0% found this document useful (0 votes)
51 views21 pages

American Sociological Association Sociology of Education

This document summarizes a study exploring the motivations of law and business students at an elite university for choosing their degree programs. The author found that while students typically framed their decisions as preferences for certain fields, their choices actually reflected deep class-related constraints and influences. Most students chose their degrees for similar reasons related to professional status, intellectual interest, and maintaining an upper-middle-class lifestyle, rather than a strong commitment to specific careers. Their motivations were shaped by individual factors like parents, peers, and market trends, with parents playing a key role in communicating the importance of professional education for social status.

Uploaded by

Carlos Choccare
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
51 views21 pages

American Sociological Association Sociology of Education

This document summarizes a study exploring the motivations of law and business students at an elite university for choosing their degree programs. The author found that while students typically framed their decisions as preferences for certain fields, their choices actually reflected deep class-related constraints and influences. Most students chose their degrees for similar reasons related to professional status, intellectual interest, and maintaining an upper-middle-class lifestyle, rather than a strong commitment to specific careers. Their motivations were shaped by individual factors like parents, peers, and market trends, with parents playing a key role in communicating the importance of professional education for social status.

Uploaded by

Carlos Choccare
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 21

"That's a Good Question!

" Exploring Motivations for Law and Business School Choice


Author(s): Debra Schleef
Source: Sociology of Education, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Jul., 2000), pp. 155-174
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2673214
Accessed: 22-02-2019 17:39 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

American Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and


extend access to Sociology of Education

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
"That's a Good Question!"
Exploring Motivations for Law and
Business School Choice

Debra Schleef
Mary Washington College

Students' accounts of their decisions to attend elite professional schools, although

typically couched as preferences, actually reflect deep class-related constraints. In


a sample of 79 law and business students, the author found that the majority

chose their degrees for similar reasons: professional status, intellectual interest, and
an upper-middle-class lifestyle. The students' explanations, which were full of
uncertainty and default, upset the assumption that students carefully or con-

sciously choose professional careers. Commitment to a particular career was

vague, and for some students, the two degrees could have substituted for one

another. However, the students were not investing in specific careers as much as

in the maintenance of class status through education. Their motivations were

shaped and constrained by individual and organizational factors, including col-


lege, peers, work history, and market trends. It is significant that parents played a
key role, not through direct occupational inheritance but by communicating the

importance of professional-managerial education for safeguarding social status.

U xplanations of educational over the possible role of social-class repro-


choice at the professional level duction in shaping students' pursuit of a
often emphasize students' pref- professional degree. Sociologists have long
erences for a particular field. Students who shown how social class mediates the
are enrolled in professional degree pro- choice and direction of one's education
grams are asked about their criteria for (Cookson and Persell 1985; Gambetta
deciding on the programs, and scholars 1 996; Kingston and Lewis 1990;
have focused narrowly on specific concerns McDonough 1997). Parental education
in the decision to enroll in professional and occupation play a major role in an
schools. Surveys of students frequently individual's educational and occupational
encapsulate decisions to enter law school choices (Blau and Duncan 1967; Mare
in three preferences: career reasons, intel- 1981; Sewell and Hauser 1975), including
lectual reasons, and social justice reasons the decision to enter professional schools
(Gee and Jackson 1977; Granfield 1992; (Egerton 1997; Endo 1982; Zemans and
Stevens 1973). This approach often Rosenblum 1981). For example, Useem
excludes other possibilities, including and Karabel (1990) emphasized the influ-
ambivalence, default, parental influence, or ence of social class on attending an elite
class maintenance. law or business school and achieving a top
The study of preferences is emphasized position in corporate management.

Sociology of Education 2000, Vol. 73 (July): 155-174 155

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
156 Schleef

Nevertheless, some scholars have suggest- ciplines. Nevertheless, the students' accounts
ed that social class is playing less and less of a revealed great uncertainty and ambivalence.
role in explaining choices. For example, At times, the decision seemed to have been a
Grusky (2000; see also Grusky and Sorenson "default" decision, a ruling out of other
1 998) argued that workers identify with their options, or a force of patterns that simply car-
occupations more than their social class and ried a student along. The notion of a decision
that parents transmit preferences for a specif- in this context seems problematic.
ic occupation to their children that are The process of maintaining a class position
stronger than class preferences. by attending professional school is not strict-
In this article, I examine the decision-mak- ly a matter of class or occupational inheri-
ing processes of 79 students who entered the tance. Instead, children may inherit from their
law and business programs at an elite univer- parents skills and tastes about education relat-
sity. I argue that students' accounts of their ed to occupational, rather than class-based,
decisions to attend professional schools, preferences. Cultural capital, defined as the
although usually couched as preferences, cultural beliefs, personal skills, knowledge,
actually reflect deep class-related opportuni- and dispositions that enable one to succeed,
ties and constraints. Class background and also guides the decision-making process.
cultural capital affect the choice to attend law Social class influences one's life chances, but
or business school by profoundly shaping it also shapes one's perception of what the
elite students' perceptions of their education- choices are. Such perceptions are shaped by
al choices. Rather than reflect specific occu- the attitudes and values of the social groups
pational preferences, the decisions of these to which individuals belong, a concept that
students are based on class maintenance and, Bourdieu (1977; see also Bourdieu and
in some cases, the fear of not doing as well as Passeron 1 977) labeled habitus. Habitus cap-
their parents. Thus, in contrast to Grusky tures the "taken-for-granted" notion of stu-
(2000), 1 found that the law and business stu- dents' decision making, wherein students
dents I studied identified not with their cho- internalize familial interpretations of their
sen occupations, but with the broad profes- objective chances of success.2 Hence, social
sional-managerial occupational grouping that actors' aspirations are socially derived.
connotes a specific social-class position.1 Students' subsequent choices of elite profes-
Students' perceptions are also fueled by sional schooling and occupations reinforce
broad trends in education. Steady increases in the social order while appearing to be both
undergraduate and postgraduate enrollment natural and chosen.
in recent decades, coupled with increases in The 79 students in the study, many children
the academic credentials needed to obtain of professionals, were subtly encouraged in a
upper-level white-collar employment (Collins number of ways to value professional education
1979; Hout 1988; Hurn 1992; Walters and and believed it was understood that they would
Rubinson 1 983), mean the stakes are ratch- obtain professional degrees. Like the students
eted up for the middle class. When more than who chose colleges in McDonough's (1997)
60 percent of high school graduates enroll in study, these students' choice of professional
postsecondary programs (Snyder and Wirt schools was a seamless one, going with the
1 998), even elite students are caught in the grain of others' expectations. The students'
upward spiral. The elite law and business stu- desire to attend was fueled not so much by an
dents in this study thought that to stay ahead ardent interest or perceived aptitude in these
of the game, they needed postgraduate fields, but by the need for credentials to remain
degrees from the best schools. in and to have the salary, prestige, and lifestyle
Although the students stated a variety of of the upper middle class. For the handful of
reasons for deciding to attend professional students with working-class parents, profes-
schools, the majority of their motivations sional education may have been a class-mobili-
reflected class-related issues and socialization. ty project. For most, however, professional edu-
Remarkable similarities between the law and cation was really about maintaining a possibly
business students transcended individual dis- precarious class status (Ehrenreich 1 989).

