Social Stratification

This specialty is known for its vigorous program of research. There are several elective courses and seminars, as well as training experience in research apprenticeships on major studies. These projects run the gamut from historical and comparative studies of inequality to mathematical and econometric modeling of mobility and achievement processes; demographic approaches to stratification and inequality; the development of inequalities through schooling; and organizational treatments of racial and ethnic integration. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study of the 1957 Wisconsin high school graduation cohort continues to enrich our knowledge about the process of social stratification. Studies of brothers and sisters in the cohort describe the complex pattern of family effects. The 1992 wave of the WLS expanded its content to include mental and physical health, social comparisons with significant others, and exchange relationships with kin. Many other areas of stratification are also studied.