Key publications
Barg K (2019). An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers.
British Journal of Sociology of Education,
40(3), 289-308.
Abstract:
An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers
This article analyses the association between social class and parent-initiated contact with teachers. Hypotheses are derived from Lareau’s theory on ‘concerted cultivation’ and status maintenance theory on rational educational decision-making. Data from a national survey on French students traversing secondary school are used to study social class differentials in parents’ involvement in Grade 9 when students are about to proceed to an important transition from lower to upper secondary school. Linear probability models reveal that the likelihood that parents initiate meetings with teachers decreases as students’ performance increases and that concerted cultivation beliefs have positive effects. Through inclusion of interaction terms into the models, clear evidence is provided that middle-class parents are more likely to seek a meeting than working-class parents when their children face difficulties.
Abstract.
Full text.
Klein M, Barg K, Kühhirt M (2019). Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences?.
Sociological Science,
6, 1-26.
Abstract:
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences?
Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variation in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic, and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West’s systems and experienced an economic recession. IEO had been smaller in East Germany than in West Germany but was on an upward trajectory before reunification. After 1990, IEO in East Germany converged to the West German level as a result of decreased IEO in the west and increasing levels in the east. Postreunification convergence suggests that differences in political context and education policy are crucial for IEO.
Abstract.
Full text.
Baker W, Barg K (2019). Parental values in the UK.
British Journal of Sociology,
70(5), 2092-2115.
Abstract:
Parental values in the UK
This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty‐first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent’s social class, religion, religiosity, race and ethnicity, and education are related to the qualities they would like their children to have. Our rank‐ordered regression models show that parents in service class occupations place significantly more importance on ‘thinking for self’ than ‘obey parents’ compared to those in routine manual occupations. We also show that although class matters, the relationship between education and parental values is particularly strong. Parenting values also differ by parental racial and ethnic background and by levels of religiosity.
Abstract.
Full text.
Barg K (2018). Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents?.
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility,
59(1), 14-24.
Abstract:
Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents?
This article studies why middle-class parents are more involved in school than workingclass parents. From theoretical approaches developed in different disciplines hypotheses on the mediating effects of five mechanisms are derived: cultural capital or educational resources, concerted cultivation, economic and time resources, parents’ own school experience and status
maintenance motives. Using data from a French national survey on students in 9th grade, I analyse to what extent these mechanisms mediate social class differentials in (1) attendance at parents’ evenings, (2) PTA-membership and (3) being parent representative. I find that educational
resources mediate the largest parts of the social class differences. Concerted cultivation, status maintenance, parents’ working status, number of siblings and single-parenthood have mediating effects, too. In contrast to a claim made in much of the literature in the field, parents’ own experience has no effects on parents’ school involvement.
Abstract.
Full text.
Publications by category
Journal articles
Barone C, Barg K, Ichou M (2021). Relative risk aversion models: How plausible are their assumptions?.
Rationality and Society,
33(2), 143-175.
Abstract:
Relative risk aversion models: How plausible are their assumptions?
This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model that families aim only at avoiding downward mobility and are insensitive to the prospects of upward mobility. We argue that the loss-aversion assumption proposed by BY is a more realistic formulation of status-maintenance motives. Second, we propose and implement a novel empirical approach to assess the validity of the loss-aversion assumption. Third, we present empirical results based on a sample of families of lower secondary school leavers indicating that families are sensitive to the prospects of both upward and downward mobility, and that the loss-aversion hypothesis of BY is empirically supported. As regards the risky choice assumption, we argue that families may not believe that more ambitious educational options entail occupational risks relative to less ambitious ones. We present empirical evidence indicating that, in France, the academic path is not perceived as a risky option. We conclude that, if the restrictive assumptions of the BG model are removed, relative-risk aversion needs not drive educational inequalities.
Abstract.
Barg K, Benham-Clarke S, Mountford-Zimdars A (2020). Investigating the Imagination of Possible and ‘Like-to-Avoid’ Selves among Higher Education Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds at a Selective English University. Social Science
Barg K (2019). An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers.
British Journal of Sociology of Education,
40(3), 289-308.
Abstract:
An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers
This article analyses the association between social class and parent-initiated contact with teachers. Hypotheses are derived from Lareau’s theory on ‘concerted cultivation’ and status maintenance theory on rational educational decision-making. Data from a national survey on French students traversing secondary school are used to study social class differentials in parents’ involvement in Grade 9 when students are about to proceed to an important transition from lower to upper secondary school. Linear probability models reveal that the likelihood that parents initiate meetings with teachers decreases as students’ performance increases and that concerted cultivation beliefs have positive effects. Through inclusion of interaction terms into the models, clear evidence is provided that middle-class parents are more likely to seek a meeting than working-class parents when their children face difficulties.