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 157

and business schools in the nation.3 A sub-


stantial number of Graham University's grad-
I used semistructured interviews to under- uates go to large, corporate law firms; invest-
stand the nuanced detail of students' motiva- ment banks; and consulting firms in Chicago,
tions. Using enrollment lists, I randomly sam- New York, and Los Angeles.
pled in 1992 the first-year law and business
students at Graham University [a fictitious
name], a prestigious private Midwestern uni-
MOTIVATIONS OF THE LAW
versity. Over the course of their first year, I
interviewed 37 law students and 42 business
STUDENTS
students, yielding a response rate of 75 per-
cent of those who were contacted. (I inter- Altruism, Success, or Default?
viewed 86 percent of the students again at
the end of the second year.) Most of the inter- The commonly professed motivation for

views, which averaged an hour in length, attending law school is hardly rational in the
were conducted in my academic office. The classical sense. If there is a Holy Grail among
semistructured interview schedule allowed for legal education researchers, it has been to dis-
a flexible yet guided conversation and the cover why law students, especially elites,
raising of unanticipated topics. I asked an enter with altruistic aspirations geared toward
open-ended question ("How did it happen public service but take jobs in corporate prac-
that you came to law [or business] school?") tice upon graduation.4 The trend away from
and strove for a stream-of-consciousness dis- a social justice orientation while in law school
cussion, without prompting students to has been widely documented (Foster 1981,
address preconceived ideas about motiva- 1985; Shaffer and Redmount 1977; Stover
tions. A few of the law students commented 1989). Indeed, the experiences of law stu-
that they were more candid with me about dents who abandon their initial goals of pub-
their motivations than they had been in law lic service have long been used to explain the
school surveys. socialization experiences of all law students.
I also conducted observations for three Substantial minorities of young people do
years at the law school and one at the busi- decide to enter law school for reasons that
ness school, attending lectures, school-spon- can be described as altruistic, although the
sored presentations, informal gatherings in totals vary from year to year and from school
student lounges, and parties. Although I do to school. Conventional wisdom suggests
not draw directly on the field notes here, they that law students are less altruistic than they
formed a context for establishing rapport and used to be. Yet Kahlenberg (1992) recounted
understanding the class-based nature of stu- the finding of a poll of students at Harvard
dents' socialization. There was a constant law school that 70 percent of his class had
emphasis on elite careers and lifestyles (mail- expressed a desire to practice in the public
boxes stuffed with advertisements for execu- interest at entry.
tive clothing and vacations), as well as the Granfield's (1992:38) survey of Harvard law
noblesse oblige aspects of corporate life (con- school in 1 986-87 indicated that a quarter
stant school-sponsored fund-raisers and vol- gave altruistic reasons ("to restructure society,
unteer efforts) (Granfield 1 992; Schleef help people, or seek social justice") as their
1 997b). primary motive for entering law school, and
Graham University is a typical setting for 1 7 and 1 9 percent, respectively, added this
the education of the country's elite. Its law category as secondary and tertiary motiva-
and business schools rate among the top 15 tions. Although career reasons-social status,
programs in annual rankings, such as the one monetary rewards, and career advance-
by U.S. News and World Report. Its class size, ment-ranked first for over 40 percent of the
tuition, undergraduate grade point average, students, Granfield focused on students'
starting salaries, and enrollments of women socialization away from altruistic pursuits.
and minorities are comparable to the best law Documenting the presence of and change in

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
158 Schleef

altruism is not only problematic, but irrelevant When I asked how they made the decision,
for many first-year law students, whose moti- these students began with, "That's a good
vations I found to be similar to those of busi- question," paused for a moment, and then
ness students. Furthermore, Granfield's elaborated with comments on law school as a
emphasis on the loss of idealism precludes a default choice (the best of all other alterna-
full understanding of the class-based nature of tives) and on the versatility of law (the ability
elite students' accounts of their motivations. to "leave one's options open"). The language
The students I interviewed seldom made they used to describe their motivations was
clear statements about their reasons for hesitant and uncertain. Some students even
attending law school. Realizing what the admitted that they chose law school to learn
acceptable categories are supposed to be, they if law is a career they want to pursue.
sometimes struggled to find an answer that Researchers' distinctions among career,
sounded appropriate. A third of the students intellectual, and social justice rationales (Gee
expressed great ambivalence and uncertainty and Jackson 1 977; Granfield 1 992; Stevens
about why they had chosen law school. Like 1973) were not clear to the students. The stu-
this student, they stressed the importance of dents often described their decision to attend
graduate education, not legal education: as being motivated equally by several factors
that they did not think were contradictory.
There are lots of different reasons, I guess. One student, who "limited" himself to three
I'm not sure I'm satisfied with any of them motivations, managed to cover all the bases
or really think that one is a particular rea- without seeing one as primary: "If I had to
son. I wanted graduate school after I got limit it . . . to three things, [I'd choose] an
out of the navy; I had always planned to, interesting career, . . . one where I am able to
but I didn't really want to stay in engineer- support myself, and one where I can hopeful-
ing. Engineering as a career or occupation ly effect some good in society."
is maybe too narrow. I wanted to do some- Furthermore, the categories overlapped.
thing to do with the navy experience, so I Career reasons could also be intellectual rea-
was thinking graduate school, maybe busi- sons. One student related his career interests
ness, but it didn't really interest me that to his curiosity about finance. Social justice
much. I guess through a process of elimi- reasons were also career reasons. A female stu-
nation, I came to law school. Law school dent said, "The reason I'm going to law school
had seemed like a good idea because it's is to be a child advocate," which she saw as a
supposed to give you this broad educa- specific career goal and interpreted as altruis-
tion, these analytical skills that you could tic. Social justice and intellectual reasons coin-
use throughout life. It's supposed to give cided. For example, a male who was interest-
you the opportunity to work in a whole ed in public policy and government said:
bunch of different fields.5
I'm very into the issues. A lot of it has to do
Others were even more vague, remarking "I with putting moral philosophy into practice,
don't really know why I'm here," as if they which I find really interesting. How do you
had not made a conscious decision. Such stu- structure society's institutions, and what
dents expressed great confusion about how kinds of norms do we create to drive peo-
to answer the question, as the following com- ple's behaviors and interactions in a pluralis-
ment illustrates: tic society with lots of conflicting interests?

That's the 20-dollar question. I don't know It was apparent that although these cate-
about law school per se; I wanted a good gories, which are highlighted in the literature,
education. So it was between a master's in are conceptually distinct to researchers, they
economics [or] law. This seemed pragmatic. often merge in students' minds. Nevertheless,
... I didn't really think about it. It just kind I attempted to compare the students' cate-
of happened. . . . I never thought about it gories with those in the literature. Table 1
seriously, but it was always an option. presents the number of students who men-

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 159

Table 1. Students' Motivations for Attending Law and Business School

Category Law Students Business Students

Percentage Who Mentioned Each Category


Career 69 93
Intellectual 75 51
Altruistic 43 12
Default 33 44

Percentage Who Stressed Each Category


Career 11 46
Intellectual 28 12
Altruistic 19 2
Default 14 12

Degree of Overlap of Categories (in raw numbers):


Career and intellectual 11 13
Career and altruism 4 5
Intellectual and altruism 3 0
Career, intellectual, and altruism 5 2

tioned each type of motivation, the number Although having a legal career was an impor-
who stressed each type, and the overlap of tant choice in the students' accounts, it was
the categories mentioned. rarely the sole motivation. Only four students
The motivations the students offered point- (11 percent) stressed career reasons. Each stu-
ed more to decision making related to social- dent was given a score of from 0 to 2 for each
class position than to law as a specific occupa- category: 0 if the motivation was not men-
tion. Although 69 percent mentioned that tioned, 1 if the motivation was mentioned but
career reasons contributed to their choice (see not stressed, and 2 if the motivation was overt-
Table 1), these motivations often had less to ly stressed or if the student talked about it more
do with practicing law than with envisioning than other motivations or returned to that moti-
what one could do with a law degree. Career vation after mentioning others (see Table 2).
motivations included wanting a career with Of the 37 law students, 27 (75 percent)
financial security; wanting the prestige, salary, mentioned motivations that I coded as intellec-
or types of work in law; gaining marketable tual, ranging from vague comments, such as "I
credentials and skills; wanting to be a law pro- thought law would be interesting," to wanting
fessor; acknowledging the importance of law more education to expressing knowledge of
to a career in business or politics; and taking specific law school skills (logical thinking, writ-
advantage of the unlimited opportunities of ing, and oral communication) they had or
law as a career. A student who had worked as wished to have, as in this comment:
a underwriter after college remarked:
I felt there was this large field which I just
The career itself is also appealing as didn't understand but found interesting, as
opposed to the job I was doing. Several though I needed to get my feet wet to get
factors went into it, from prestige to salary into it. It's interesting, the aspects of logic
to the types of work you're doing. . . . I and economics in it. It's much more like a
didn't find my job that stimulating; it was rhetorical science.
partly too mathematical for me, so that's
part of it, but . . . it was a career decision. Ten students underscored the importance of
I saw the law as something that I would the intellectual in their decision to attend law
like to do--being a lawyer. school.

