Cumulative Disadvantage Among the Highly Ambitious

Past research has shown that young Americans aspire to professional jobs in disproportionately high numbers; thus, many are bound to be disappointed. This article examines the process by which high school seniors who aspire to high-status professional jobs are sorted out in the seven years following high school graduation by examining the early educational attainments and changes in occupational expectations of a subsample of respondents to the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and his colleagues, the author shows that a process of disadvantage operates in which men and those from upper-white-collar homes are more likely to survive this period on track to achieve their initial goals, controlling for differences in measured academic ability. Marriage is an especially strong transmitter of cumulative disadvantage, both for women and for those from nonprivileged social origins, while attendance at an elite college or university is beneficial to all.