Blau and Duncans Blau and Duncan s Status Attainment ResearchA Test of the Meritocratic (or not) Nature of the American Stratification System

General Considerations The hypothesized causal sequence Hr: Dads education dads job status (& that Hr: Dad s education dad s job status (& that

these, in turn) kids education both kids 1stjob status and kids job status down the linej jNull: There is no relationship between fathers

education/SES and where his child winds up in th t tifi ti ( ll ti ) tthe stratification (allocation) systemWhats Missing?Um Mom!!???Um. Mom!!???

Correlation analysisy To Ascertain

Association between/among variablesAssociation between/among variables Strength & Direction of association

Strength (determined by Pearsons Correlation Coefficient aka Pearsons R)Coefficient, aka Pearson s R) Value ranges from 0 (no relationship) to 1.0 (always

related)x Never find a 1.0x Deliriously happy to find a .6 or, even more so, a .7

Direction: Positive or Negativeg Positive: Either high or low values on both variables

Correlation analysisyx Years of education and socio-economic status, e.g.

Negative: High value on one variable accompanied Negative: High value on one variable accompanied by low value on the other (or vice versa)x Poverty and educational achievement

Correlation is not causation: just establishes that the variables are related

l l First step in causal explanation, BUT:x X Yx Y Xx Y Xx Or Z both X and Y

Blau & Duncans Status Attainment Path Model.115

Dads Job Status

Kids 1962 Job

Kids Education.279

.394.281

.310 .440

Dads Education

Kids 1st Job

.224

Findingsg Dads Education & Job Status & Kids Education and

Job StatusJ b Associated?x Direction?x Strength?Strength?

Kids Education Intervening variable, meaning?

hi l i hi Does This Explain Everything? Blau and Duncan: 58% of the variation in kids

ultimate job status is unexplainedj p SO WHOS RIGHT?