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
160 Schleef

Table 2. Mean Motivations for Attending Law and Business School, on a 3-Point Scale,a
by Gender

Law Students Business Students

Female Male Total Female Male Total

Career .75 .83 .81 1.25 1.42 1.39


Intellectual .83 1.08 1.00 .63 .64 .63
Social justice 1 .00 .42b .62 .25 .1 2 .1 5d
Default .1 7 .63c .47 .38 .61 .56

a Each student was given a sc


= motivation mentioned but not stressed, and 2 = motivation stressed).
b Difference of means between men and women significant at .05.
c Difference of means between men and women significant at .10.
d Difference of means between law and business students significant at .05.

I coded as "social justice" the responses conjunction with other, more pragmatic or
that included wanting to make a difference to instrumental, goals. Discussions of social justice
society or public policy, to help others, to concerns sometimes came much later in the
reform laws or legal structures, and to do interviews, well after my initial questions about
public-interest work. Of the 37 students, 1 6 motivations. A number of students were wor-
(43 percent), including 70 percent of the ried that a claim of social justice would sound
female students, reported social justice "corny," a cliche that would not be taken seri-
motives in attending law school. That women ously by others. When I asked what was appeal-
were more likely than men to highlight social ing about law, one of these students said:
justice motivations (see Table 2) confirms the
findings of other studies (Granfield 1992; Sounds like an application to law school:
LaRussa 1977; Schleef 1997a; Stevens 1973; "Why [do] I want to go?" "Justice." I guess
Taber et al. 1 988) that women have different there are a couple of reasons, the most
motivations for attending law school than do salient is I think it's interesting; the reason-
men, often in a more socially oriented direc- ing process is interesting to me. It's kind of
tion. A woman who had left a lucrative career in an abstract way a reasoning through a
in advertising, which she saw as empty and puzzle.... Then there is the same element
"not benefiting society," remarked: that everyone has when they say, "I want
to do justice." That does play a part, too.
I just couldn't see being 50 years old and
looking back on my life and saying, "This is His altruistic motivations overlapped with intel-
what I did with myself," and I thought, lectual ones, and it was difficult to tell if one was
prominent. Nine students stressed altruism as
"Well, in law, if I can get into environmental
law and just do one little thing, prevent toxic their main reason for choosing law school and
dumping into the Gulf of Mexico, I'll feel like thought that the majority of other law students
my life is worth something." So that's more were interested solely in money and status and
what's making me go to law school. were not concerned about social justice.
In an open-ended format, without fixed-
Like this woman, many altruistic students indi-choice prompting, less than one-quarter of the
cated that their motivations satisfied an individ- law students stressed social justice concerns,
ual personal need, as opposed to stemming and almost half never declared altruistic or pub-
from an attachment to a social cause. lic-interest convictions, undermining accounts
Moreover, altruistic goals were sometimes of how law students are socialized in law school
sheepishly admitted and were mentioned in to lose interest in these concerns. Five students

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 161

mentioned all the traditional categories as rele- I can't actually remember thinking about
vant to their decision, and 18 mentioned two and making the conscious decision to go
of the three (together, the 23 students repre- to law school. But one of my dad's respon-
sented 62 percent of the sample). However, sibilities was as the dean of students at a
almost half the students did not emphasize any law school, so I grew up around law stu-
of the three traditional categories (see Table 1). dents. We always had them coming in and
out of the house, and I spent a lot of time
at the law school, and most of my friends
were the sons and daughters of law pro-
"LAW SCHOOL CHOSE ME"
fessors. It's just something that's always

Unlike the argument that students may been in my sphere of consciousness.

explicitly choose or identify with occupations


(see Grusky 2000), a number of students' Another woman, whose grandfather and

accounts called attention to the lack of uncle had been federal judges, remarked:

agency in students' decision making and indi-


cated an unclear yet complicated formation I come from a very legal family back-

of educational choice. Many students who ground. . . . I have various uncles and

had difficulty stating a specific motivation aunts who are lawyers, and so . . . [I knew
said that the decision to attend law school the] legal profession ever since I can
"just kind of happened" or seemed to be the remember. I don't know when I said, "Oh,

right choice for them after they weighed all I definitely want to go to law school." I'd

the options, unaware that they had already always planned on going to law school. So
narrowed their options to only professional it's kind of a gradual progression, which
careers. Moreover, the students appeared some people might think is sick.... I don't
guided by a desire to maintain a class posi- think it was one specific reason.
tion, rather than to achieve a specific occupa-
tional position. Their strategies corresponded Eighteen students reported that law school
to the dispositions of their habitus, leading was the strongest remaining option once
them to choices that appeared reasonable, or they had rejected other professional degrees.
even inevitable, for people of their social posi- These students had not chosen law as much
tion. What exactly were the influences that as a degree associated with an upper-middle
led the students to consider law school the class salary and lifestyle. They remarked that
inevitable choice? they knew their work had to be something
Fourteen students stated there was no other professional, and the process of choosing a
choice for them because they had always legal education involved ruling out degrees
wanted to go to law school. Although they they felt less suited for. For example, two stu-
considered and may have even pursued other dents considered master's degrees in engi-
careers, they kept coming back to law. This neering, and for five others, the choice was
statement did not necessarily mean that their between medicine and law, with reasons
decision was well planned and conscious. The related not only to the type of work but to
students who claimed they had wanted to be common professional characteristics, as in
lawyers since they were children still had diffi-this student's comment:
culty articulating exactly why they got the
idea. Instead, they described law school as I took my premed courses [in college], and
"something I always assumed I would do." I really struggled through them. I was also
Often when a parent or close relative was a volunteering at hospitals.... There's a lot
lawyer, law was such a large part of their lives of blood all around, and it was just very
that it almost seemed as if they were preor- nerve-wracking every time I had to go....
dained to enter it. Such an early crystallization Throughout my life, I was preparing [to be]
of a vocational choice was also related to social a doctor, and this was a big switch because
class and family habitus, as the following com- I don't think I do have the personality to
ment from a woman makes clear: become a lawyer really.... One of the rea-

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
162 Schleef

sons why I wanted to be a doctor was I want to just stay in business. I didn't want to
want to have an effect on society . . . so I be a number cruncher or anything like that.
figure that's a good way of earning good [A law degree] gives me more options
money and helping people at the same because I don't necessarily have to . . . be a
time. So when that option was out, I lawyer. I worked this summer and other
thought what else is there, maybe law.... summers for a money-management compa-
I had thought but not seriously about ny, mutual funds, and it seemed like every-
going into nursing, but then I thought thing they did involved a lawyer.
that's a big step down from becoming a
doctor.... I guess I'm ambitious and I want Some students believed that their possibilities
my family to be proud of me.... A law pro- would be limited if they did not obtain legal
fession or doctor is very prestigious, and training, as this student stated:
parents like to tell their friends, "My daugh-
ter's in law school," so that pushes me, too. Everything is intertwined with law, from
negotiating a contract to figuring out what
Although this woman was not interested in the best way is to protect yourself against
law (she repeatedly mentioned that she did liability or negligence. . . . It limits you if
not think that her personality really suited the you don't know what the law is about ...
law), this feeling was overridden by her desire and you have to always go to a lawyer...
for a professional degree. When she ruled out I think [the degree] opens up a lot more
medicine, law appeared to be a reasonable possibilities in how you do things.
option. Other students who ruled out medi-
cine decided they had little aptitude for sci- Five students had thought briefly about get-
ence. ting an MBA instead of a law degree, and five
Some students thought that their liberal were seriously considering getting an MBA in
arts degrees afforded them only one profes- addition to a law degree.
sional choice: law. Perceiving that they had Many stumbled on law school by ruling
few marketable skills, they thought that law out other options and were not even sure
school seemed like "the thing to do," as the they wanted to practice law. Law school as
following comment indicates: something that students just "fell into" has
long been documented for the graduates of
As a philosophy and English major under- nonelite law schools (see Carlin 1962; Van
grad, you have to do a lot of writing and a Hoy 1997). Clearly well-to-do students also
lot of analysis of ideas, and law seemed like choose by default, although few researchers
kind of a logical step, especially for some- have chronicled the extent of such ambiva-
body who had a lot of verbal training and lence. Even Little (1 968), who reported that
ability but was a failing artist and didn't 1 5 percent of students "drifted" into law
know what to do. school, viewed the choices made by students
as primarily rational and pragmatic. Students
who have been "lawyers from the cradle" do
Still others viewed their law training as prelimi-
nary to a business career. They highlighted the not make conscious, rational decisions either.
importance of legal training in running a busi- Family influence and a habitus in which law
ness or understanding a contract. Most had no and lawyers were always present make the
intention of practicing law, thinking that their decision seem inevitable.
law degrees would give them more options in These accounts not only indicate that the
the business world, as this student noted: choice of law school was often inchoate and
complex; they reveal the students' class-related
I had always thought that I would continue perceptions that a law degree provides profes-
after undergraduate, either business or law. . sional prestige and a comfortable lifestyle.
. . I thought law would be more useful, more Many students could have chosen among sev-
intellectual, analytical, and very logical. I eral professional degrees that would allow
wanted to broaden my horizons, I didn't them to replicate their parents' social class. But

