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A “Good Mixer”: University Placement in Corporate America, 1890–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2018

Cristina V. Groeger
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Abstract

This article explores the role of university placement offices in shaping a twentieth-century corporate elite. While studies of the “corporatization” of the university focus on developments after the 1970s, the rise of the modern university and corporate economy were inextricably linked by the early twentieth century. Scholars of this period have described the circulation of scientific knowledge and the influx of college graduates into industry, but the specific ties that facilitated their employment remain underexplored. By examining the correspondence between placement officers and employers in Boston, I demonstrate how universities actively cultivated a new corporate class that not only had the right technical knowledge and social skills but the gender, racial, and class-based characteristics employers preferred. In so doing, universities helped incorporate these characteristics into the meaning of academic merit itself. The marriage of universities and corporate management legitimated a credential-based form of inequality that continues to structure the American political economy.

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Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 33 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © History of Education Society 2018 

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References

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32 Khurana, Rakesh, From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), 23–136 Google Scholar; and Angulo, Diploma Mills, 29–56.

33 Man Power Highly Developed and Ready for Action: Capable Candidates for Business (Boston, 1923)Google Scholar in Burdett College Misc. Pamphlets, Widener Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

34 “Proprietors and managers” made up about 10 percent of the male workforce and 2 percent of the female workforce in Boston through this period, encompassing everything from the small retailer to the corporate manager. The statistical basis of this article is the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) U.S. Federal census samples: 100 percent sample for 1880, 5 percent for 1900, 100 percent for 1920, 100 percent for 1930, and 100 percent for 1940, analyzed with the statistical software STATA. Ruggles, Steven, Alexander, J. Trent, Genadek, Katie, Goeken, Ronald, Schroeder, Matthew B., and Sobek, Matthew, Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 6.0 [dataset] (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2015)Google Scholar http://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V6.0 (hereafter cited as IPUMS).

35 Ibid.; Kwolek-Folland, Angel, Engendering Business: Men and Women in the Corporate Office, 1870–1930 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)Google Scholar; and Strom, Sharon Hartman, Beyond the Typewriter: Gender, Class, and the Origins of Modern American Office Work, 1900–1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992)Google Scholar.

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37 Using the employment of a domestic servant, maid, cook, or nurse as a rough proxy for elite status, I have calculated that only about 10–20 percent of managers, proprietors, and officials could be considered “elites,” or 1–2 percent of the male workforce at large. IPUMS, 1880–1940.

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44 “Private For Profit Commercial Schools” 1914, Boston Chamber of Commerce Records , Case 20, Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Boston; and City Club of Chicago, A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago and in Other Cities (Chicago: City Club of Chicago, 1912), 238–58; see also Angulo's discussion of the City Club of Chicago report in Angulo, Diploma Mills, 47–52.

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48 Khurana, From Higher Aims to Hired Hands, 111.

49 Through the 1920s the second largest choice of Harvard graduates was law, at around 15 percent, and teaching, at around 10 percent. “Committee on Choice of Vocations,” “Vocational Preferences in the Class of 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926,” “1931 Questionnaire #3,” box 94, folder: Vocational Studies, Harvard, 1924–1929, Office of Career Services; and “Table IV” box 96, folder: Vocational Survey, Class of 1935–1938, 3 Years After Graduation, Office of Career Services.

50 Donald Moyer to Clarence Clewell, Oct. 11, 1939, box 43, folder: Pennsylvania Association of School and College Placement, Office of Career Services; Donald Bridgman to Donald Moyer, April 14, 1936, box 31, folder: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Office of Career Services; and E.M. Billings to J. B. Conant, Oct. 21, 1938, box 36, folder: Eastman Kodak Company, Office of Career Services.

51 For “perhaps ten years” prior to this formal organization, the secretary of the college had operated an informal bureau that predominantly helped students find term-time and summer employment to help finance their college expenses. A “Student Placement Office” separated from the Appointment office in 1910. Louisa L. McCrady, “Development of a University Appointment Office,” box 30, folder: Alumni Placement Service, Harvard, General Printed Matter, Office of Career Services; and Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1910–11 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1912), 261Google Scholar.

52 Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1900–01 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1902), 10–13 Google Scholar.

53 “A New Harvard Service,” Alumni Bulletin, Sept. 26, 1929, box 30, folder: Alumni Placement Service, Harvard, General Printed Matter, Office of Career Services.

