No abstract

Research in social stratification has shown that children from working‐class backgrounds tend to obtain substantially lower levels of educational attainment and lower labor market positions than children from higher social class backgrounds. However, we still know relatively little about the micro‐level processes that account for this empirical regularity. Our study examines the roles of two individual‐level characteristics—cognitive ability and locus of control—in mediating the effect of individuals’ parental class background on their educational attainment and social class position in Britain. We find that cognitive ability mediates only about 35% of the total parental class effect on educational attainment and only about 20% of the total parental class effect on respondents’ social class position, net of their educational attainment. These findings contradict existing claims that differences in the life chances of children from different social class backgrounds are largely due to differences in cognitive ability. Moreover, we find that although individuals’ locus of control plays some role in mediating the parental class effect, its role is substantially smaller than the mediating role of cognitive ability. We measure individuals’ social class positions at different points in their careers—at labor market entry and at occupational maturity—and find that the mediating roles of cognitive ability and locus of control are remarkably stable across individuals’ working lives.

There is evidence to show that, even among individuals who have relatively high levels of cognitive ability, coming from disadvantaged social origins hinders their chances of securing high levels of qualification and advantaged labour market positions. But it has been argued that lifelong learning could provide second chances for these people through providing an alternative route to high qualifications. The main objective of this paper is to examine this issue. We pose two questions. Does further education enable individuals from disadvantaged origins but with a high level of cognitive ability to improve on their initial levels of qualification? And does any such improvement then lead to better labour market positions, in terms of social class, for these individuals? Based on the complete qualifications histories of individuals in the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study, our analyses show that men and women from disadvantaged origins, especially if of high ability, are indeed able to raise their levels of qualification; but they do so mainly via the attainment of further vocational, rather than further academic, qualifications. And while our results also indicate that acquiring further academic qualifications does improve the upward mobility chances of people of high ability from disadvantaged backgrounds, a similar effect does not show up from acquiring further vocational qualifications. In addition, we find that there remains a substantial 'direct effect' of cognitive ability on class attainment. This suggests that obtaining further academic qualifications is only one channel for upward mobility, and that there are others which are more directly related to ability.

This data note presents and discussed descriptive statistics of the key variables on individuals’ social origin, cognitive ability and educational attainment that have been constructed based on the information contained in the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). The main sets of variables presented are (1) measures of respondents’ cognitive ability in childhood, (2) parental education, class, status and income, and (3) respondents’ highest qualification and measures indicating whether respondents have crossed different educational qualification thresholds.

Research in social stratification has shown that children from working-class backgrounds tend to obtain substantially lower levels of educational attainment and lower labour market positions than children from higher social class backgrounds. However, we still know relatively little about the micro-level processes that account for this empirical regularity. Our study examines the roles of two individual-level characteristics—cognitive ability and locus of control—in mediating the effect of individuals’ parental class background on their educational attainment and social class position in Britain. We find that cognitive ability mediates only about 35 per cent of the total parental class effect on educational attainment and only about 20 per cent of the total parental class effect on respondents’ social class position, net of their educational attainment. These findings contradict existing claims that differences in the life chances of children from different social class backgrounds are largely due to differences in cognitive ability. Moreover, we find that although individuals’ locus of control plays some role in mediating the parental class effect, its role is substantially smaller than the mediating role of cognitive ability. We measure individuals’ social class positions at different points in their careers—at labour market entry and at occupational maturity—and find that the mediating roles of cognitive ability and locus of control are remarkably stable across individuals’ working lives.

The data note presents and discusses descriptive statistics comparing key variables on individuals’ social origin, cognitive ability and educational attainment that have been constructed based on the information contained in four different data sets: National Child Development Study (NCDS), 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) and Avon Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). The main sets of variables presented are (1) measures of respondents’ cognitive ability in childhood, (2) parental education, class, status and income, and (3) respondents’ highest qualification and measures indicating whether respondents have crossed different educational qualification thresholds.

No abstract

If 'Don't know' answers to survey questions are not being accurately captured, understood and analysed then the validity of the estimates of public knowledge, values and attitudes can be questioned. In this article survey answers and interviewer observation paradata about how respondents answer factual, value and attitude-based survey questions were analysed. Interviewer characteristics were also taken into account. There was considerable variation in the likelihood of a 'Don't know' response at both the interviewer and country levels. Moreover, whilst most respondents were perceived by the interviewers to understand the questions, many asked for clarification. The presence of another person during the interview was also an important factor. Analysts of public attitudes need to know more about 'Don't know' answers to questions. Simply discouraging 'Don't know' answers or coding them all as non-directional responses or missing data is likely to lead to measurement error. Methodological innovations should include follow up questions in surveys as well as bespoke surveys to explore the reasons for a 'Don't know' response in more depth. Additional support for those respondents who find answering certain questions a challenge could also be introduced. It is clear a more robust and in-depth understanding of 'Don't know' responses is important for the accuracy of social surveys.