The Sociology of Educational Mismatch
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Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona
Publication date: 2011-03-23
Polish Sociological Review 2011;173(1):21-34
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This paper studies the theoretical relationships between core research lines of sociology, such as
intergenerational mobility, class structure and cultural capital, with educational mismatches. By educational
mismatch we mean two things. Firstly, an individual can be horizontally mismatched whereby their field of
study is inadequate for the job.Another direction of educational mismatch is the so called vertical mismatch,
where the worker possesses more/less education than the job requires resulting in over-/under-education.
While analyzing the educational mismatches we keep present the conclusions of Rational Action Theory
on individuals’ rational choices in their educational careers.We arrive to conclusions where the influences
between educational mismatches and social classes are bidirectional and one can establish fairly clear
theoretical links between class of origins and likelihood of being educationally mismatched.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Author acknowledges fruitful comments of Gosta Esping-Andersen and Phillip
O’Connell (ESRI, Dublin).
Disclaimer. An earlier version of this paper has been discussed at the doctoral thesis defense of the
author. All errors are entirely of the author