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 163

there were constraints as well: The majority of at least according to Cohen (1 974). Henry
the students had never envisioned their lives (1 983) stressed the practicality of an MBA from
without an advanced degree. Over half the stu- Harvard, especially for a woman who was run-
dents had considered only professional schools ning her own business. However, Reid (1994)
(law, business, medicine, or engineering) as chronicled the uncertainty and ambiguity of
viable postcollege options, and 25 percent stat- his and fellow Harvard students' choice of the
ed that they had never considered not getting MBA. At Stanford, Robinson (1994:1 3-14)
some postcollege education. Being a lawyer per emphasized the "make more money" angle,
se was not a primary factor that compelled the although he stated that the "lack of anything
students to enroll in law school, in contrast to better to do" also played a role.
earlier decades, when college graduates made I found evidence of all these motivations
more conscious decisions to practice law or among my respondents, although not quite
medicine (Becker, Geer, Hughes, and Strauss the extremes of materialism or social respon-
1 961; Warkov and Zelan 1965). It is suggestive sibility described in the written accounts. The
that over half the students believed that by euphemistic language of managers described
choosing law school, they were "keeping their by Jackall (1 988) was apparent in the stu-
options open." They thought that a law degree dents' discussions of their goals. For example,
opens many doors but does not limit one to "getting rich" was rarely mentioned, but
working as a lawyer. In this respect, their moti- "making a nice living" and "sending my chil-
vations were not that divergent from those of dren to private schools" were. The students
the business students. underscored the importance of intellectual
challenge and creativity and de-emphasized
their future astronomical salaries.

MOTIVATIONS OF BUSINESS The most common reason for attending


business school was career related (see Table
STUDENTS
1). Of the 42 business students I interviewed,
93 percent explicitly called themselves career
Acceleration or Ambivalence?
changers or indicated that career change was
There is little research on the reasons why stu- a major factor in their decisions. Of course,
dents choose to obtain MBAs. Since business one can change careers without getting an
students are not known for their interest in MBA, so most of the students further qualified
public service, their motivations are unlikely their decisions. Some wanted to a change
to revolve around altruistic preferences and from their previous fields and thought that
may more closely approximate rational, prof- the easiest way to do so was to obtain an
it-maximization models. Indeed, one wide- MBA, which offered them a legitimate excuse
spread assumption is that people who get for leaving their current positions. A male stu-
MBAs simply want more money ("MBA Cost- dent who had worked for a prominent con-
Benefit Analysis" 1 994). Baida (1 984-85:24), sumer-products corporation explained:
a graduate of the Wharton business school,
wrote, perhaps only partially tongue in cheek, I wasn't happy as far as my career progres-
"Greed is the only socially acceptable motive sion and what I could see in the consumer
for going to business school. Wealth and products business, one, and with that com-
power are the only acceptable goals." In pany, two, 10 years from now. Would I be to
recent years, however, the popular business the level where I would really be happy at,
press has noted the importance that business income, responsibility, etc.? The answer
students place on social responsibility and invariably was no, every time I thought
"making an impact" (Deutsch 1 993). about the question, so I was thinking what
Autobiographical accounts of experiences ideally is my dream job, what do I want to
at elite schools provide a few clues to business do? I had always wanted to be on Wall
students' motivations. In the 1 970s, "improv- Street in an atmosphere where people are
ing the world" with better products motivated crazy, ripping each other's heads off, deal
Harvard MBAs, while money was a dirty word, making, dealing with clients, but very much

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
164 Schleef

on the cutting edge.... The answer came Many of the business students already inhab-
back to me that I'm going to need an MBA ited a world that included expectations of
to really open a lot of doors to these firms. acquiring an MBA from a top program and
advancing rapidly up a career ladder to the
The students wanted a greater variety of upper echelons of a corporation, as this com-
options and thought that having an MBA ment makes clear:
would give them more flexibility. In addition,
they often evoked the accelerative nature of Looking around me at [the company
the degree, stating that they could eventual- where I was working], all the people in my
ly advance in any position but that an MBA department had MBAs. All the people in
would given them the ability to advance senior management, which is where I envi-
much more rapidly. As one student put it: sioned myself being some day, all had
MBAs. I sort of looked on it as a minimum
I think I was doing well where I was, but requirement more than anything to get
looking ahead, it was a much longer career into upper-level management.
path to get to manage the business. I
could be a decent engineer or a good The students had often found that attending
product manager, but without the specific a business school was built into their previous
analytical skills from business school and employers' formal training programs.
the jump to get the opportunity coming According to nine students, who were hired
out of business school. . . [he trails off]. As as college graduates into training programs in
an MBA, you're typically in a level of much large corporations, consulting firms, or
higher responsibility, and your salary is investment firms, these organizations had lit-
double. It's a significant jump; you get very tle intention of moving them to other posi-
quick payback from that. tions once the training programs were over.
They felt they had no alternative but to
This student typified the perception that with attend business school after two or three
an MBA, a graduate can enter a career track years. As one student stated:
that is exponential, rather than incremental,
allowing him or her to leap over job seekers Most of the people there go get an MBA
without MBAs. It is no coincidence, then, that for advancing in the firm, and so it was
an MBA from a top business school is called almost expected if I were to stay in that
"the golden passport" (Van Maanen 1983). field, that I'd have to leave after a couple
"The MBA as a credential" was another years. The traditional career track in invest-
important theme; 40 percent of the students ment banking is you come in as a analyst,
thought that the MBA was essential for the work for two years, go to business school,
positions they were seeking. Seldom had an then go back as an associate, and then
employer explicitly demanded the degree; it climb the ranks.
was simply made clear that they would not be
able to go much further without it, as this stu- Although the need for an MBA was usually
dent indicated: implied, employers occasionally stated out-
right that the MBA was required for promo-
The major driving force [for business tion and even offered to reimburse employ-
school]? At some point I knew that I would ees for the tuition in the hopes of getting
need to get an advanced degree just due them to return to the firms.
to the increasing competition . . . in the Other career reasons for attending business
area of business.... Ten years from now if school included obtaining a higher salary
I don't have it, I won't be as competitive (which was often implicit in the desire for a
with other people within the company or career change), networking, covering a lack of
other companies. So I really thought that practical experience, and gaining a built-in
it's becoming more of a standard for most respectability to raise venture capital. Eight stu-
upper-level executives to have MBAs. dents did not plan to change careers, but to

