Strain Theory

Education is one of the most crucial instruments in the machinery of society, driving the citizens of our nation be more productive members of the work force. Decades ago a high school education used to be a privilege especially since jobs were obtained at a much younger age. Education was limited to what an individual needed to know, and most of what they learned was obtained through experience gained in a job setting. Now, however, education has evolved to a degree where a high school diploma is not competitive in the job market and college degrees are generally necessary for a career. Several students growing up in our current society generally feel the necessity to go to college and work hard to maintain good grades. These students would fit into Robert Merton’s strain theory of conforming, meaning that the ones that follow the definition of society’s goals (getting a good job with above average pay) and through society’s accepted means (getting a college degree).



However, not everyone conforms. The strain theory states that deviance is when an individual fails to accept either the goals, the means, or both.
Those who accept society’s means but reject society’s goals by doing the bare minimum but still follow the goal of society’s structure to achieve a good job are ritualists. Innovators are those that accept society’s goals, but either reject the means or do not have the means to achieve them. There are also those who reject both the goals and the means of society and they fall into two categories. One of these categories is retreatist; who rejects both socially acceptable means and goals by completely withdrawing from, or not participating in such norms. The other category is rebellion, not only do these people refute the means and goals, but they also want to alter or destroy the social institutions from which they are alienated from. Merton’s theories can have different meanings for subgroups and communities as compared to American society and culture as a whole. The classifications we are using are intended to be related to the American society and the conformation to the American Dream.



For our blog, we interviewed a sample group of peers and adults, to obtain data to compare previous studies and statistics relating to our project to create a national view for our project. Our interviews included questions about the importance of education, views on future education, how education has changed within the past couple of decades, etc. Over the next few posts we will be relating what we found among our sample group, relating their views, and then comparing those views to statistics relating to education from the 1950s - present. We will also be examining these responses through a sociological perspective.

Peer Survey

In order to gain a modern perspective of this generation's view on education, we asked 35 of our peers to fill out a survey. Most of the students that completed the survey mentioned that the reason why they decided to go to college was because it was necessary for their career. The mindset of students has shifted to the realization that college is the only way into a higher vocation. The overall belief held by these students is that the more education they receive, the higher the economic gain they will have. Therefore, attending college is seen as an investment for the future. They use college to prepare for their challenging careers, and learn discipline and responsibility that will be vital for their success. These beliefs have been instilled in students from a variety of places and undoubtedly have affected their college decision.

Surprisingly, it seems like the mindset of students has been influenced by our current culture since a major percentage of students mentioned that their decision for a higher education has been pressured by parents, family, and peers. Furthermore, over half of the interviewees said they would assume that at least 70% of their high school graduating class attended a college or university. These numbers could instill a pressure caused by differential association; which means that being surrounded by people that find meaning and importance in something causes the individual to adopt the same beliefs. 

We asked each student whether they believed they followed goals of our culture which consist of hard work and dedication for a better career; and whether they followed the societal structure and institutional means of getting a good job by finishing high school and attending college then possibly graduate school. The answer to these two questions demonstrated that most college students were in fact conformists.  However, there were several students that mentioned that they conformed because they had to. When asked to elaborate these students mentioned that there is not a high success rate for innovators, and that they would rather take the safe route and get a college education than risk their future. This is very interesting data for sociologists because it demonstrates that these students understand the rules of society, know that they are confirming against their will, but do not change their choice.

Adult Survey

In order to compare the views of our generation to those of previous generations, we interviewed ten adults who are already cemented in the workforce or  are retired.  These adults ranged from their late thirties to early seventies, with most being in their late forties or early fifties. We had interviewed many more of our peers than adults primarily due to the vast access we have to students as compared to adults; however, our samples reflect our statistics which will be shown in the next post. Of the adults we interviewed, four went to college and the other six went into the work force, with one of those being in the military.

