Publications
A list of my publications is below. If you would like a copy of an article that is not accessible, please email me.
BOOKS
Jackson, M. (2020). Manifesto for a Dream. Inequality, Constraint, and Radical Reform. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Although it is well known that the United States has an inequality problem, the social science community has failed to mobilize in response. Social scientists have instead adopted a strikingly insipid approach to policy reform, an ostensibly science-based approach that offers incremental, narrow-gauge, and evidence-informed "interventions." This approach assumes that the best that we can do is contain the problem. It is largely taken for granted that we will never solve it.
This book makes a scientific case for large-scale institutional reform, drawing on examples from other countries to demonstrate that reforms that have been unthinkable in the United States are considered to be quite unproblematic in other contexts. An emboldened social science has an obligation to develop and test the radical policies that would be necessary for equality to be assured to all.
Jackson, M. (ed.). (2013) Determined to Succeed? Performance versus Choice in Educational Attainment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
In many countries, concern about socio-economic inequalities in educational attainment has focused on inequalities in test scores and grades. The presumption has been that the best way to reduce inequalities in educational outcomes is to reduce inequalities in performance. But is this presumption correct?
Determined to Succeed? is the first book to offer a comprehensive cross-national examination of the roles of performance and choice in generating inequalities in educational attainment. It combines in-depth studies by country specialists with chapters discussing more general empirical, methodological, and theoretical aspects of educational inequality. The aim is to investigate to what extent inequalities in educational attainment can be attributed to differences in academic performance between socio-economic groups, and to what extent they can be attributed to differences in the choices made by students from these groups. The contributors focus predominantly on inequalities related to parental class and parental education.
ARTICLES, CHAPTERS, ETC.
Jackson, M. (2023). “The social sciences are increasingly ill-equipped to design system-level reforms,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, E162.
Jackson, M., and Moullin, S. (2023). “The ‘Dark Matter’ of Stratification Research. Non-Cognitive Characteristics, Socioeconomic Attainment, and Social Mobility,” in M. Gangl, L. Platt, J. Polavieja, and H.G. van de Werfhorst (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Social Stratification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jackson, M. (2022). “Order from Chaos: Sociology as a Population Science," in K. Gërxhani, N.D. de Graaf, and W. Raub (eds.) Handbook of Sociological Science. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Jackson, M. (2022). “How is it to be Done? Building a Social Science of Radical Reform,” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World.
Jackson, M., and Lee Williams, J. (2022). “COVID-19 Mitigation Policies and Psychological Distress in Young Adults,” Social Science and Medicine - Mental Health, 100027.
Jackson, M. (2021). “Expansion, Enrollment and Inequality of Educational Opportunity,” Sociological Methods and Research, 50, 3: 1215-1242.
Jackson, M., Lee Williams, J., Dahir, N., and Edelman, A. (2021). “Having to Stay Still. Youth and Young Adults in the Covid-19 Crisis.” Monitoring the Crisis: American Voices Project. Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Jackson, M., and Holzman, B. (2020). “A Century of Educational Inequality in the United States.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117, 32: 19108-19115.
Jackson, M., Khavenson, T., and Chirkina, T. (2019) “Raising the Stakes. Inequality and Testing in the Russian Education System.” Social Forces, 98, 4: 1613-1635.
Battey, H., Cox, D.R., and Jackson, M. (2019). “On the Linear in Probability Model for Binary Data.” Royal Society Open Science, 6, 5: 190067.
Jackson, M., and Grusky, D.B. (2018). “A Post‐Liberal Theory of Stratification,” British Journal of Sociology, 69, 4: 1096-1133.
Jackson, M., and Grusky, D.B. (2017). “The Big Picture: Unequal America,” Public Books.
Jackson, M. and Evans, G. (2017). “Rebuilding Walls. Market Transition and Social Mobility in the Post-Socialist Societies of Europe,” Sociological Science, 4: 54-79.
Jackson, M. (2017). “Don't let ‘Conversation One’ Squeeze Out ‘Conversation Two’,” Pathways, Spring: 33-36.
Jackson, M. and Buckner, E. (2016). “Opportunity without Equity: Educational Inequality and Constitutional Protections in Egypt,” Sociological Science, 3: 730-756.