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 165

advance with their current employers (most of student's desire for a sense of purpose. A stu-
the international students fell into this group). dent who was switching from sales to finan-
Over half the students offered intellectual cial planning said:
reasons for attending business school, mainly in
addition to career reasons. For example, they What I would consider satisfying is seeing
mentioned the importance of acquiring specif- companies that are in distress for one rea-
ic business skills beyond those necessary for son or another and a need for manage-
advancing in their careers, for personal or self- ment and capital and then making it bet-
esteem reasons. Eight students wanted "to ter. There's a real side of me that has a real
grow" in business school-experience more desire to have whatever I do be meaning-
challenges or stimulation than in previous jobs. ful. That's why in a lot of ways I got out of
One young manager, who had already risen to the food business; I just didn't think I was
a top position in his company, said: changing anyone's life. Whereas with
financial planning, there's clients of mine
My time was largely spent with people that that still call me here and ask me questions
I had hired who were not the kind of people 'cause I feel like I was really affecting their
that just challenged the daylights out of me lives. So whatever I do, that's going to be
in terms of my thinking and being creative. something that's important to me-that I
What I was looking for was kind of a quality- can feel it has sort of a social significance.
of-life issue.... [Attending business school]
was really to raise my level of thinking, to A few students wanted to work in the public
just expand my world. sector. But only one student, who said she
was "turned on" by nonprofit management,
Other intellectual reasons included the gener- indicated that her choice of business school
al desire to gain more education or to experi- was motivated primarily by altruism and pub-
ence another country. Only 1 2 percent of the lic service: "When I think back on my applica-
students stressed the intellectual component. tion, embodied in what I was talking about
As might be expected, few students doing as my main objective in life [and] my
expressed socially oriented reasons for attend- career was related to providing something for
ing business school. Unlike the law students, the other people and that kind of thing."
business students were not hampered by cultur- Almost 45 percent of the business students
al expectations of social justice in their choice of noted the role of default in their decision
careers. However, a few indicated altruistic moti- making. And 1 3 students (30 percent) had
vations, usually secondary to career and intel- never seriously considered alternatives to get-
lectual motivations. Such students defined their ting an MBA; they had always known that
role in business as one of "helping others." Late they wanted to pursue a career in business, as
in his interview, a student who had worked as a this student noted:
manager in Eastern Europe said:
A business degree is what I wanted to get.
For me in business, I want to know that I'm I've known since I was 16 that I was going
helping people, doing some good. ... to get one. I've always been interested in
employing people, making sure they have business. . . . I've always wanted to run a
job security, that they can support a family. company to some extent, [to] be a corpo-
That's on the top level. Beneath that, I'll be rate officer; that's my goal.
in a position where I'll be having a lot of peo-
ple reporting to me or supervising a lot of However, for many students, the decision to
people. And I think in that role you can also attend business school was tinged with
change their way of looking at life, their ambivalence. These were students who chose
approach to life.... [I want to] take some of the degree because they did not really know
my attitude and distill it in other people. what they wanted to do or viewed the expe-
rience as an opportunity for career counsel-
In some cases, altruistic motives reflected a ing, as in this comment:

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
166 Schleef

I want to be in business, I want to be self- If you looked at my training class, it's


employed, but I don't know what I want to almost like growing up in a way, where if
do. . . . So I figured [I'd] go to business you come from certain backgrounds, be it
school, meet people, learn different upper class, certain things are expected of
aspects of business, and I might get a you. You're going to get a decent high
lightbulb on top of my head [pantomimed school education, you're going to go to a
getting an inspiration]. very good college, and then maybe you'll
go on to get a very good job, maybe you'll
Another student reported that part of his deci- pursue graduate [studies]. I felt [that] in my
sion to attend business school involved "not training class, . . . every single one of us has
wanting to look back and wondering 'what if?"' gone to business school, pretty much....
Such students found an MBA to be the Everybody else was doing it, and I felt at
best option available, even inevitable, given the same time I was in line with everybody
their education and class backgrounds. else with my abilities, so that's something
Echoing the rationale that the law students that I should look at doing. So it's kind of
had offered, they said that getting an MBA interesting that it was ingrained in us that
was "just what one does" with a liberal arts we were going to go on and pursue it.
education and the skills they had acquired as
undergraduates. One student put it this way: In his account of the first year at Harvard
Business School, Reid (1 994) labeled the arbi-
It just seemed that for someone who was- trariness of students' decision making the
n't sure what they wanted to do, who has "Great Lemming March." He proposed that
certain quantitative abilities, [who] was few MBA students made conscious career
also interested in productive activities, like decisions. First, there was the siren song of
making things happen . . . [and] politics to consulting or investment banking, then train-
an extent-all these things, plus certain ing programs that funneled students to the
skills, it seemed like the best choice. top business schools. Students applied with-
out any detailed examination of their long-
When I asked an economics major who had term professional goals. Reid thought that he
been living in Japan and was unsure of what and his fellow business students could not
to do with his life why he was in business attribute their choices to "the logical culmi-
school, he commented: nation of years of academic and personal
preparation. Indeed, [they] couldn't really
That's a very good question. Seriously. I was attribute them to interests that were more
afraid of coming back to America with noth- than just a few months old" (p. 24).
ing set up.... Also I felt that I had hit kind
of a ceiling where I was going and I had to Law as an Alternative
get my ticket punched; I had to get an MBA
to go out and get a decent job.... The kind Like the law students, those who chose busi-
of background that I had looked like the ness school often ruled out other professional
kind of thing that business schools were options, as this student indicated:
looking for. It was real easy to write those
[application] essays. I knew coming out of [college] that I'd be
going back to graduate school at some
Furthermore, corporate experience persuaded level . . . whether it was law school or busi-
many students that "everyone was doing it." ness school I wasn't sure. I ruled out med
The students had often encountered an atmos- school early on. Tenth-grade biology did
phere in which literally everyone in their training that for me.... I felt that I kind of needed
programs was going to business school. One [graduate school] to get ahead and be
student attributed his choice of business school what I wanted to be.
to the influence of his former employer, a large
commercial bank, as well as to class status: Law school was an attractive, reassuring alter-

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 167

native for those who did not know what they school, you're going to be a lawyer. . . .I
wanted to do, especially when they lacked think that maybe going to law school . . .
technical degrees. Forty percent of the business might be a little bit more rigorous acade-
students also considered law school, some mically, and I don't know that I have the
briefly, others long enough to take the law drive to really excel because there's a lot of
school admissions test. Their reasons for even- lawyers out there now! An MBA is a little
tually choosing business school over law might more flexible in what you could do.
seem trivial, as in the following comment:
At least one student was still considering a
I actually did take the law school admis- joint law-business degree. He thought that
sions test. I didn't know if I wanted to be in the law degree, unlike an MBA, was "some-
school for three whole years, so I didn't thing nobody can take away from you," a
[accept]. I got the impression that it was license with real meaning in the market.
just basically boring.... It's just too much There were several similarities, then, in the
individual work, too much grunt work. decisions that the law and business students
made (see Table 2). The respondents related
Others thought seriously about law but then lengthy stories about their choices that did
decided that law was perhaps not what they not fit into clearly defined categories. For
thought it was and that their skills and per- some elite students, the level of commitment
sonality were more in line with a business to either field was vague, and they continued
degree, as this student said: to consider careers in both law and business.
Both the law and business students chose
I always thought I wanted to be a lawyer their degrees to gain general analytic abilities
mainly because I just feel that I have good (such as learning to "think like a lawyer") that
communication skills and I am persuasive would allow them to choose from a number
and I felt I could be a good courtroom- of careers. In this respect, law and business
type lawyer. Then as I grew older, I realized degrees appear to provide the same high-
that all courtroom stuff wasn't Perry Mason level, all-purpose credentials that the liberal
stuff, and my dad's a litigator; then, my sis- arts bachelor's degree provided a generation
ter went to law school. I realized so much or two ago. The class-based nature of stu-
of it is written communication, and if dents' decision making can be better under-
there's one thing in the world I hate doing, stood by considering parental influence.
it's writing papers.... And I just looked at
it as kind of monotonous, and I didn't
think it would stimulate me in the way a
business setting would. THE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL
BACKGROUND
Some students ruled out law because they had
worked with lawyers, realized that they did not Educational decisions are highly contextual
really want to practice law, and therefore and cannot be separated from social class and
deemed a law degree unnecessary. Although family background. Although the effects of
legal training might be useful in business, as parental education and occupation have
one student remarked, "there will be plenty of been considered in students' choice of
lawyers to go to." Many students thought that attending law school,6 they have not been
the MBA provided more occupational flexibility examined in conjunction with students' self-
than law, as in this comment: described motives. One of the strongest
parental influences was the emphasis placed
[It] seems like a lot of people who go to on graduate school; it was stronger than any
business school at one point in passing push to a specific discipline.
had law school flash by. . . . I felt like in First, the parents of the respondents directly
business school you maybe have a broader modeled graduate education. The majority of
range of opportunity. If you're in law the fathers of the students in both samples had

