Faculty
David
Bills, Ph.D.
Education
Ph.D.,
Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1981.
Research
projects
I
concentrate my research on social inequality and social stratification,
with a focus on the articulation between educational institutions,
labor markets, and the workplace. It proceeds along three
interrelated strands. These are:
1) the demand side of labor markets and "job matching"
2) changes in the world of work
3) schools and socioeconomic inequality.
SOME
SPECIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS:
The Evaluation of Educational Credentials in Hiring and
Promotion Decisions
The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of
organizations in social stratification by examining the practices
and policies of employers pertaining to hiring and promotion
decisions. This research began with a grant from the National
Science Foundation. This study consisted of six case studies
of Chicago organizations, both public and private. I have
extended this work with several smaller grants.
Participation in Adult Education: Results from the National
Household Education Survey
I am researching the participation of American adults in various
forms of adult education. I am particularly interested
in the support they receive from their employers for their
participation, and in patterns of course-taking for personal
development rather than economic reasons.
The
Sociology of Job Training
I recently edited Volume 12 (2003) of the JAI series Research
in the Sociology of Work. The theme of this volume is "The
Sociology of Job Training." Please refer to
http://www.sociology.ohio-state.edu/work/volume12-training.htm
for
more information.
Franchising,
Displaced Managers, and the Transformation of Self-Employment
The purpose of this project is to examine how differences
in the employment and educational histories of franchise owners
lead to differences in their ability to use various skills
at work and in their self-definitions as entrepreneurs and
community members. The study grows out of extensive fieldwork
that I have conducted on Iowa franchisors and franchisees.
Professional
Organization Memberships
American
Sociological Association
Midwest Sociological Society
International
Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Stratification
and Mobility
Southern
Sociological Society
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Recent
Publications
Bills,
David B. 2004. "Credentials, Signals, Screens, and Jobs: Explaining
the Relationship between Schooling and Job Assignment." Review of Educational Research.
Bills,
David B. 2004. The Sociology
of Education and Work London: Blackwell Publishers.
Bills,
David B. (ed.). 2004.
The Shape of Social Stratification: Papers in Honor of Archibald
Haller. Social Stratification and Mobility volume
22. Elsevier Publishing.
Bills,
David B. (ed). 2003. The
Sociology of Worker Training. Research
in the Sociology of Work, volume 12, Elsevier Publishing.
Bills,
David B. and Mary Ellen Wacker. 2003. "Acquiring Credentials
When Signals Don't Matter: Employer Support of Employees Who
Pursue Vocational Degrees." Sociology
of Education 76:170-187.
Bills, David B. and Anthony Q. Stanley. "Social Science
Labs as Sites for Teaching and Learning: Challenges and Solutions
in Their Design and Maintenance." Teaching Sociology,
forthcoming.
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Courses
Typically Offered
07B:130
Educational Sociology
This course will offer an understanding of the role played
by schools in society. We will examine such questions as the
organizational features of schools, education as an institution
and its relation to other social institutions, the role of
the school in social inequality, and the social relationships
of the classroom.
07B:134
Education and the World of Work
This course focuses on the relationships between education
and schooling and various aspects of the world of work.
I interpret education and schooling broadly, to include formal
secondary and post-secondary schooling, training, and learning
that takes place out of school. We will examine both
conceptual and theoretical ways of thinking about schools
and workplaces as well as several policy proposals for linking
these institutions (e.g., school to work programs, job training,
career academies, magnet schools, etc.).
07B:150
Education and Gender
This
course examines the sociology of gender in educational settings.
We shall examine such issues as unequal access to schooling,
adolescent culture, the gendered nature of higher education,
and single-sex schooling. The course treats gender as a fundamental
base of social inequality.
07B:154
Education, Race, and Ethnicity
The goal of this course is to examine race and ethnicity in
American education and their relationships with both the broader
role of schooling and education in American society and such
dimensions of social inequality as gender and class. Major
topics in the course include, among others, immigration, educational
and socioeconomic inequality, family structure, and social
policy initiatives. The readings for the course bring a range
of perspectives to these issues, including sociological, historical,
cultural, legal, and economic.
07B:176
Demographic Analysis for Educational Research
The motivation for this course is that educational researchers
could do better research if they had clearer understandings
of basic demographic concepts, techniques, and resources.
I have tried to design this course to be as practical as possible.
I'd like to move fairly quickly from some necessary theoretical
and conceptual grounding in the field of demography to a usable
bag of tricks.
07B:210
Education and Social Change
This course focuses on the relationships between education
and schooling and a variety of social, institutional, economic,
and cultural changes. We will consider how broader trends
affect the structure and purpose of educational systems, how
changes within education affect the wider society, how systems
of schooling themselves change, and the prospects for planned
change within systems of schooling.
07B:240 Sociological
Perspectives on Educational Policy Reform
This
course will examine four popular alternatives to traditional
K-12 and postsecondary education in the United States.
These are homeschooling, boarding schools, charter schools,
and magnet schools. We will spend a couple of weeks
constructing a conceptual framework for understanding these
alternatives, and then spend a couple of weeks on each area.
I have designed the course to be useful to both those with
a focus on K-12 schooling and those more concerned with postsecondary
education.
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