54 Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1903–04 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1905), 353Google Scholar; Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1905–06 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1907), 353Google Scholar; Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1910–11 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1912), 266Google Scholar; Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1917–18 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919)Google Scholar, 283, 287. Placements were made from the pool of alumni registered with the service, including graduates with more than a bachelor's degree and graduates one or more years out of college. However, those who were placed with master's degrees primarily went into high school or college teaching, and one or two hundred annually, even of a pool of several classes, was still substantial.

55 Report of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1918–1919, 252–56.

56 “Table: Geographical Distribution of Harvard Classes, 1923–1932” in Report to the Harvard Alumni Employment Committee, 3, box 94, folder: Vocational Studies, Harvard 1924–1929, Office of Career Services.

57 James Dwinell to Helen Porter, March 2, 1936, box 46, folder: U, Office of Career Services.

58 J. F. G. Miller to Harvard Alumni Placement Service, March 26, 1936, box 46, folder: B. F. Sturtevant Company, Office of Career Services.

59 Voorhees, Helen MacMurtrie, History of the Eastern College Personnel Officers, 1926–1952 (Boston: T. Todd, 1952), 4Google Scholar.

60 Ibid., 5.; Miriam Carpenter to Walter Daly, Sept. 21, 1926, and Oct. 22, 1926; and Daly to Carpenter, Oct. 25, 1926, box 1, folder: Eastern College Personnel Officers, Records of Placement Office, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

61 As reported in the Alumni Bulletin, “It is clear that Miss Mork's employer contacts are many, and should serve as an excellent nucleus upon which to build the work of the new office.” Report to the Harvard Alumni Employment Committee, box 94, folder: Vocational Studies, Office of Career Services; and “The Alumni Employment Office,” Harvard Alumni Bulletin, June 21, 1928, box 30, folder: Alumni Placement Service, Harvard, General Printed Matter, Circulars, Office of Career Services.

62 Voorhees, History of the Eastern College Personnel Officers, 9.

63 Stuart Clement to R. W. Warfield, Nov. 17, 1937; Ralph Robinson Wolf, Jr. to Donald Moyer, Jan. 25, 1940, box 48, folder: Yale University, Office of Career Services.

64 F. G. Atkinson to Donald Moyer, Sept. 20, 1940, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Company, Office of Career Services.

65 David M. Watt to Donald Moyer, Oct. 29, 1940, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Company, Office of Career Services.

66 Voorhees, History of the Eastern College Personnel Officers, 5; and “Paul W. Viets Obituary,” Paper Trade Journal, Nov. 22, 1937, 107.

67 “Report of the Associated Harvard Clubs,” Harvard Alumni Bulletin, May 15, 1930, 31, 24, box 30, folder: Alumni Placement Services, Harvard General Printed Matter, Office of Career Services.

68 Levine, The American College and the Culture of Aspiration, 1915–1940, 63.

69 College Placement Council, The Fundamentals of College Placement: History, Philosophy, and Operational Techniques Associated with the Modern College Placement Office (Bethlehem, PA: The College Placement Council, 1962), 27, 219–34Google Scholar.

70 Goldin and Katz, The Race Between Education and Technology.

71 The Walworth Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” April 16, 1934, box 48, folder: The Walworth Company; and Lever Brothers Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” Nov. 18, 1929, Jan. 16, 1930, and Aug. 2, 1938, box 39, folder: Lever Brothers Company, Office of Career Services.

72 “Concentrators in Physics,” “Concentrators in Math,” “Ec. 26b,” 1937–1940, box 30, folder: Info re Business Recruiters and Student Concentrators, Office of Career Services.

73 Kendall Mills Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” June 27, 1934 and April 28, 1939; and Warren Eustis to J. F. Dwinell, Nov. 12, 1940; box 38, folder: Kendall Mills, Office of Career Services.

74 David Watt to Donald Moyer, Dec. 6, 1940, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Company, Office of Career Services.

75 MIT Placement Bureau Records, 1920–1968, Institute Archives and Special Collections, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; and MIT Annual Report of the President and Treasurer 1902, 41; MIT Annual Report of the President and Treasurer 1905, 48; MIT Annual Report of the President and Treasurer 1906, 51; MIT Annual Report of the President and Treasurer 1910, 68; and MIT Annual Report of the President and Treasurer 1911, 73.

76 “Mechanic Arts High Criticised,” Boston Daily Globe, Dec. 15, 1910, 4.

77 Sinclair, Bruce, “Mergers and Acquisitions,” in Becoming MIT: Moments of Decision, ed. Kaiser, David (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010), 37–57 Google Scholar.

78 Keller, Morton and Keller, Phyllis, Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001), 13–14 Google Scholar; and James, William, “The True Harvard,” in William James: Writings, 1902–1910 (New York: Library of America, 1987), 1126–129Google Scholar.

