The Effects of Education as an Institution
1977/07/01 by John W. Meyer · 1,216 citations
Medicine · Social Sciences · #Argument (complex analysis) #Economics #Education theory #Higher education #Institution #Law #Law and economics #Legitimation #Medicine #Political science #Positive economics #School Choice and Performance #Social Capital and Networks #Social and Cultural Dynamics #Social science #Socialization #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1086/226506
published in American Journal of Sociology 83(1), 55-77 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 1977/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract
Education is usually seen as affecting society by socializing individuals. Recently this view has been attacked with the argument that education is a system of allocation, conferring success on some and failure on others. The polemic has obscured some of the interesing implications of allocation theory for socialization theory and for research on the effects of education. But allocation theory, too, focuses on educational effects on individuals being processed. It turns out to be a special case of a more general macrosociological theory of the effects of education as a system of legitimation. Education restructures whole populations, creating and expanding elites and redefining the rights and obligations of members. The institutional effects of education as a legitimation system are explored. Comparative and experimental studies are suggested.
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