The United States and Norway represent two distinctively different attempts to equalize educational opportunity. Whereas the United States has focused on expansion and the proliferation of lower-tier open-access institutions, Norway has emphasized institutional streamlining and the equalization of living conditions. At the same time, the two countries have similar levels of educational attainment among young adults. Is one model more successful than the other in providing equality of educational opportunity among youth from different socioeconomic backgrounds? Using longitudinal data and multinomial regression analysis, the findings reveal that there are more similarities than differences in the relationship between family background and college degree attainment in the two countries. The relatively moderate differences between the two countries primarily emerge in the patterning of selection at different transition points rather than in the overall relationship between socioeconomic background and college degree attainment.
AdelmanClifford. 2006. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School through College. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
2.
AllisonPaul D.1999. “Comparing Logit and Probit Coefficients across Groups.” Sociological Methods Research28:186-208.
3.
BoundJohnTurnerSarah. 2004. “Cohort Crowding: How Resources Affect Collegiate Attainment.” Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Unpublished manuscript.
4.
BourdieuPierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
5.
BowlesSamuelGintisHerbertGrovesMelissa Osborne. 2005. Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
6.
BozickRobert. 2007. “Making It through the First Year of College: The Role of Students’ Economic Resources, Employment, and Living Arrangements.” Sociology of Education80:261-85.
7.
BreenRichardGoldthorpeJohn H.1997. “Explaining Educational Differentials: Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory.” Rationality and Society9:275-305.
8.
BreenRichardJonssonJan O.2000. “Analyzing Educational Careers: A Multinomial Transition Model.” American Sociological Review65:754-72.
9.
BreenRichardJonssonJan O.2005. “Inequality of Opportunity in Comparative Perspective: Recent Research on Educational Attainment and Social Mobility.” Annual Review of Sociology31:223-43.
10.
BreenRichardLuijkxRuudMüllerWalterPollakReinhard. 2009. “Nonpersistent Inequality in Educational Attainment: Evidence from Eight European Countries.” American Journal of Sociology114:1475-521.
11.
BreenRichardYaishMeir. 2006. “Testing the Breen-Goldthorpe Model of Educational Decision Making.” Pp. 232-58 in Mobility and Inequality: Frontiers of Research in Sociology and Economics, edited by MorganS. L.GruskyD. B.FieldsG. S.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
12.
Central Intelligence Agency. 2009. The World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency.
13.
ChanTak WingBirkelundGunn ElisabethAasArne KristianWiborgØyvind. 2010. “Social Status in Norway.” European Sociological Review. Advance Access published May 27, 2010. DOI:10.1093/esr/jcq01910.1093/esr/jcq019.
14.
ChenRongDesJardinsStephen L.2008. “Exploring the Effects of Financial Aid on the Gap in Student Dropout Risks by Income Level.” Research in Higher Education49:1-18.
ElsterJon. 1983. Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press
17.
EriksonRobertJonssonJan O.1996. Can Education Be Equalized? The Swedish Case in Comparative Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
18.
Esping AndersenGøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
19.
Estevez-AbeMargaritaIversenTorbenSoskiceDavid. 2001. “Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State.” Pp. 145-83 in Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, edited by HallP. A.SoskiceD. W.New York: Oxford University Press.
20.
GrodskyEricRiegle-CrumbCatherine. 2010. “Those Who Choose and Those Who Don’t: Social Background and College Orientation.”Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science627(1):14-35.
21.
GrøgaardJens B.AamodtPer O.2006. “Veksten i høyere utdanning: Noen drivkrefter og konsekvenser.” Pp. 17-54 in Kunnskapssamfunnet tar form: Utdanningseksplosjonen og arbeidsmarkedets struktur, edited by GrøgaardJ. B.StørenL. A.Oslo, Norway: J. W. Cappelens Forlag AS.
22.
HansenMarianne Nordli. 1997. “Social and Economic Inequality in the Educational Career: Do the Effects of Social Background Characteristics Decline?” European Sociological Review13:305-21.