79 Sinclair, “Mergers and Acquisitions,” 49.

80 Bossard, James and Dewhurst, J. Frederic, University Education for Business: A Study of Existing Needs and Practices (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931), 93Google Scholar.

81 Noble, America by Design, 316.

82 “Mechanic Arts High Criticised”; Dewey, Davis R., “Teaching of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” Journal of Political Economy 18, no. 6 (June 1910), 434–37Google Scholar; and Nelson, Daniel, A Mental Revolution: Scientific Management Since Taylor (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1992), 86–87 Google Scholar.

83 Rae, John B., “Engineering Education as Preparation for Management: A Study of M.I.T. Alumni,” Business History Review 29, no. 1 (March 1, 1955), 67Google Scholar.

84 In a 1927 survey of the class of 1924, of those employed in business occupations, 14 percent were in manufacturing, 27 percent in banking and finance, and 30 percent in distribution or trade. “Committee on Choice of Vocations: Table 1: Class of 1924,” box 94, folder: Vocational Studies, Harvard, 1924–1929, Office of Career Services.

85 Chandler Hovey to Donald Moyer, Feb. 14, 1936; “Kidder Peabody Co.” March 16, 1936; Chandler Hovey to George Plimpton, April 13, 1937 and April 30, 1937, box 39, folder: Kidder, Peabody and Company, Office of Career Services.

86 A survey of 1935–1938 graduates found that of those in business, 8 percent were in banking or finance, 17 percent were in “manufacturing and production,” and 33 percent in marketing, advertising, or insurance. “Classes of 1935–36–37–38,” box 96, folder: Vocational Survey, Class of 1935–1938, 3 Years After Graduation, Office of Career Services.

87 Robert C. Hosmer to James F. Dwinell, Aug. 15, 1939, box 36, folder: Excelsior Insurance Company, Office of Career Services.

88 Procter & Gamble Distributing Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” April 21, 1931 and Jan. 18, 1934, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Co., Office of Career Services.

89 Dennison Manufacturing Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” April 29, 1940, box 35, folder: Dennison Manufacturing Company, Office of Career Services.

90 As James Dwinell explained to an employer, “There are several men with sales experience who … might be good prospects. These latter men, however, are all married … A man who is now [married] would be apt to shy a little at a job which compelled him to be away from home as much as this one does.” James F. Dwinell to Robert Hosmer, Sept. 5, 1939, box 36, folder: Excelsior Insurance Company, Office of Career Services.

91 Procter & Gamble Distributing Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” Feb. 10, 1930, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Co., Office of Career Services.

92 The Kendall Company, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” Sept. 12, 1933, box 39, folder: Kendall Mills, Bauer and Black, Office of Career Services.

93 “International Business Machine,” Jan. 25, 1939; and H. E. Pim to Placement Office, Feb. 20, 1941, box 39, folder: International Business Machine, Office of Career Services.

94 J. F. Dwinell to Mr. Eustis, March 21, 1941, box 39, folder: Kendall Mills, Bauer and Black, Office of Career Services.

95 J. F. Dwinell to R. H. White, May 23, 1933 and May 29, 1933, box 39, folder: Landers, Frary & Clark, Office of Career Services.

96 For example, the treasurer of the company, R.H. White, wrote to Donald Moyer: “The name Robert Bennick is a rather peculiar one. I would appreciate your advice as to the nationality of the man.” Moyer assured White that Bennick was “a protestant, a Congregationalist,” and “the only other [clue] I can think of giving you is the fact that his father is a bank officer and the further fact that the question of his racial background seems never to have arisen before.” R. H. White to Donald Moyer, Feb. 8, 1937 and April 13, 1936; and Donald Moyer to R. H. White, April 15, 1936, box 39, folder: Landers, Frary & Clark, Office of Career Services.

97 Donald Moyer to Donald Bridgman, May 16, 1941, box 31, folder: American Telephone and Telegraph, Office of Career Services.

98 In examining the majority of the Harvard placement office correspondence with business employers, I did not come across the mention of any African American students.

99 J. F. Dwinell to Robert Hosmer, Sept. 5, 1939, box 36, folder: Excelsior Company; Donald Moyer to R. R. Wallace, May 27, 1931, box 31 folder: American Steel and Wire; and J. F. Dwinell to S. T. McCall, March 14, 1939, box 31, folder: American Brake Shoe and Foundry Company, Office of Career Services.