Jackson, M. (2014). “Performance, Choice and Educational Inequality,” pp. 562-568 in Grusky, D. (ed.) Social Stratification. Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. Westview Press.
Jackson, M. and Cox, D.R. (2013). “The Principles of Experimental Design and Their Application in Sociology,” Annual Review of Sociology, 39: 27-49.
Jackson, M. (2013). “How is Inequality of Educational Opportunity Generated? The Case for Primary and Secondary Effects,” p. 1-33 in Jackson, M. (ed.) Determined to Succeed? Performance versus Choice in Educational Attainment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Kartsonaki, C., Jackson, M. and Cox, D.R. (2013). “Primary and Secondary Effects: Some Methodological Issues,” p. 34-55 in Jackson, M. (ed.) Determined to Succeed? Performance versus Choice in Educational Attainment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Jackson, M. (2013). “Social Background and Educational Transitions in England,” p. 253-276 in Jackson, M. (ed.) Determined to Succeed? Performance versus Choice in Educational Attainment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Jackson, M. and Jonsson, J.O. (2013). “Why does Inequality of Educational Opportunity vary across Countries? Primary and Secondary Effects in Comparative Context,” p. 306-338 in Jackson, M. (ed.) Determined to Succeed? Performance versus Choice in Educational Attainment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Jackson, M. (2012). “Bold Choices. How Ethnic Inequalities in Educational Attainment are Suppressed,” Oxford Review of Education, 38: 189-208.
Jackson, M., Jonsson, J.O. and Rudolphi, F. (2012). “Ethnic Inequality in Choice-Driven Education Systems. A Longitudinal Study of Performance and Choice in England and Sweden,” Sociology of Education, 85, 2: 158-178.
Jackson, M. (2010). “Investigating Inequalities in Educational Attainment,” pp. 163-177 in J. Stillwell, P. Norman, C. Thomas. and P. Surridge. (eds.) Spatial and Social Disparities: Understanding Population Trends and Processes, Volume 2. Springer: Dordrecht.
Jackson, M. (2009). “Disadvantaged through Discrimination. The Role of Employers in Social Stratification,” British Journal of Sociology, 60, 4: 669-692.
Cox, D.R., Jackson, M. and Lu, S. (2009) “On Square Ordinal Contingency Tables: A Comparison of Social Class and Income Mobility for the Same Individuals,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society), 172, 2: 483-493.
Jackson, M. (2008) “Content Analysis,” pp. 78-91 in J. Neale (ed.), Research Methods for Health and Social Care. Palgrave.
Jackson, M., Luijkx, R., Pollak, R., Vallet, L.-A. and Van de Werfhorst, H. (2008) “Educational Fields of Study and the Intergenerational Mobility Process in Comparative Perspective,” International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 49, 4-5: 369-388.
Goldthorpe, J.H. and Jackson, M. (2008) “Problems of an Education-Based Meritocracy,” pp. 93-116 in A. Lareau and D. Conley (Eds.), Social Class. How Does it Work? Russell Sage Foundation Press.
Goldthorpe, J.H. and Jackson, M. (2007) “Intergenerational Class Mobility in Contemporary Britain: Political Concerns and Empirical Findings,” British Journal of Sociology, 58, 4: 525-546.
Jackson, M. (2007) “How Far Merit Selection? Social Stratification and the Labour Market,” British Journal of Sociology, 58, 3: 367-390.
Jackson, M., Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H. and Yaish, M. (2007) “Primary and Secondary Effects in Class Differentials in Educational Attainment: The Transition to A-Level Courses in England and Wales,” Acta Sociologica, 50, 3: 211-229.
Jackson, M. (2006) “Personality Traits and Occupational Attainment,” European Sociological Review, 22, 2: 187-199.
Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H., Jackson, M., Yaish, M. and Cox, D.R. (2005) “On Class Differentials in Educational Attainment,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 27: 9730–9733.
Jackson, M., Goldthorpe, J.H. and Mills, C. (2005) “Education, Employers, and Class Mobility,” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 23: 3-34.
Jackson, M. (2001) “Non-Meritocratic Job Requirements and the Reproduction of Class Inequality: An Investigation,” Work, Employment, and Society, 3, 15: 619-630.