable (and hence teachable)

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EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION

1007

skill base. Business administration schools processes of social organization It may be

representsuch an effort. (See Pierson, 1959: suggested that the "demands" of any oc-

9, 55-95, 140; Gordonand Howell, 1959:1- cupational position are not fixed, but repre-

18, 40, 324-337). Descriptions of general, sent whatever behavior is settled upon in

nonvocational education do not support the bargaining between the persons who fill

image of schools as places where skills are the positions and those who attempt to con-

widely learned. Scattered studies suggest that trol them. Individuals want jobs primarily

the knowledgeimpartedin particularcourses for the rewards to themselves in material

is retained only in small part through the goods, power, and prestige. The amount of

next few years (Learned and Wood, 1938: productive skill they must demonstrate to

28), and indicate a dominant student culture hold their positions depends on how much

concerned with nonacademic interests or clients, customers, or employers can suc-

with achieving grades with a minimum of cessfully demand of them, and this in turn

learning (Coleman, 1961; Becker et al., depends on the balance of power between

1968).

workers and their employers.

The technical-function theory of educa- Employers tend to have quite imprecise

tion, then, does not give an adequate ac- conceptionsof the skill requirementsof most

count of the evidence. Economic evidence jobs, and operate on a strategy of "satisfic-

indicates no clear contributions of education ing" rather than optimizing-that is, setting

to economic development,beyond the provi- averagelevels of performanceas satisfactory,

sions of mass literacy. Shifts in the propor- and making changes in procedures or per-

tions of more skilled and less skilled jobs sonnel only when performance falls notice-

do not account for the observed increase in ably below minimum standards (Dill et al.,

education of the American labor force. Edu- 1962; March and Simon, 1958:140-141).

cation is often irrelevant to on-the-job pro- Efforts to predict work performanceby ob-

ductivity and is sometimes counter-produc- jective tests have foundereddue to difficulties

tive; specifically vocational training seems in measuring performance (except on spe-

to be derived more from work experience cific mechanical tasks) and the lack of con-

than from formal school training. The qual- trol groups to validate the tests (Anastasi,

ity of schools themselves, and the nature of 1967). Organizationsdo not force their em-

dominant student cultures suggest that ployees to work at maximumefficiency; there

schooling is very inefficient as a means of is considerable insulation of workers at all

training for work skills.

levels from demands for full use of their

skills and efforts. Informal controls over out-

Functional and Conflict Perspectives

put are found not only among production

workers in manufacturing but also among

It may be suggested that the inadequacies sales and clerical personnel (Roy, 1952;

of the technical-functiontheory of education Blau, 1955; Lombard, 1955). The existence

derive from a more basic source: the func- of informal organization at the managerial

tional approach to stratification. A fundamental assumption is that there is a generally fixed set of positions, whose various

level, the widespread existence of bureaucratic pathologiessuch as evasion of responsibility, empire-building,and displacement of

requirements the labor force must satisfy. means by ends ("red tape"), and the fact

The fixed demand for skills of various types, at any given time, is the basic determinantof who will be selected for what positions. Social change may then be explained by specifying how these functional demands change with the process of modernization.In keeping with the functional perspective in gen-

that administrative work is only indirectly related to the output of the organization, suggest that managers, too, are insulated from strong technological pressures for use of technical skills. On all levels, wherever informal organization exists, it appears that

eral, the needs of society are seen as deter- standards of performance reflect the power

mining the behavior and the rewards of the of the groups involved.

individuals within it.

In this light, it is possible to reinterpretthe

However, this premise may be questioned body of evidence that ascriptive factors con-

as an adequate picture of the fundamental tinue to be importantin occupationalsuccess

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1008

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

even in advanced industrial society. The mobilization of particular minority groups

social mobility data summarizedat the onset rather than by an increased economic need

of this paper show that social origins have to select by achievement criteria.

a direct effect on occupationalsuccess, even Goode (1967) has offereda modifiedfunc-

after the completionof education. Both case tional model to account for these disparities:

studies and cross-sectional samples amply that work groups always organize to pro-

documentwidespreaddiscriminationagainst tect their inept members from being judged

Negroes. Case studies show that the opera- by outsiders' standards of productivity, and

tion of ethnic and class standardsin employ- that this self-protection is functional to the

ment based not merely on skin color but on organizations,preventing a Hobbesian com-

name, accent, style of dress, manners, and petitiveness and distrust of all against all.

conversationalabilities (Noland and Bakke, This argument re-establishes a functional

1949; Turner, 1952; Taeuber et al., 1966; explanation, but only at the cost of under-

Nosow, 1956). Cross-sectionalstudies, based mining the technological view of functional

on both biographicaland survey data, show requirements. Further, Goode's conclusions

that approximately60 to 70% of the Amer- can be put in other terms: it is to the ad-

ican businesselite come fromupper-classand vantage of groups of employees to organize

upper-middle-classfamilies, and fewer than so that they will not be judged by strict

15% from working-class families (Taussig performance standards; and it is at least

and Joselyn, 1932:97; Warner and Abeg- minimally to the advantage of the employer glen, 1955:37-68; Newcomer, 1955:53; to let them do so, for if he presses them

Bendix, 1956:198-253; Mills, 1963:110- harder he creates dissension and alienation. 139). These proportions are fairly constant Just how hard an employer can press his

from the early 1800's through the 1950's. employees is not given in Goode's functional

The business elite is overwhelminglyProtes- model. That is, his model has the disad-

tant, male, and completely white, although vantage, common to functional analysis in there are some indications of a mild trend its most general form, of covering too many

toward declining social origins and an in- alternative possibilities to provide testable

crease of Catholics and Jews. Ethnic and explanationsof specificoutcomes. Functional

class background have been found crucial analysis too easily operates as a justification for careeradvancementin the professions as for whatever particular pattern exists, aswell (Ladinsky, 1963; Hall, 1946). Sexual serting in effect that there is a proper reason

stereotypingof jobs is extremely widespread for it to be so, but failing to state the condi-

(Collins, 1969:234-238). In the traditional functionalist approach,

these forms of ascription are treated as residual categories: carry-overs from a less advanced period, or marks of the imperfections of the functional mechanism of place-

tions under which a particular pattern will hold rather than another. The technical version of job requirementshas the advantage of specifying patterns, but it is this specific form of functional explanation that is jettisoned by a return to a more abstract func-

ment. Yet available trend data suggest that the link between social class origins and occupational attainment has remained constant during the twentieth century in Amer-

tional analysis.

A second hypothesis may be suggested: the power of "ascribed"groups may be the prime basis of selection in all organizations,

ica (Blau and Duncan, 1967:81-113); the and technical skills are secondary considera-

proportionof women in higher occupational tions depending on the balance of power.

levels has changed little since the late nine- Education may thus be regardedas a mark

teenth century (Epstein, 1970:7); and the of membershipin a particulargroup (possi-

few available comparisons between elite bly at times its defining characteristic), not

groups in traditional and modern societies a mark of technical skills or achievement.

suggest comparable levels of mobility Educational requirements may thus reflect

(Marsh, 1963). Declines in racial and ethnic the interests of whichevergroupshave power

discriminationthat appear to have occurred to set them. Weber (1968:1000) interpreted

at periods in twentieth-centuryAmericamay educational requirements in bureaucracies,

be plausibly explained as results of political drawing especially on the history of public

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