23.
HansenMarianne Nordli. 2008. “Rational Action Theory and Educational Attainment: Changes in the Impact of Economic Resources.” European Sociological Review34:1-17
HoutMichaelDohanDaniel P.1996. “Two Paths to Educational Opportunity: Class and Educational Selection in Sweden and the United States.” Pp. 207-232 in Can Education Be Equalized? The Swedish Case in a Comparative Perspective, edited by EriksonR.JonssonJ. O.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
26.
IversenTorbenRosenbluthFrancesSoskiceDavid. 2004. “Women and the Service Sector.” Memo for the UCLA Postindustrial Working Group, April 18-19.
27.
JacksonCarolynDempsterSteven. 2009. “‘I Sat Back on My Computer . . . with a Bottle of Whisky next to Me’: Constructing ‘Cool’ Masculinity through ‘Effortless’ Achievement in Secondary and Higher Education.” Journal of Gender Studies18:341-56.
28.
JonssonJan O.EriksonRobert. 2007. “Sweden: Why Educational Expansion Is Not Such a Great Strategy for Equality: Theory and Evidence.” Pp. 113-39 in Stratification in Higher Education: A Comparative Study, edited by ShavitY.ArumR.GamoranA.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
29.
KahnemanDanielKnetschJack L.ThalerRichard H.1991. “Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias.” Journal of Economic Perspectives5:193-206.
30.
LaugloJon. 2009. “Sammenhengen mellom familie-struktur og skoleprestasjoner før og etter kontroll for foreldres utdanningsnivå og inntekt.” Pp. 57-78 in Utdanning 2009—Læringsutbytte og kompetanse. Oslo/Kongsvinger: Statistics Norway.
31.
LongJ. Scott. 1997. Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
32.
MareRobert D.1980. “Social Background and School Continuation Decisions.” Journal of the American Statistical Association75:295-305.
33.
MasseyDouglas S.RothwellJonathanDominaThurston. 2009. “The Changing Bases of Segregation in the United States.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science626:74-90.
34.
MenardScott W.2004. “Six Approaches to Calculating Standardized Logistic Regression Coefficients.” American Statistician58:218-23.
35.
MoodCarina. 2010. Logistic Regression: “Why We Cannot Do What We Think We Can Do, and What We Can Do about It.” European Sociological Review26:67-82.
36.
OECD. 2009. Highlights from Education at a Glance. Paris, France: OECD Publishing.
37.
PaulsenMichael B.St. JohnEdward P.2002. “Social Class and College Costs: Examining the Financial Nexus between College Choice and Persistence.” Journal of Higher Education73:189-236.
38.
RafteryAdrian E.HoutMichael. 1993. “Maximally Maintained Inequality: Expansion, Reform, and Opportunity in Irish Education 1921-1975.” Sociology of Education66:41-62.
39.
ReiselLizaBrekkeIdunn. 2010. “Minority Dropout in Higher Education: A Comparison of the United States and Norway Using Competing Risk Event History Analysis.” European Sociological Review26:691-712
40.
RosenbaumJames E.2001. Beyond College for All: Career Paths for the Forgotten Half. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
41.
SamuelsonWilliamRichardZeckhauser. 1988. “Status Quo Bias in Decision Making.” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty1:7-59.
42.
ShavitYossiArumRichardGamoranAdam. 2007. Stratification in Higher Education: A Comparative Study. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
43.
ShavitYossiBlossfeldHans-Peter. 1993. Persistent Inequalities: A Comparative Study of Educational Attainment in Thirteen Countries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
WeberMax. 1978. Economy and Society. Vol. 1. Edited by RothG.WittichC.Berkeley: University of California Press.
47.
WinstonGordonZimmermanDavid. 2004. “Peer Effect in Higher Education.” Pp. 395-424 in College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay for It, edited by HoxbyC. M.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
