Skills and Inequality
Partisan Politics and the Political Economy of Education Reforms in Western Welfare States

This book argues that critical choices about the institutional design of education systems in the post-war period have long-term implications for social inequality.

Marius R. Busemeyer (Author)

9781107062931, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 September 2014

326 pages, 24 b/w illus. 25 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.61 kg

'This is a remarkable book on a very important topic. Busemeyer's Skills and Inequality elegantly integrates analyses of welfare capitalism and educational systems into an argument that helps us better understand the politics of inequality. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this book represents a significant contribution to the literature on the comparative political economy of industrialised democracies. Busemeyer's careful research is a must-read for those who care about the determinants of inequality.' David Rueda, Oxford University

Skills and Inequality studies the political economy of education and training reforms from the perspective of comparative welfare state research. Highlighting the striking similarities between established worlds of welfare capitalism and educational regimes, Marius R. Busemeyer argues that both have similar political origins in the postwar period. He identifies partisan politics and different varieties of capitalism as crucial factors shaping choices about the institutional design of post-secondary education. The political and institutional survival of vocational education and training as an alternative to academic higher education is then found to play an important role in the later development of skill regimes. Busemeyer also studies the effects of educational institutions on social inequality and patterns of public opinion on the welfare state and education. Adopting a multi-method approach, this book combines historical case studies of Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom with quantitative analyses of macro-level aggregate data and micro-level survey data.

Introduction
Part I. The Political and Institutional Determinants of Education Policy: 1. Theoretical framework: partisan politics in context
2. The politics of education and training reform: case studies
3. Worlds of skill formation: cross-national quantitative analysis
Part II. The Impact of Educational Institutions on Outcomes and Popular Attitudes: 4. Educational institutions and socioeconomic inequality
5. The impact of educational institutions on popular attitudes and preferences
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Economic systems & structures [KCS], Political economy [KCP], Public administration [JPP], Political structure & processes [JPH], Political science & theory [JPA], Politics & government [JP], Organization & management of education [JNK], Educational strategies & policy [JNF]