Inequality in pandemic effects on school track placement and the role of social and academic embeddedness.

Using register data and linked student-level sociometric survey data from the Netherlands, this study examines whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schooling outcomes (track recommendation and track enrollment in the seventh and ninth grades) is conditional on students' academic and social embeddedness in the school setting. We estimated the counterfactual outcomes for the cohort that went through the school transition during the pandemic based on the outcomes of the pre-pandemic cohort, with similar earlier achievements, schools, and social backgrounds. Results show that the pandemic's effect on tracking outcomes is weaker than its effect on student test scores elsewhere reported.

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Type 2 Diabetes: Mediation Through Status Anxiety?

While status anxiety has received attention as a potential mechanism generating health inequalities, empirical evidence is still limited. Studies have been ecological and have largely focused on mental and not physical health outcomes. We conducted individual-level analyses to assess status anxiety (feelings of inferiority resulting from social comparisons) and resources (financial difficulties) as mediators of the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) (education/occupation/employment status) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Belief in School Meritocracy and the Legitimization of Social and Income Inequality.

Educational institutions are imbued with an institutional meritocratic discourse: only merit counts for academic success. In this article, we study whether this institutional belief has an impact beyond its primary function of encouraging students to study. We propose that belief in school meritocracy has broader societal impact by legitimizing the social class hierarchy it produces and encouraging the maintenance of inequalities.

Long-term labor market returns to upper secondary school track choice: Leveraging idiosyncratic variation in peers' choices.

Vocational education and training (VET) is theorized to play a dual role for inequality of labor market outcomes: the role of a safety net and the role of socioeconomic diversion. In this paper, we test these hypotheses by examining the long-term labor market returns to track choice in upper secondary education in Denmark using an instrumental variable approach that relies on random variation in school peers' educational decisions. We report two main findings.

How teachers form educational expectations for students: A comparative factorial survey experiment in three institutional contexts.

While schools are thought to use meritocratic criteria when evaluating students, research indicates that teachers hold lower expectations for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, it is unclear what the unique impact is of specific student traits on teacher expectations, as different traits are often correlated to one another in real life. Moreover, research has neglected the role of the institutional context, yet tracking procedures, financial barriers to education, and institutionalized cultural beliefs may influence how teachers form expectations.

Are universities left-wing bastions? The political orientation of professors, professionals, and managers in Europe.

Universities are accused of being left-wing bastions, unwelcoming to conservative and right-wing professors. However, we know little about the political orientation of professors in comparison to other professionals, which would be the right comparison group if we want to know whether universities are potentially hostile environments to conservatives. Examining culturally and economically oriented political orientations in Europe, it is demonstrated that professors are more liberal and left-leaning than other professionals.

Do comprehensive school reforms impact the health of early school leavers? Results of a comparative difference-in-difference design.

In the current article, we examine whether and how reforms in tracking age affect educational inequalities in health among people between the ages of 25-75 years. Particular attention is paid to the health consequences for early school leavers. The study combines data from the European Social Survey (2002-2016) on 21 countries with country-cohort information on education policies.

Selectivity of Migration and the Educational Disadvantages of Second-Generation Immigrants in Ten Host Societies.

Selectivity of migration varies significantly between ethnic/origin country groups, and between the destination countries which these groups have migrated to. Yet, little comparative research has measured empirically how selective different migrant groups are in multiple destination countries, nor has research studied whether the selectivity of migration is related to the magnitude of ethnic inequalities among the children of migrants in Western societies. We present an empirical measure of educational selectivity of migrants from many different origin countries having migrated to ten different destination countries.

Radical distinction: Support for radical left and radical right parties in Europe.

Support for radical parties on both the left and right is on the rise, fueling intuition that both radicalisms have similar underpinnings. Indeed, existing studies show that radical left and right voters have overlapping positions and preferences. In this article, however, we focus on the in the voting bases of such parties.

Playing a rigged game: Inequality's effect on physiological stress responses.

High income and wealth inequality corresponds with high rates of various health and social problems. One possible factor that could be contributing to this correlation is stress experienced by those being treated unfairly in an unequal society. The present experiment attempted to simulate aspects of income inequality in a lab setting while recording several measures of stress.

Sibship Size and Gendered Resource Dilution in Different Societal Contexts.

Resource dilution theory hypothesizes that children's educational attainment suffers from being raised with many siblings, as the parental resources have to be shared with more children. Based on economic and cultural theories, we hypothesize that resource dilution is gendered: especially a larger number of brothers is harmful to a person's educational attainment. Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, covering 18 European countries, we show that the number of brothers is more negatively related with the odds of obtaining a college degree than the number of sisters.

Income inequality and participation: A comparison of 24 European countries.

Previous research suggests that when there is a high level of inequality, there is a low rate of participation. Two arguments are generally offered: First, inequality depresses participation because people from different status groups have fewer opportunities to share common goals. Second, people may participate more in civic and social life when they have more resources.

Education and occupational status in 14 countries: the role of educational institutions and labour market coordination.

This article explores the role of national institutional factors--more specifically, the level of skill transparency of the education system and labour market coordination--in accounting for cross-national differences in the relationship between education and occupational status. Consistent with previous research, our findings suggest that skill transparency is the primary moderator. Countries with a highly transparent educational system (i.

Postimmigration investments in education: a study of immigrants in the Netherlands.

We use a unique data source to examine postimmigration investments in education among four immigrant groups in the Netherlands. We derive hypotheses from the Immigrant Human Capital Investment model (IHCI), which argues that immigrants' investments are an outcome of settlement intentions, skill transferability, and opportunity costs. The multinomial and ordered logistic regression analyses show that educational investments are stronger among immigrants with higher premigration education, immigrants from former colonies, immigrants who migrated for family reasons, and immigrants who arrived in periods of high unemployment.

Cultural capital or relative risk aversion? Two mechanisms for educational inequality compared.

In this paper we empirically examined two explanatory mechanisms for educational inequality: cultural reproduction and relative risk aversion, using survey data taken from secondary school pupils in Amsterdam. Cultural reproduction theory seeks to explain class variations in schooling by cultural differences between social classes. Relative risk aversion theory argues that educational inequalities can be understood by between-class variation in the necessity of pursuing education at branching points in order to avoid downward mobility.

The sources of political orientations in post-industrial society: social class and education revisited.

This paper studies the impact of social class and education on political orientation. We distinguish the 'old' middle class from a new class of social/cultural specialists. However, the difference in their political orientation may especially be related to the level and field of education; the new middle class is more highly educated and often in fields of study that extensively address social competencies, characteristics independently affecting political outcomes.