The Career Implications of Life Course Opportunities and Planning

这是一个研究男性和女性在一生中职业发展的项目，测试人力资本和社会资本的相对有效性。人力资本被定义为获得认知能力和发出认知能力已经实现的信号的能力。社会资本被定义为从社会背景和网络联系中获得的社会资源，这些资源有助于获得有利的成人角色。特别是，这项研究考察了职业发展和中年成功是如何由以下因素决定的：1)青少年和年轻人的人力资本和社会资本，2)围绕成人角色的机会结构，以及3)人生规划。数据来自威斯康星州纵向调查，这是一个具有代表性的样本，于1957年高中四年级时首次采访了10317名男性和女性，随后收集的数据代表了他们成年早期和中年的经历。该项目结合了最近开发的衡量人力和社会资本、职业生涯线和职业成功的方法。为这项研究开发的模型将应用于15年后成为高中生的男性和女性的数据，以确定1957年高中生队列的研究结果在多大程度上适用于不那么有利的经济环境，以及性别角色的显著变化。这项研究还考察了男性和女性之间不平等的程度和维度，以确定社会资本是否对女性更关键，因为它可能会克服受阻的机会，或者相反，男性更强劲的职业表现是否受到社会资本的影响。这项研究将检验关于支配个人职业生涯的因素的基本科学理论，从而有助于理解工业社会的分层体系，这对社会学来说是一个非常重要的问题。所获得的知识也有助于提高美国经济的效率和公平，因为阻碍人们获得他们最适合的工作的因素既是低效率的，也是不公平的。这项研究还将有助于加深对信息和规划如何有助于良好职业选择的理解。

This is a project to study career advancement over the life course of men and women, testing the relative efficacy of human capital and social capital. Human capital is defined as the acquisition of cognitive competence and the ability to signal that cognitive competence has been achieved. Social capital is defined as social resources acquired from social background and network contacts that aid in the acquisition of favorable adult roles. In particular, this study examines how career advancement and mid-life success are determined by: 1) human and social capital among adolescents and young adults, 2) the opportunity structure surrounding adult roles, and 3) life course planning. Data are from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, a representative sample of 10,317 men and women first interviewed in 1957 in their senior year in high school, with subsequent data collection representing their experiences in early adulthood and mid-life. The project integrates recently developed methodologies for the measurement of human and social capital, occupational career lines, and occupational success. The models developed for the study will be applied to data on men and women who were high school students 15 years later to determine the extent to which the findings of the 1957 cohort of high school seniors hold true under much less favorable economic circumstances and following marked changes in gender roles. The research also examines the extent and dimensions of inequality between men and women, to determine whether social capital is more critical for women because it may overcome blocked opportunities, or conversely whether the stronger career performance of men is accounted for by social capital. %%% This research will test fundamental scientific theories about the factors that govern an individual's career, thus contributing to an understanding of the stratification system of industrial society, which is an issue of great importance for sociology. The knowledge gained also can contribute to gre ater efficiency and justice in the American economy, because factors that prevent people from gaining the jobs for which they best suited are both inefficient and unjust. Increased understanding of how information and planning can contribute to good career choices will also result from this research.