These structural features of schools, like sector, size, and class
and race composition, are thought to produce inequities in learn-
ing environments and subsequent occupational opportunities. “The
unequal distribution of African-Americans and Whites to private
and public schools, disparate social class segregation, lower instruc-
tional expenditure for non-Whites, and a higher level of crime in
the schools attended by African-Americans and Hispanics are, in-
deed, consequential for persistent racial gaps in performance”
(Roscigno, 2000, p. 281).
The jobs people hold, as well as their wages and other rewards,
are a function of workers’ educational credentials, preferences, and
skills (including cognitive and other skills developed through school-
ing, as well as other job-related skills). Other institutional arrange-
ments likewise shape occupational careers. The labor market is highly
structured; workers’ positions in this structure influence their current
and future occupational attainments. Sociologists have documented
that wages and other rewards, as well as mobility patterns, are shaped
by the size of the employing organization (Stolzenberg, 1978) and
industry (Beck, Horan, & Tolbert, 1978; DiPrete & Nonnemaker,
1997), and by the sex and race composition of the occupation and
firm in which one works (Reskin, McBrier, & Kmec, 1999).
One way sociologists have tried to capture the structure of
opportunity in the labor market is to distinguish between the more
advantageous “core” and less advantageous “peripheral” sectors
(Beck, Horan, & Tolbert, 1978). Firms in the core sector are larger,
offering higher wages and better opportunities for career advance-
ment. Mobility patterns are institutionalized in many core industries
and large organizations through internal labor markets—promotion
“ladders” in which employees enter the organization at set entry
points and have predictable opportunities for advancement there-
after. Promotions to higher levels are made from lower rungs on the
ladder, protecting workers to some extent from competition with
those outside the organization (Althauser & Kalleberg, 1990). Firms
in the peripheral sector tend to offer jobs with less security, lower
wages, and less chance for upward mobility.
48 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT