Marketability: Inequality in the College-To-Work Transition
Saved in:
| Title: | Marketability: Inequality in the College-To-Work Transition |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Corey Pech |
| Source: | ProQuest LLC. 2020Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University. |
| Availability: | ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 326 |
| Publication Date: | 2020 |
| Document Type: | Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | College Seniors, Employment Potential, Majors (Students), Practical Arts, Human Capital, Education Work Relationship, Equal Opportunities (Jobs), Job Skills |
| ISBN: | 979-84-387-5938-6 |
| Abstract: | Americans often believe that a college degree is the key that unlocks the door to the middle class. However, a college degree no longer ensures stable middle-class employment. To increase their chances of post-graduation employment, many students now major in "practical arts" disciplines like Business and Engineering. Graduates of practical arts fields enjoy lower unemployment rates, higher salaries, and other labor market advantages when compared to liberal arts graduates. Common explanations of these labor market advantages assume that these students, more than liberal arts students, learn valuable skills that employers need. This is a human capital theory explanation of the school-to-work transition. Scholars who assess for this mechanism connecting school and work often look for whether a graduate's employment matches their degree. However, this assumes the content of a student's education matches the actual tasks they are assigned in entry-level employment. In this dissertation, I investigate this assumption and find little evidence to support it. Based on longitudinal in-depth interviews with 91 college seniors across four majors, 85 of whom were retained for a second interview one year later, I demonstrate that practical arts alumni have access to internships that lead to greater initial economic success than the internships available to liberal arts graduates. Many undergraduates in practical arts disciplines benefit from on-campus recruitment for internships that lead to good jobs after graduation with decent pay, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. However, these jobs often entail almost exclusively mundane office work even when closely matched to their degree. Students who cannot take advantage of these "career conveyor belts," principally liberal arts majors, generally find internships with less institutional support that rarely lead to immediate jobs. When these students graduate, they sometimes find work that engages their skills but struggle with more employment insecurity and lower wages. The divergent experiences of practical and liberal arts students reveal a "paradox of marketability": liberal arts graduates' skills are useful and needed by employers but are not highly rewarded in the labor market. On the other hand, the careerism of practical arts students makes them marketable to employers even when they are not asked to demonstrate any degree-related skills. This dissertation takes a new approach to the school-to-work transition, incorporating institutionalist approaches to stratification and higher education, and labor process theory, to maps students' transitions from their college major to their internships and finally into the labor market. Results add important nuance to current theories of the school-to-work transition, specifically human capital theory and credentialism. Ultimately, I argue the economy gives college graduates a choice between stable employment and interesting jobs. The lack of access to stable employment helps explain, and contributes to, the cultural devaluation of liberal arts disciplines in the economy and wider society. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Access URL: | https://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:29262607 |
| Accession Number: | ED643082 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
|---|---|
| Header | DbId: eric DbLabel: ERIC An: ED643082 AccessLevel: 3 PubType: Dissertation/ Thesis PubTypeId: dissertation PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
| IllustrationInfo | |
| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Marketability: Inequality in the College-To-Work Transition – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Corey+Pech%22">Corey Pech</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22ProQuest+LLC%22"><i>ProQuest LLC</i></searchLink>. 2020Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: N – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 326 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2020 – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations – Name: Audience Label: Education Level Group: Audnce Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink> – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Seniors%22">College Seniors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Employment+Potential%22">Employment Potential</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Majors+%28Students%29%22">Majors (Students)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Practical+Arts%22">Practical Arts</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Human+Capital%22">Human Capital</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Education+Work+Relationship%22">Education Work Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Equal+Opportunities+%28Jobs%29%22">Equal Opportunities (Jobs)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Job+Skills%22">Job Skills</searchLink> – Name: ISBN Label: ISBN Group: ISBN Data: 979-84-387-5938-6 – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Americans often believe that a college degree is the key that unlocks the door to the middle class. However, a college degree no longer ensures stable middle-class employment. To increase their chances of post-graduation employment, many students now major in "practical arts" disciplines like Business and Engineering. Graduates of practical arts fields enjoy lower unemployment rates, higher salaries, and other labor market advantages when compared to liberal arts graduates. Common explanations of these labor market advantages assume that these students, more than liberal arts students, learn valuable skills that employers need. This is a human capital theory explanation of the school-to-work transition. Scholars who assess for this mechanism connecting school and work often look for whether a graduate's employment matches their degree. However, this assumes the content of a student's education matches the actual tasks they are assigned in entry-level employment. In this dissertation, I investigate this assumption and find little evidence to support it. Based on longitudinal in-depth interviews with 91 college seniors across four majors, 85 of whom were retained for a second interview one year later, I demonstrate that practical arts alumni have access to internships that lead to greater initial economic success than the internships available to liberal arts graduates. Many undergraduates in practical arts disciplines benefit from on-campus recruitment for internships that lead to good jobs after graduation with decent pay, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. However, these jobs often entail almost exclusively mundane office work even when closely matched to their degree. Students who cannot take advantage of these "career conveyor belts," principally liberal arts majors, generally find internships with less institutional support that rarely lead to immediate jobs. When these students graduate, they sometimes find work that engages their skills but struggle with more employment insecurity and lower wages. The divergent experiences of practical and liberal arts students reveal a "paradox of marketability": liberal arts graduates' skills are useful and needed by employers but are not highly rewarded in the labor market. On the other hand, the careerism of practical arts students makes them marketable to employers even when they are not asked to demonstrate any degree-related skills. This dissertation takes a new approach to the school-to-work transition, incorporating institutionalist approaches to stratification and higher education, and labor process theory, to maps students' transitions from their college major to their internships and finally into the labor market. Results add important nuance to current theories of the school-to-work transition, specifically human capital theory and credentialism. Ultimately, I argue the economy gives college graduates a choice between stable employment and interesting jobs. The lack of access to stable employment helps explain, and contributes to, the cultural devaluation of liberal arts disciplines in the economy and wider society. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2024 – Name: URL Label: Access URL Group: URL Data: <link linkTarget="URL" linkTerm="https://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:29262607" linkWindow="_blank">http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:29262607</link> – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: ED643082 |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=ED643082 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 326 Subjects: – SubjectFull: College Seniors Type: general – SubjectFull: Employment Potential Type: general – SubjectFull: Majors (Students) Type: general – SubjectFull: Practical Arts Type: general – SubjectFull: Human Capital Type: general – SubjectFull: Education Work Relationship Type: general – SubjectFull: Equal Opportunities (Jobs) Type: general – SubjectFull: Job Skills Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Marketability: Inequality in the College-To-Work Transition Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Corey Pech IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2020 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 979-84-387-5938-6 Titles: – TitleFull: ProQuest LLC Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