Abstract.
Full text.
Klein M, Barg K, Kühhirt M (2019). Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences?.
Sociological Science,
6, 1-26.
Abstract:
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences?
Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variation in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic, and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West’s systems and experienced an economic recession. IEO had been smaller in East Germany than in West Germany but was on an upward trajectory before reunification. After 1990, IEO in East Germany converged to the West German level as a result of decreased IEO in the west and increasing levels in the east. Postreunification convergence suggests that differences in political context and education policy are crucial for IEO.
Abstract.
Full text.
Baker W, Barg K (2019). Parental values in the UK.
British Journal of Sociology,
70(5), 2092-2115.
Abstract:
Parental values in the UK
This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty‐first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent’s social class, religion, religiosity, race and ethnicity, and education are related to the qualities they would like their children to have. Our rank‐ordered regression models show that parents in service class occupations place significantly more importance on ‘thinking for self’ than ‘obey parents’ compared to those in routine manual occupations. We also show that although class matters, the relationship between education and parental values is particularly strong. Parenting values also differ by parental racial and ethnic background and by levels of religiosity.
Abstract.
Full text.
Barg K (2018). Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents?.
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility,
59(1), 14-24.
Abstract:
Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents?
This article studies why middle-class parents are more involved in school than workingclass parents. From theoretical approaches developed in different disciplines hypotheses on the mediating effects of five mechanisms are derived: cultural capital or educational resources, concerted cultivation, economic and time resources, parents’ own school experience and status
maintenance motives. Using data from a French national survey on students in 9th grade, I analyse to what extent these mechanisms mediate social class differentials in (1) attendance at parents’ evenings, (2) PTA-membership and (3) being parent representative. I find that educational
resources mediate the largest parts of the social class differences. Concerted cultivation, status maintenance, parents’ working status, number of siblings and single-parenthood have mediating effects, too. In contrast to a claim made in much of the literature in the field, parents’ own experience has no effects on parents’ school involvement.
Abstract.
Full text.
Barg K (2015). Educational Choice and Cultural Capital: Examining Social Stratification within an Institutionalized Dialogue between Family and School.
Sociology,
49(6), 1113-1132.
Abstract:
Educational Choice and Cultural Capital: Examining Social Stratification within an Institutionalized Dialogue between Family and School
This article analyses the impact of social class on families’ and teachers’ decision-making within an institutionalized family–school dialogue in France. The dialogue decides which upper secondary school track a student will attend and consists of three main steps: (1) family’s school track request; (2) staff meeting’s subsequent school track proposition; and (3) family’s optional rejection of the staff’s proposition. Using national longitudinal data, I find that parents’ cultural capital importantly mediates secondary effects (i.e. social class effects that remain after controlling for school performance) on families’ requests and their rejections of staffs’ propositions. Social class effects on staffs’ propositions are accounted for by families’ requests and student school performance. Moreover families and teachers appear to choose grade retention to avoid enrolment in a lower track.
Abstract.
Barg K (2013). The Influence of Students' Social Background and Parental Involvement on Teachers' School Track Choices: Reasons and Consequences. European Sociological Review, 29(3), 565-579.
Barg K, Beblo M (2012). Does "Sorting into Specialization" Explain the Differences in Time Use between Married and Cohabiting Couples? an Empirical Application for Germany. Annals of Economics and Statistics(105/106), 127-127.
Barg K, Beblo M (2009). Does marriage pay more than cohabitation?. Journal of Economic Studies, 36(6), 552-570.
Barg K, Beblo M (2007). The male marital wage premium in Germany: selection versus specialisation. Journal of Applied Social Sciences Studies, 59-73.
Publications by year
2021
Barone C, Barg K, Ichou M (2021). Relative risk aversion models: How plausible are their assumptions?.
Rationality and Society,
33(2), 143-175.
Abstract:
Relative risk aversion models: How plausible are their assumptions?
This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model that families aim only at avoiding downward mobility and are insensitive to the prospects of upward mobility. We argue that the loss-aversion assumption proposed by BY is a more realistic formulation of status-maintenance motives. Second, we propose and implement a novel empirical approach to assess the validity of the loss-aversion assumption. Third, we present empirical results based on a sample of families of lower secondary school leavers indicating that families are sensitive to the prospects of both upward and downward mobility, and that the loss-aversion hypothesis of BY is empirically supported. As regards the risky choice assumption, we argue that families may not believe that more ambitious educational options entail occupational risks relative to less ambitious ones. We present empirical evidence indicating that, in France, the academic path is not perceived as a risky option. We conclude that, if the restrictive assumptions of the BG model are removed, relative-risk aversion needs not drive educational inequalities.
Abstract.
