社会的再生産におけるトラッキングの果たす役割─ベルギー・エノー州の中等学校の事例から─  [in Japanese] A Case Study on the Contribution of Tracking to theReproduction of Social Stratification  [in Japanese]

Tracking takes place when students are grouped with those who are similar to themselves. This grouping is based on a ranked criterion, and therefore the groups are unequal in status. The criterion can be ability or post school plans, but students are also often divided along socioeconomic lines. Furthermore, previous research has shown that the track which students belong to seems to determine future opportunities in society. This paper uses data collected at Belgian comprehensive schools to clarify how the social background of students determines which track they enter, on the assumption that the track will define future social position. Previous research regarding tracking and social reproduction has limited its attention to either the correlation between track and social background of the students, including one or more educational transitions, or to the direct influence of social background on educational transition. In this paper, Raymond Boudon's theoretical concepts are used to demonstrate both direct and indirect. influences of social background on consecutive educational transitions, starting from kindergarten. The paper demonstrates : (1) the enduring existence of the indirect influence of social background on tracking through the correlation between students' ability and social background ; (2) the existence of a direct influence of social background on tracking, as the free choice of a track is determined not only by ability but also by social background ; (3) the disappearance of this direct influence at the end of the secondary level ; and finally (4) the cor relation between ability, tracking and the educational plans regarding whether or not to go on to college, which affects students just before graduation from high school. From this analysis it can be concluded that as students are divided into tracks along socioeconomic lines, the school and its tracking system contributes continuously to the reproduction of social stratification, assuming that tracking at the secondary level determines future social position.