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
168 Schleef

Table 3: Education of the Students' Parents (percentages; raw counts in parentheses)

Parents' Education Law Students Business Students

Mother's Education
Some high school 0 (0) 0 (0)
High school graduate 20 (7) 1 7 (6)
Some college 23 (8) 1 7 (6)
College graduate 43 (15) 31 (11)
Graduate-professional
subtotal 14 (5) 35 (12)
MA 8 (3) 20 (7)
MBA 0 (0) 3 (1)
MD 3 (1) 3 (1)
Ph.D. 3 (1) 3 (1)
jD 0 (0) 6 (2)

Total 100 (35) 100 (5)


Missing N 2 7

Fathers' Education
Some high school 3 (1) 3 (1)
High school graduate 14 (5) 6 (2)
Some college 9 (3) 9 (3)
College graduate 26 (9) 34 (12)
Graduate-professional
subtotal 49 (1 7) 49 (1 7)
MA 9 (3) 3 (1 )
MBA 9 (3) 23 (8)
MD 14 (5) 6 (2)
Ph.D. 3 (1) 6 (2)
jD 14 (5) 11 (4)

Total 100 (35) 100 (35)


Missing N 2 7

Note: Numbers may

college degrees, and half the fathers in each parents; only three of the law students had a
group had graduate or professional degrees parent who actually practiced law. In fact, the
(see Table 3). The mothers were almost as well law students were more likely to have parents
educated; 57 percent of the business students' who were physicians than parents who were
mothers and 64 percent of the law students' lawyers (see Table 4). There was more inter-
mothers had at least a college degree, and 34 generational continuity for the business stu-
percent and 14 percent, respectively, had grad- dents; 22 had at least one parent who was in
uate or professional degrees. Moreover, 12 of business (including parents who owned small
the 37 law students and 15 of the 42 business businesses).7 In the main, however, occupa-
students had at least one parent with a profes- tional inheritance was a matter of a general
sional degree specifically in law, medicine, or socialization toward professional-managerial
business (not including the 7 students whose careers. Over half the law students and
mothers were nurses). almost three-quarters of the business students
Class continuity depends less on students had at least one parent who was a profes-
following directly in the occupations of their sional or manager.

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 169

Table 4: Occupations of Students' Parents (percentages; raw counts in parentheses)

Parents' Occupation Law Students Business Students

Mothers' Occupation
Professional 21 (7) 23 (8)
Business 9 (3) 23 (8)
Other white-collar jobs 26 (9) 34 (12)
Pink-collar/service jobs 1 5 (5) 0 (0)
Homemaker 29 (10) 20 (7)

Total 100 (34) 100 (35)


Missing N 3 7

Fathers' Occupation
Professional 25 (7) 16 (6)
Business 25 (3) 54 (20)
Other white-collar jobs 33 (9) 27 (10)
Blue-collar/service jobs 1 7 (5) 2 (2)

Total 100 (36) 100 (37)


Missing N
(including raised solely by mother) 1 5

Note: Numbers may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

Parents, either by unconscious occupation- parental encouragement to do something


al example or through conscious statement, else. According to one business student, "My
communicated the importance of having a dad, when I first said I wanted to get an MBA
professional career. As one law student [said], 'You don't want to get an MBA; that's
remarked: so stupid. Two years to waste, you don't learn
anything real,' and he has one." Typically, the
I wouldn't call this family pressures, but parents had encouraged their children to
everyone in my extended family are all pro- acquire graduate degrees of equal status but
fessionals, not businessmen, but mainly unlike their own. For example, a business stu-
doctors, professors, so it's always been kind dent whose father was a corporate lawyer
of directing me to be a professional. ... strongly suggested that his son get an MBA,
[It's] a more noble-type thing, hence med- rather than a law degree.
icine and law, professors. Given the small number of parents in blue-
collar occupations, the degree was a form of
Many students, however, did not recog- intergenerational upward mobility for less than
nize that parental education and occupation a third of the students. Instead, professional-
played a role in their decisions. Although managerial education was the best insurance
some students drew attention to the insignif- that they would do as well as their parents or
icance of parental influence, they focused on replicate what they had experienced growing
not following directly in their parents' foot- up. Comments about family and income made
steps. One business student said, "I knew it clear the connection between the students' rea-
wasn't going to be med school or law school. sons for choosing the degree and social-class
My dad is a doctor-not that that would hav- maintenance, as did those by a law student and
ing any bearing on whether I would or a business student, respectively:
wouldn't be interested in medicine." In fact, a
number of students argued that they attend- I want my kids to be able to pursue what-
ed law or business school in spite of outright ever educational things that they want

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
170 Schleef

without worrying about that type of thing. positions. Thus, they sought professional
I don't have loans with law school, which is, degrees that would provide intellectual inter-
I think, in large part why I can pursue this est, flexibility, professional or semiprofession-
type of career. I think it would be a lot hard- al status, and an upper-middle-class lifestyle.
er if I was looking at $100,000 in loans by Although the literature emphasizes the
the time I finish law school ... and so I want social justice motivations of law students,
to give my kids that same opportunity. only a small subset of the law students
strongly expressed altruistic motives. Except
I keep making reference to my parents.... for this significant difference in altruism,
My parents had four kids, and we all went to Graham University's law and business stu-
private universities and my parents paid for dents had similar motivations at entry. For
it; we all went to summer camps [and] had many students, the two degrees could have
horseback riding and piano lessons. I want substituted for one another.
to be able to have those things for my kids. The findings suggest that the students'
choices cannot be perceived as fully rational
A substantial number of parents had paid for preferences. The students' accounts upset the
their children's college education, and one- assumption that students carefully, or even con-
fifth were also paying for their children's sciously, chose their careers. Instead, the stu-
graduate school education.8 The students felt dents' decision-making patterns were full of
obligated to provide the same possibilities to uncertainty and a large dash of default.9 This
their own children. appears to be a lot of expensive investing in
These students exhibited the anxiety over education (up to $30,000 a year) toward an
the loss of status examined in accounts of the ambiguous future ("keeping my options
American middle class (Ehrenreich 1 989; open").
Newman 1 988). Their fear of "falling" But the students were making investments
involved a perception of the declining value of in human capital, not long-term occupational
middle-class income, sometimes fueled by real decisions. Through both overt statements and
economic trends, such as the downsizing of veiled references, they showed that maintain-
middle managers or the firing of law partners. ing the professional-class status of their parents
These students were concerned that a college was a priority and that their commitment to
degree would not provide them with enough enter careers in law or business per se was low.
to keep up, and this feeling, more than any- For many, the two degrees could have substi-
thing else, formed their need to acquire pro- tuted for one another.
fessional degrees that would provide a mea- Although occupational concerns were not
sure of comfort and safety. Although income absent from the students' decisions, the
played a significant role in their decisions, choices did not revolve around specific occu-
their choices of law or business were clearly pational identities, such as Grusky (2000)
not only about money, but about the prestige suggested. However, the students' decision
and standard of living that could be found in making did not operate at the level of aggre-
professional or managerial occupations. gate class status either. Rather, the students'
choices were "occupation cum class"; that is,
the students did not distinguish between
CONCLUSION choosing professional-managerial degrees
and maintaining a professional-managerial
For elites, a professional degree now appears class status. If students are understood to be
to fill the place of the liberal arts bachelor's maximizing their utility toward maintaining
degree a generation or two ago-an all-pur- class status, not toward a particular field, their
pose degree that provides high-level creden- motivations made a great deal of sense.
tials and the opportunity (in theory) to pursue Coming from upper-middle class families,
a variety of different careers. For the students their defaulted decisions translated into
in this study, a bachelor's degree was no remarkable class continuity.10
longer enough to sustain their social-class Although the students certainly viewed