2020
Barg K, Benham-Clarke S, Mountford-Zimdars A (2020). Investigating the Imagination of Possible and ‘Like-to-Avoid’ Selves among Higher Education Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds at a Selective English University. Social Science
2019
Barg K (2019). An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers.
British Journal of Sociology of Education,
40(3), 289-308.
Abstract:
An analysis of social class differentials in parent-initiated contact with teachers
This article analyses the association between social class and parent-initiated contact with teachers. Hypotheses are derived from Lareau’s theory on ‘concerted cultivation’ and status maintenance theory on rational educational decision-making. Data from a national survey on French students traversing secondary school are used to study social class differentials in parents’ involvement in Grade 9 when students are about to proceed to an important transition from lower to upper secondary school. Linear probability models reveal that the likelihood that parents initiate meetings with teachers decreases as students’ performance increases and that concerted cultivation beliefs have positive effects. Through inclusion of interaction terms into the models, clear evidence is provided that middle-class parents are more likely to seek a meeting than working-class parents when their children face difficulties.
Abstract.
Full text.
Klein M, Barg K, Kühhirt M (2019). Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences?.
Sociological Science,
6, 1-26.
Abstract:
Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences?
Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variation in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic, and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West’s systems and experienced an economic recession. IEO had been smaller in East Germany than in West Germany but was on an upward trajectory before reunification. After 1990, IEO in East Germany converged to the West German level as a result of decreased IEO in the west and increasing levels in the east. Postreunification convergence suggests that differences in political context and education policy are crucial for IEO.
Abstract.
Full text.
Baker W, Barg K (2019). Parental values in the UK.
British Journal of Sociology,
70(5), 2092-2115.
Abstract:
Parental values in the UK
This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty‐first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent’s social class, religion, religiosity, race and ethnicity, and education are related to the qualities they would like their children to have. Our rank‐ordered regression models show that parents in service class occupations place significantly more importance on ‘thinking for self’ than ‘obey parents’ compared to those in routine manual occupations. We also show that although class matters, the relationship between education and parental values is particularly strong. Parenting values also differ by parental racial and ethnic background and by levels of religiosity.
Abstract.
Full text.
2018
Barg K (2018). Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents?.
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility,
59(1), 14-24.
Abstract:
Why are middle-class parents more involved in school than working-class parents?
This article studies why middle-class parents are more involved in school than workingclass parents. From theoretical approaches developed in different disciplines hypotheses on the mediating effects of five mechanisms are derived: cultural capital or educational resources, concerted cultivation, economic and time resources, parents’ own school experience and status
maintenance motives. Using data from a French national survey on students in 9th grade, I analyse to what extent these mechanisms mediate social class differentials in (1) attendance at parents’ evenings, (2) PTA-membership and (3) being parent representative. I find that educational
resources mediate the largest parts of the social class differences. Concerted cultivation, status maintenance, parents’ working status, number of siblings and single-parenthood have mediating effects, too. In contrast to a claim made in much of the literature in the field, parents’ own experience has no effects on parents’ school involvement.
Abstract.
Full text.
2015
Barg K (2015). Educational Choice and Cultural Capital: Examining Social Stratification within an Institutionalized Dialogue between Family and School.
Sociology,
49(6), 1113-1132.
Abstract:
Educational Choice and Cultural Capital: Examining Social Stratification within an Institutionalized Dialogue between Family and School
This article analyses the impact of social class on families’ and teachers’ decision-making within an institutionalized family–school dialogue in France. The dialogue decides which upper secondary school track a student will attend and consists of three main steps: (1) family’s school track request; (2) staff meeting’s subsequent school track proposition; and (3) family’s optional rejection of the staff’s proposition. Using national longitudinal data, I find that parents’ cultural capital importantly mediates secondary effects (i.e. social class effects that remain after controlling for school performance) on families’ requests and their rejections of staffs’ propositions. Social class effects on staffs’ propositions are accounted for by families’ requests and student school performance. Moreover families and teachers appear to choose grade retention to avoid enrolment in a lower track.
Abstract.
2013
Barg K (2013). The Influence of Students' Social Background and Parental Involvement on Teachers' School Track Choices: Reasons and Consequences. European Sociological Review, 29(3), 565-579.
2012
Barg K, Beblo M (2012). Does "Sorting into Specialization" Explain the Differences in Time Use between Married and Cohabiting Couples? an Empirical Application for Germany. Annals of Economics and Statistics(105/106), 127-127.
2009
Barg K, Beblo M (2009). Does marriage pay more than cohabitation?. Journal of Economic Studies, 36(6), 552-570.
2007
Barg K, Beblo M (2007). The male marital wage premium in Germany: selection versus specialisation. Journal of Applied Social Sciences Studies, 59-73.