The majority of the adults said that they were not faced with pressure to attend college, but it was implicitly expected. For these adults, college was viewed as the only option. Although they would not have been frowned upon if they did not conform, most adults felt they simply were not given much information on routes besides college. A few felt pressure from their peers because almost all of their friends either did or did not go to college. Also most of the adults agreed that around 35 - 45% of their peers went to college with the highest being 65%(1995 graduate) and the lowest being 5%(1955 graduate). However, some of the older adults were on the opposite end of the spectrum. Of the four grandparents we interviewed, only one had a college education. The other three were inherently part of the family duties and were expected to get just enough education to get a decent job to help support the family. This massive change in just one generation is hard to explain. However, as sociologists we tried to explain this phenomena as best as possible. First off, these three degree-less adults grew up in very financially tight households. This could lead to more pressure to start earning money to help support a family, rather than having to spend it on an education.  Also, the lack of technology and communication limited most of the young adults to local jobs that usually didn’t require much education. Therefore, the popular view was "why waste four years and a lot of money on education which is not a necessity."
We asked the adults about their views on education. They unanimously agreed that a college education allows young adults more access to white collar jobs and higher salaries. It also is an important life experience that allows them to mature and grow and to figure out what they want to do in life. This serves as both a rite of passage and a resume builder, which is a win-win situation in the eyes of those who have “been there, and done that.”

Statistics

These graphs each provide a unique perspective on the college enrollment number for the past few decades. All of these further prove our belief that attending college has become the norm for our society.

There is no disputing the fact that the enrollment of college students has increased over the last few decades. As seen in the table below from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, there has been a steady increase of enrollment to college from 1970 to 2007. In 1970, there were approximately 8,581,000 students enrolled in an institution of higher education. That number had more than doubled only 35 years later with approximately 17,272,000 students in 2005.

During a special report issued by the Census in 2002, adults ages 25 to 64 were ranked based on their income compared to their level of education. High school drop-outs made the lowest with an average of $18,900, high school graduates made a slightly higher average of $25,900, and college graduates made a notably higher average of $45,400. The adults with a professional degree (M.D., J.D., etc...) predictably had the highest income with an average of $99,300.

Conclusion and Future

The difference between our adult's and student's survey is very note worthy. All of the students surveyed attend or have attended college which gives a bias to our results. Even with this set-back, feedback from students demonstrate the wide range of high schools attended across Texas which show a variety of peer and societal pressures, these students faced.  The statistics provided by the census bureau supports our data that around 70% of graduating seniors go to college. 

        Among the adults about 40% went to college, which is slightly higher than our results because we did not have ample interviewers. However, from our statistics and the responses received, we can conclude that college was not the primary choice after graduation. It did not even compete fore second choice since individuals that did not go to the work force tended to join the military.  

The change in educational value between our parents and grandparents to us can be explained by the cultural shift. Due to technological advances in sciences and recent discoveries in new fields the job market has opened a lot of new field positions.  These new field positions require a higher level of education and specificity which creates a higher emphasis education.  Higher education has created stability and safety for member of society.

What does the future of college education hold in America? We asked both the peers and adults to be minor prophets and predict what will happen. The results are shown below:

The adults were more unanimous in their vision. They said that since more people are getting an education, companies are able to select the most qualified for the job; usually the individuals with higher education. A few said that it would be easier to get a higher education because of more institutions, online schools, ease of access to community colleges, and more emphasized placed on aid to go to school. On the other end of the spectrum, some said that the flaky economy, inflation, and shrinking of the middle class would make it harder to obtain an education. One adult predicts that future college students would have to get a masters or doctorate degree to be competitive in the work place; that a bachelors degree would became the new high school diploma.

The students were all across the board. Many said education would continue to rise in importance, while others responded that with so many people getting degrees the importance of it might actually decrease slightly or stay at its current level. They believe higher education would cause higher standards and more  competition in the work force, but also less since more specificity would arise.  Some said that rising tuition and inflation might keep those who wish to obtain degrees from getting them, while others said price would decrease with so many people going to college it would be available to a wider range of students.

For the moment it seems that importance would continue to increase. Many colleges are trying different things to create a better future for their students. Some universities like Arizona State or the California State system have many students and therefore try to enroll as many people as possible to  receive a degree from a four year institution. Others try to help their students be more competitive by becoming first class intuitions, such as UC Berkly, UCLA, Harvard, Yale, and our very own University of Texas at Austin. Economic and societal factors will play a huge role in shaping educations importance in the next 30 to 40 years. Only time will tell how society will define conformity in the future.