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Low and Business School Choice 171

their choices as individual preferences, the ter what they did, so the students felt entitled
language they used ("I knew it had to be to a certain level of education, status, and salary
something professional,' 'That's more what's (see McDonough 1997). This sense of entitle-
making me go," "It just kind of happened") ment, however, was a double-edged sword.
pointed to a lack of agency. Habitus is a use- Coupled with the students' perceptions of
ful concept for understanding how such available opportunities in the marketplace, con-
choices were shaped and constrained. The sciousness about advantage also meant appre-
context of students' family lives, college, andhension about not doing as well as their par-
even work histories created preferences for ents--worries that disposed the students to
professional schooling. The students' habitus aspirations and that ultimately reproduced class
included the often-unspoken expectations status.
that they would attain professional degrees,
frequently manifested as a feeling of
inevitability. Parental influence was strongly
NOTES
felt through the importance placed on pro-
fessional degrees and status. Many parents
1. Of course, it is possible that identifica-
also directly modeled professional degrees. tion with a specific occupation can emerge
Occupational inheritance did not happen during the socialization process in school
directly, however; the students seldom (Schleef 1 997a).
aspired to the exact occupations as their par- 2. According to Bourdieu (1977; see also
ents and rarely did so at the urging of their Swartz 1997), habitus is a set of deeply inter-
parents, who suggested other, albeit still pro-nalized dispositions and principles, resulting
fessional, degrees. from early socialization, that organize social
Moreover, the students were often located action. Although MacLeod's (1995) explana-
in organizations, both colleges and post-col- tion of the role of family habitus in leveling
lege training programs, in which many peers working-class students' aspirations is conso-
were also applying to professional schools. The nant with both Bourdieu's and Swartz's inter-
elite undergraduate schools and work organiza- pretations, MacLeod also extended the con-
tions were structured to emphasize attendance cept of habitus to the greater surroundings of
at graduate school, by providing expectations peer groups and public housing, arguing that
and resources to guide the students in their students' motivations are influenced by later
decisions and by limiting other options. The socialization experiences as well. Because I
students thought that liberal arts training in discuss the educational decisions of adults, I
elite universities dictated certain occupational also mention college peer influences and the
paths by teaching few marketable skills. For theculture and dispositions of undergraduate
business students, work settings stressed the schools and corporate training programs.
importance of the MBA to career advancement. These are important aspects of students' deci-
They conveyed that the training programs in sion making, although they usually work to
corporate America did not train them for any- reinforce parental habitus.
thing but additional education. 3. The respondents were representative of
Habitus connected the students to wider the populations in many respects. The distri-
cultural understandings specific to their time bution of the jobs in my samples matched the
and economic context, which may explain why overall distribution for the schools. The law
the students had fewer of the motivations school sample was 35 percent women (com-
found in earlier studies. Thus, their decisions pared to 42 percent nationwide), as was the
were related to the times- the early 1 990s- class of 1995 at the university. About 30 per-
when there was degree inflation, highly com- cent of the class of 1995 were minority stu-
petitive law and business school admissions, dents, compared to 38 percent in my sample.
shrinking opportunities in the labor market, Elite schools report far larger percentages of
and media accounts of falling middle-class for- minority students than do law schools nation-
tunes. Parental socialization had reinforced the ally; according to 1991-92 enrollments,
idea that they would be able to achieve no mat- about 25 percent of the students in the top

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
172 Schleef

25 law schools versus 15 percent nationwide, percent of the students chose "desire to be of
were minority students (American Bar service to the underprivileged." Finally, in
Association 1 992). Breakdowns by racial cate- their survey of lawyers, Zemans and
gory were as follows: African Americans-6 Rosenblum (1981) noted the predominance
percent nationally in 1 991 and 11 percent in of pragmatic reasons, rather than the desire
my sample, Hispanic Americans-4 percent to have an impact on society.
nationally and 8 percent in my sample, and 5. 1 edited the quotations from the inter-
Asian Americans-4 percent nationally and views for readability (pauses and false starts
19 percent in my sample. removed), but left the substance intact. Four
Twenty-six percent of my business school ellipses indicate the omission of two or more
sample were international students, which sentences; three ellipses indicate the omission
roughly matched the 22 percent for the class. of one or several words.
The percentage of minorities was the same 6. Law students from higher socioeconomic
for the class overall-about 10 percent, backgrounds have predominated. In Heinz and
excluding foreign students of color (the top Laumann's (1982:187) study, almost 90 per-
20 business schools reported an average of 8 cent of the graduates of elite law schools had
percent American minority enrollments in fathers in professional, managerial, or technical
1 992; see Bryne 1 993). However, the class of occupations. Indeed, Warkov and Zelan (1965)
1 994 at Graham University was 29 percent found that direct occupational inheritance, in
women, compared to 27 percent among the the form of a parent who was a lawyer, was the
top 25 schools in 1992 (Bryne 1993). strongest predictor of entry into law school.
Although the sampling frame matched this 7. Although Egerton (1997) found that there
percentage, of the students who agreed to be is more occupational and educational inheri-
interviewed, only 19 percent were women. tance among professional students than
4. Much of this research is now 20 or more among business students in Great Britain, there
years old. In Stevens's (1973) study of the alum- was more occupational inheritance among the
ni and then-current students of eight law business students in my sample, perhaps
schools, the intellectual draws of law school because of the school's strong connection to
were the most important motivations to the upper echelons of management. Egerton
attend. However, the "desire to serve the also noted considerable cross-pollination
underprivileged" increased greatly from 1960 between professional and managerial families
to 1 972, perhaps as a result of the social in terms of occupational inheritance.
activism of the 1 960s. In another cross-section-
8. The rest of the students financed their
al study of first-year law students at Brigham education with personal savings and astro-
Young University in 1974 (Hedegard nomical loans (up to $80,000), and a few
1 979:814), 31 percent believed that the "desire used governmental financial aid or subsidies
for restructuring society" was of great impor- from future employers.
tance in choosing law, and to "be of service to 9. The decision-making process discussed
the underprivileged" was of great importance here may be related to persistence and satis-
for 18 percent. Among the first-year students faction. Seymour and Hewitt (1996) found
surveyed by Erlanger and Klegon (1 978) at the that those who choose college majors in sci-
University of Wisconsin in the early 1 970s, half ence, mathematics, or engineering out of
stated some social service or reform motivation, default or career-enhancement motivations,
mixed with other motivations, and 21 percent rather than intrinsic interest, are less likely to
cited only activist motivations. persist in the majors. Students who chose law
Some reports of altruistic motivations were or business school for similar reasons may not
inconsistent, however. When students in Gee have enough interest to sustain them in the
and Jackson's (1 977:948) stLidy were asked long term, which may explain why so many
the most important reason for choosing law, choose to opt out of these careers.
"opportunity to be helpful to others and/or 10. Like most authors who write about pro-
useful to society in general" ranked second fessional education, I have focused on elites. It
after "a desire for independence," but only 2 would be sensible to explore the occupational

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Law and Business School Choice 173

decision-making processes of those at less elite Japanese Medical Students." Pacific


schools, where mobility may be a more promi- Sociological Review 25:79-96.