100 J. F. Dwinell to Harold L. Young, July 2, 1936, box 36, folder: The Employers Group; and J. F. Dwinell to S. T. McCall, March 14, 1939, box 31, folder: American Brake Shoe and Foundry Company.

101 J. F. Dwinell, “Proceedings of the Meeting of the Associated Harvard Clubs,” Harvard Alumni Bulletin, June 1930, 33, box 30, folder: Alumni Placement Service, Harvard, General Printed Matter, Office of Career Services.

102 Ibid., 34.

103 J. F. Dwinell to Robert Hosmer, Sept. 26, 1936, box 36, folder: Excelsior Company, Office of Career Services.

104 “College Men in the Bell System with Degrees from Harvard University, 1896–1939,” box 31, folder: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Office of Career Services.

105 The handwritten notes of one placement officer read, “I spoke to Mr. Dennison as he was a classmate of my fathers and used to know him. He seemed really interested as you well know in us.”; “Dennison Mfg. Co.,” Feb. 20, 1934, box 35, folder: Dennison Manufacturing Company; and “A New Harvard Service,” Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Sept. 26, 1929, box 30, folder: Alumni Placement Service, Harvard, General Printed Matter, Office of Career Services.

106 Frank Bobst to Ruth Mork, May 2, 1930, box 39, folder: John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance, Office of Career Services.

107 H. A. Deering to Harvard Alumni Placement Service, Jan. 24, 1936, box 39, folder: Lever Brothers, Office of Career Services.

108 Procter & Gamble, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” Nov. 7, 1930 and Feb. 28, 1933, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Co., Office of Career Services.

109 R. L. to Donald Moyer, Oct. 31, 1936, box 39, folder: Landers, Frary & Clark, Office of Career Services.

110 Richard Plumley to Donald Moyer, July 18, 1938, box 48, folder: Yale and Towne Mfg. Co., Office of Career Services.

111 Donald Moyer to Charles E. Barry, April 18, 1940, box 36, folder: Wm. Filene's Sons Co., Office of Career Services.

112 For examples of Harvard graduates living at home with parents see: “No. 138 Work History” box 93, folder: Manufacturing; “No. 120 Work History,” box 93, folder: Sales; “No. 251 Work History,” box 92, folder: Advertising; and “No. 239 Work History,” box 92, folder: Accounting, Office of Career Services.

113 The Lichtner (Wm. O.) Associates, “Job Specifications and Requirements,” Jan. 10, 1933, box 39, folder: Lichtner Associates, Wm. O., Office of Career Services.

114 Harold T. Young to J. F. Dwinell, Aug. 7, 1936, box 36, folder: Employers' Group, Office of Career Services.

115 Waldo Adler to George Plimpton, July 18, 1935 and Nov. 5, 1935, box 31, folder: Adler, Waldo, and Company, Office of Career Services.

116 F. G. Atkinson to Mr. Sage, March 10, 1936, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Co.; see also Richard Plumley to Donald Moyer, July 18, 1938, box 48, folder: Yale and Towne Mfg. Co., Office of Career Services.

117 F. G. Atkinson to J. F. Dwinell, May 4, 1936, box 43, folder: Procter & Gamble Co., Office of Career Services.

118 “No. 133 Work History,” 1940, box 92, folder: Actuarial Work, Office of Career Services.

119 “No. 218 Work History,” 1938; and “No. 136 Work History,” 1939, box 92, folder: Advertising; “No. 225 Work History,” 1940, box 92: Actuarial Work, Office of Career Services.

120 “No. 275 Work History,” circa 1930, box 90, folder: Department Store; “No. 247 Work History,” 1938; “No. 203 Work History,” 1939, box 92, folder: Advertising; and “No. 117 Work History,” 1938, box 92, folder: Accounting, Office of Career Services.

121 “No. 225 Work History,” 1939, box 92, Actuarial Work; “No. 251 Work History,” 1939; and “No. 206 Work History,” 1937, box 92, folder: Advertising, Office of Career Services.

122 “No. 36 Work History”; and “No. 287 Work History,” circa 1930, box 90, folder: Investments, Office of Career Services.

123 “No. 251 Work History,” 1939, box 92, folder: Advertising, Office of Career Services.

124 “No. 239 Work History,” 1938, box 92: Actuarial Work, Office of Career Services.

125 “No. 177 Work History,” circa 1930, box 90, folder: Insurance, Office of Career Services.

126 “No. 207 Work History,” 1937, box 92, folder: Actuarial; “No. 142 Work History,” 1937, box 92, folder: Advertising, Office of Career Services.

127 “No. 239 Work History,” 1939, box 92, folder: Advertising; “No. 249 Work History,” 1938, box 92, folder: Actuarial, Office of Career Services.

