On the Edge of Commitment

Stephen L. Morgan is Associate Professor of Sociology at Cornell University.

"[This book] shows very convincingly that inferring causality from the association between expectations and attainment is speculative at best. . . Without a doubt, this book sets a new research agenda for future generations of students of educational inequality. But it also has potential for students of human agency in other domains, such as mate selection, political participation, and prosocial behavior, to name but a few. Finally, Morgan's book aims to be relevant for policy makers, if they wish to reduce educational inequality. . . The implications of educational choice for educational stratification merit further study, and Morgan's model is an excellent point of departure." - Meir Yaish (American Journal of Sociology) "On the Edge of Commitment is a provocative assessment of how young people decide how far to go in school. Morgan advances a novel and technically sophisticated synthesis of socialization and rational choice perspectives on educational attainment, and sets out a promising agenda for the next generation of educational stratification research." - Robert D. Mare (University of California, Los Angeles) "An understanding of processes of educational attainment is of ever-increasing importance in contemporary societies. Morgan's book presents a new approach, integrating the best of previous work with highly original ideas of his own, and admirably demonstrating how sociological imagination can be combined with theoretical rigor." - John Goldthorpe (Oxford University) "The discipline has waited many decades for a mechanism-rich model of educational attainment that incorporates agency and beliefs in credible ways and thereby goes beyond the foundational work of the "basic" and Wisconsin models. With Steve Morgan's new book, On the Edge of Commitment, the long wait is now over. His model will be embraced by many, eschewed by some, and studied by all." - David B. Grusky (Stanford University) "A remarkable book that develops a new model for analyzing educational attainment. Fusing essential arguments from two important research traditions—rational choice theory and status socialization theory—Morgan outlines a model that addresses and overcomes the previous shortcomings of both traditions." - Yossi Shavit (Tel Aviv University) "...this book is a valuable contribution to the sociology of education, in both an American and Canadian context, in its attempt to explain how educational beliefs, through improved systems of opportunity and institutional knowledge are essential for gaining access to post-secondary education"--Canadian Journal of Sociology Online "Stephen Morgan's theoretically innovative and statistically sophisticated book provides a compelling model for addressing...crucial issues." - Contemporary Sociology

• Table of Contents for On the Edge of Commitment List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION Chapter One.A Why Do We Need a New Model of Educational Attainment? COMING TO TERMS WITH THE SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE ON EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT Chapter Two.A Expectation Formation and the Status Socialization Theory of Educational Attainment Chapter Three.A Do Beliefs Matter? A Reanalysis of the Relationship Between Educational Expectations and Attainment A COMMITMENT-BASED MODEL OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT Chapter Four.A The Generation of Preparatory Commitment from Forward-Looking Beliefs Chapter Five.A The Evolution of the Beliefs That Determine Commitment Chapter Six.A Incorporating Imitative and Normative Sources of Commitment Chapter Seven.A A New Agenda for the Sociology of Educational Attainment References Index