nent motivation. Research should also investi- Ehrenreich, Barbara. 1989. Fear of Falling: The Inner Life
of the Middle Class. New York: Pantheon Books.
gate whether these findings about social class
Erlanger, Howard S., and Douglas A. Klegon. 1978.
and ambiguity are true for those who pursue
"Socialization Effects of Professional School:
other professional degrees, particularly medi-
The Law School Experience and Student
cine and engineering, which require an earlier Orientations to Public Interest Concerns." Law
vocational crystallization-and potentially less and Society Review 1 3:11-35.
financial payoff-than business or law. Foster, James C. 1 981. "Co-optation of Future
Lawyers." Law and Policy Quarterly 3:243-56.
. 1985. "Legal Education and the Production
of Lawyers to (Re)Produce Liberal Capitalism."
REFERENCES Legal Studies Forum 9:1 79-211.
Gambetta, Diego. 1996. Were They Pushed or Did
American Bar Association. 1992. "A Review of Legal
They Jump? Individual Decision Mechanisms in
Education in the United States, Fall 1991."
Education. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Chicago: Section on Legal Education and
Gee, E. G., and Donald Jackson. 1977. "Bridging
Admissions to the Bar, American Bar the Gap: Legal Education and Lawyer
Association.
Competency." Brigham Young University Law
Baida, Peter. 1984-85. "M.B.A." American Scholar Review 1977:695-990.
54:24-41. Granfield, Robert. 1992. Making Elite Lawyers:
Becker, Howard, Blanche Geer, Everett Hughes, Visions of Law at Harvard and Beyond. New
and Anselm Strauss. 1961. Boys in White: York: Routledge Press.
Student Culture in Medical School. Chicago: Grusky, David B. 2000. "The Reproduction of
University of Chicago Press. Micro-Classes." Paper presented at the
Blau, Peter M., and Otis D. Duncan. 1967. The Spencer Foundation Sociology and Education
American Occupational Structure. New York: Conference, Atlanta.
John Wiley & Sons. Grusky, David B., and Jesper B. Sorenson. 1998.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1 977. Outline of a Theory of "Can Class Analysis Be Salvaged?" American
Practice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Journal of Sociology 103:1187-1234.
University Press. Hedegard, James. 1979. "The Impact of Legal
Bourdieu, Pierre, and Jean-Claude Passeron. 1977. Education: An In-depth Examination of Career
Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. Relevant Interests, Attitudes, and Personality
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Traits among First Year Law Students."
Bryne, John A. 1993. The Best Business Schools. New American Bar Foundation Research journal
York: McGraw-Hill. 1979:793-868.
Carlin, Jerome. 1962. Lawyers on Their Own: A Heinz, John R, and Edward 0. Laumann. 1982.
Study of Individual Practitioners in Chicago. Chicago Lawyers: The Social Structure of the Bar.
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Cohen, Peter. 1974. The Gospel According to the Henry, Fran Worden. 1983. Toughing it Out at
Harvard Business School. Baltimore, MD: Harvard. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Penguin Books. Hout, Michael. 1988. "More Universalism, Less
Collins, Randall. 1979. The Credential Society: An Structured Mobility: The American
Historical Sociology of Education and Occupational Structure in the 1 980s."
Stratification. New York: Academic Press. American Journal of Sociology 93:1 358-1400.
Cookson, Peter W., Jr., and Caroline Hodges Persell. Hurn, Christopher. 1992. The Limits and Possibilities
1985. Preparing for Power: America's Elite of Schooling: An Introduction to the Sociology of
Boarding Schools. New York: Basic Books. Education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Deutsch, Claudia. 1993, November 14. "M.B.A. Jackall, Robert. 1988. Moral Mazes: The World of
Programs Fight for Shrinking Pool of Students Corporate Managers. New York: Oxford
Interested in Business." New York Times, Sec. University Press.
1, p. 26. Kahlenberg, Richard. 1992. Broken Contract: A
Egerton, Muriel. 1997. "Occupational Inheritance: Memoir of Harvard Law School. New York: Hill
The Role of Cultural Capital and Gender." & Wang.
Work, Employment, and Society 11:263-82. Kingston, Paul W., and Lionel S. Lewis, eds. 1990.
Endo, Calvin M. 1982. "Social Background of The High Status Track: Studies of Elite Schools

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
174 Schleef

and Stratification. Albany: State University of Shaffer, Thomas, and Robert Redmount. 1977.
New York Press. Lawyers, Law Students, and People. New York:
LaRussa, Georgina W. 1977. "Portia's Decision: McGraw-Hill.
Women's Motives for Studying Law and Their Snyder, Thomas, and John Wirt. 1998. The
Later Career Satisfaction as Attorneys." Condition of Education 1998. Washington, DC:
Psychology of Women Quarterly 1:350-64. U.S. Government Printing Office.
Little, Joseph W. 1968. "Pawns and Processes: A Stevens, Robert. 1973. "Law Schools and Law
Quantitative Study of Unknowns in Legal Students." Virginia Law Review 59:551-707.
Education." journal of Legal Education Stover, Robert. 1989. Making It and Breaking It: The
21:145-68. Fate of Public Interest Commitment During Law
MacLeod, Jay. 1995. Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations School, edited by Howard Erlanger. Urbana:
and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood. University of Illinois Press.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Swartz, David. 1997. Culture and Power: The
Mare, Robert D. 1981. "Change and Stability in Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago:
Educational Stratification." American Sociological
University of Chicago Press.
Review 46:72-87.
Taber, Janet, Marguerite Grant, Mary Huser, Rise
"The MBA Cost-Benefit Analysis." 1994, August 6.
Norman, James Sutton, Clarence Wong, Louise
The Economist, p. 58.
Parker, and Claire Picard. 1988. "Gender, Legal
McDonough, Patricia. 1997. Choosing College: How
Education and the Legal Profession: An
Social Class and Schools Structure Opportunity.
Empirical Study of Stanford Law Students and
Albany: State University of New York Press.
Graduates." Stanford Law Review 40:1209-97.
Newman, Katherine. 1988. Falling from Grace: The
Useem, Michael, and Jerome Karabel. 1990.
Experience of Downward Mobility in the
"Pathways to Top Corporate Management."
American Middle Class. New York: Free Press.
Pp. 1 75-210 in The High Status Track: Studies
Reid, Robert. 1994. Year One: An Intimate Look
of Elite Schools and Stratification, edited by Paul
Inside Harvard Business School, Source of the
W. Kingston and Lionel S. Lewis. Albany: State
Most Coveted Advanced Degree in the World.
University of New York Press.
New York: William Morrow.
Van Hoy, Jerry. 1997. Franchise Law Firms and the
Robinson, Peter. 1994. Snapshots from Hell: The
Transformation of Prepackaged Law. Westport,
Making of an MBA. New York: Warner Books.
CT: Greenwood.
Schleef, Debra. 1 997a. "Elites in Training:
Accommodation and Resistance to Van Maanen, John. 1983. "Golden Passports:

Professional Socialization in Law and Business Managerial Socialization and Graduate

School." Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Education." Review of Higher Education


Northwestern University. 6:435-55.

1 997b. "Empty Ethics and Reasonable Walters, Pamela Barnhouse, and Richard Rubinson.
Responsibility: Vocabularies of Motive of Law 1983. "Educational Expansion and Economic
and Business Students." Law and Social Inquiry Output in the United States, 1890-1969: A
22:619-50. Production Function Analysis." American
Sewell, William, and Robert Hauser. 1975. Education, Sociological Review 48:480-93.
Occupation, and Earnings: Achievement in the Warkov, Seymour, and Joseph Zelan. 1965. Lawyers
Early Career. New York: Academic Press. in the Making. Chicago: Aldine.
Seymour, Elaine, and Nancy M. Hewitt. 1996. Talking Zemans, Frances, and Victor Rosenblum. 1981. The
about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Making of a Public Profession. Chicago:
Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. American Bar Foundation.

Debra Schleef, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Mary
Washington College, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her main fields of interest are sociology of law, occupa-
tions and professions, and gender. She is currently completing a book manuscript, entitled
"Manufacturing Elites: Accommodation and Resistance to Professional Socialization in Law and
Business School."

The author thanks Howard Erlanger, Carol Heimer, Susan Moreno, David Rhodes, William Trent,
and Jerry Van Hoy for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. Address all correspon-
dence to Debra Schleef, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Mary Washington College,
1301 College Avene, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, or by E-mail at [email protected].

This content downloaded from 190.119.190.48 on Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:39:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

You might also like