128 “No. 247 Work History,” 1938, box 92, folder: Advertising, Office of Career Services.

129 “No. 279 Work History,” 1936, box 93, folder: Sales, Office of Career Services.

130 Henry S. Dennison, “What the Employment Department Should Be in Industry,” address at Employment Mangers' Conference, April 2–3, 1917, box 1, folder 30, Dennison Papers ; Khurana, From Higher Aims to Hired Hands, 46, 111–21; and Brandeis, Louis D., Business: A Profession (Boston: Small, Maynard, 1914)Google Scholar.

131 Cruikshank, A Delicate Experiment, 41–54; and “Mechanic Arts High Criticised.”

132 “Placement Statistics from 1929–1939,” box 2, vol. 8, Placement Office Records, Harvard Business School Archives, Boston, MA (hereafter HBS Placement Records).

133 Copeland, Melvin Thomas, And Mark an Era: The Story of the Harvard Business School, 1st ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1958), 291–93Google Scholar; and “Trips by School Staff for Placement Office 1932–1946,” HBS Placement Records.

134 In 1926, the office placed 57 percent of the graduating class seeking employment. Placement Statistics 1926–1929, box 1, vol. 1, HBS Placement Records.

135 “Trips by School Staff for Placement Office 1932–1946,” HBS Placement Records; and Mayo, Paths to Power, 131.

136 House Bill #1463 1911, box 1, School Commerce and Finance Records, 1910–1927; School of Commerce and Finance Catalogue 1914–15 (Boston: Young Men's Christian Association, 1915)Google Scholar, 11, and 1920–1921, 6. Northeastern University Archives & Special Collections, Northeastern University, Boston.

137 The Year Book 1914–15 (Boston: Boston University, 1914), 319–22Google Scholar.

138 School of Business Administration 1938–1938, Boston College Bulletin (Boston: Boston College, 1939)Google Scholar.

139 “In Joint Sessions Historical and Economic Associations Unite,” Boston Herald, Dec. 29, 1900, 9.

140 No. 818, Secretarial Work Employee Questionnaire, 1925, folder 403, Bureau of Vocational Information Records 1908–1932, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; and Scott Adams Fisher, “The Development and Recession of the Private Junior College Including Fisher Junior College: A Case Study” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 1983), 1–85.

141 Collier, Eleanor Rust, The Boston University College of Business Administration, 1913–1958 (1959), Boston University Archives, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston Google Scholar; and “The Syllabus,” 1934 Rev. Everett William Lord Correspondence, Maine Writers Correspondence, Maine State Library, http://digitalmaine.com/maine_writers_correspondence/320/.

142 School of Business Administration 1938–1938, Boston College Bulletin, 9, https://archive.org/details/bostoncollegebulletin.

143 “The Worker and the Chance to Work,” Boston Daily Globe, May 8, 1910, 46.

144 “History of the Appointment Bureau,” box 8, folder 66, 7, Women's Educational and Industrial Union Records, 1894–1955, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Subsequent studies of college placement have also ignored the prior role of college women, including College Placement Council, The Fundamentals of College Placement.

145 Kwolek-Folland, Engendering Business; “College Placements,” box 9, folder 8: Oct. 1911–Dec. 1914, “Appointment Bureau College Placements,” folder 10: Jan. 1919–Dec. 1921, and “Appointment Bureau College Placements,” folder 11: Jan. 1922–Feb. 1925, Women's Educational and Industrial Union Additional Records, 1877–2004, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

146 “The Woman Secretary” 1926, 262–68, folder 507; “No. 783,” and “No. 797,” Secretarial Work Employee Questionnaire, 1925, folder: 403, Bureau of Vocational Information Records 1908–1932, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

147 Anne Witz describes the gendered strategy of “demarcating,” rather than “usurping,” a “related but distinct sphere of competence in an occupational division of labor.” Witz, Anne, “Patriarchy and Professions: The Gendered Politics of Occupational Closure,” Sociology 24, no. 4 (Nov. 1990), 682Google Scholar; and Kilgore, Kathleen, Transformations: A History of Boston University (Boston: Boston University, 1991), 128–32Google Scholar.

148 “In the United States … about two-thirds of the overall rise of earnings dispersion between 1980 and 2005 is proximately accounted for by the increased premium associated with schooling in general and postsecondary education in particular.” Autor, David H., “Skills, Education, and the Rise of Earnings Inequality among the ‘Other 99 Percent,’” Science 344, no. 6186 (May 23, 2014), 843–51CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.