Race Differences in College Attendance in the United States: Two Competing Theories
Keywords:
College attendance, Racial disparities, Conflict theory, Functionalist theory, Academic abilityAbstract
Conflict and functionalist explanations of status attainment may each account for whites’ and blacks’ college attendance. Independent and interactive effects of individual ability and social background factors may show which of these two theoretical perspectives explains the greatest variation in college attendance. Controlling for a wide range of factors associated with differential rates of college attendance, the conflict model of status attainment explains the greatest amount of variance for whites while a functionalist model seems to fit better for blacks. These findings suggest that college attendance for whites is based on factors other than ability; however, for blacks ability is the greatest predictor variable. We interpret this to mean that whites have more resources than blacks and college attendance is stressed for whites regardless of academic ability. Conversely, blacks, with fewer resources, reserve college for only the brightest students.
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