Based on ethnographic material, this article explores how three groups of apprentices negotiate masculinities in the specific setting of a male-dominated vocational school in Switzerland dedicated to the building trades. We use an intersectional and relational perspective to highlight how the institutional setting of the school—mirroring wider social hierarchies—influences these young men’s identity work. The apprentices use three discursive dichotomies: manual vs. mental work; proud heterosexuality vs. homosexuality; and adulthood vs. childhood. However, the three different groups employ the dichotomies differently depending on their position in the school’s internal hierarchies, based on their educational path, the trade they are learning and the corresponding prestige. The article sheds light on the micro-processes through which existing hierarchies are internalised within an institution. It further discusses how the school’s internal differentiations and the staff’s discourses and behaviours contribute to the (re)production of specific classed masculinities, critically assessing the role of the Swiss educational system in the reproduction of social inequalities.

This article analyzes the contribution of genetics and the environment to educational attainment, occupational status, and income using data from over 1,100 monozygotic and 400 dizygotic Australian twin pairs aged from 18 to 99. The respective heritability estimates were 0.54, 0.37, and 0.18. The bivariate heritabilities were 0.71 for educational attainment and occupational status, 0.37 for education and income, and 0.61 for occupational status and income. There were no gender and cohort differences in the heritabilities for education and occupation, but for income, contrary to expectations, the heritabilities were significantly higher among women and for the older cohort (aged 50 or older). The sizable contribution of genes to these socioeconomic outcomes suggests that standard sociological and economic theories on the socioeconomic career require substantial modification to accommodate the role of genetics.

Researchers have suggested that educational attainment and occupational status—indicators of cognitive and/or neurologic “reserve”—can help persons compensate for clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD), such as the rates of cognitive and functional decline. The effects of educational attainment on rates of decline could be “direct” (independent of occupational status), “indirect” (working through occupational status), or both. We used multilevel analysis for repeated measures to study the effects of educational attainment and occupational status on rates of decline in cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE) and function (Cleveland Scale for Activities of Daily Living). Subject included persons with “probable” or “possible” AD, drawn from our Alzheimer's Disease Research Center registry (N = 482 in the analysis of cognitive decline, and N = 450 in the analysis of functional decline). When controlling for year of birth, gender, ethinicity, and duration of illness, we found that there was an inverse relationship between number of years of education and rate of decline in MMSE, but effects of occupational status were not significant. This implies a “direct” effect of education on decline in MMSE, but no “indirect” effect through occupational status. Neither educational attainment nor occupational status affected rate of decline in functional ability. We conclude that education slows the rate of cognitive decline in persons with AD, but not through its impact on occupational status. Thus the protective effects of reserve may be established early in life, before people enter the workforce.