This pioneering handbook examines sociological issues and debates about educational institutions as status-conferring organizations, with myriad positional characteristics, experiences, and outcomes. This handbook puts these issues and debates in focus in ways that will be of interest to a variety of stakeholders, within academia as well as in policy circles.

Part I: Anglo-American Higher Education Institutes through Time and Place 1. The History and Scope of the Sociology of Higher Education, (James Côté and Andy Furlong)2. The University and Society: Structural change and conflicting roles, (George Fallis)3. Theories of the Sociology of Higher Education Access and Participation, (Lesley Andres)4. Higher Education Missions over Time in Anglo-American Institutions, (Sarah Pickard)5. Maintaining Status in New Times: The continuing stratification of Anglo-American universities, (Scott Davies and Roger Pizarro Milian)Part II: How Mass Higher Education Institutions have Taken Shape6. The Structural Force Exerted by Marketization on Higher education Systems, Research Universities and Academic Researchers, (Donald Fisher, Amy Scott Metcalfe and Cynthia Field)7. The McDonaldization of Higher Education Revisited, (Dennis Hayes and Robin Wynyard)8. From Multiversity to Postmodern University, (Claire Donovan)9. Vicious Circle: Academic Insecurity and Privatization in Western Universities, (Claire Polster)10. From in Loco Parentis to Consumer Choice: Patterns and Consequences of the Changing Relationship Between Students and Institutions, (Josipa Roksa and Karen Jeong Robinson)Part 3: Inequality and Diversity in Higher Education11. Access to Higher Education, (Michael Osborne)12. Social Class in UK Higher Education: Still an Elephant in the Room, (Diane Reay)13. ‘Non-Traditional’ Students and Diversity in Higher Education, (Marion Bowl and Ann-Marie Bathmaker)14. The Forces of Persistent Inequality: Minority Statuses in Higher Education, (Patricia M. McDonough and Carrie E. Miller)15. Ethnic Capital, Higher Education and Life Chances, (Tehmina N Basit and Tariq Modood)16. At-Risk and Unprepared Students in US Higher Education: The Impact on Institutions and Strategies to Address the New Student Body Landscape, (Kathleen F. Gabriel)17. Differentiation in Higher Education, (Caroline Berggren)18. The Transformation of Higher Education, Credential Competition, and the Graduate Labour Market, (Phillip Brown)Part IV: Anglo-American Systems Contrasted19. Evoking Humboldt: Universities in the German-Speaking World, (Alan Scott and Pier Paolo Pasqualoni)20. Higher Education in France: Social Stratification and Social Reproduction, (Sarah Pickard)21. The Nordic Model of Higher Education, (Ari Antikainen)22. Russian Higher Education: A Sociological Analysis, (Anna Smolentseva)23. Higher Education and Social Change in South Asia: From Intellectual Elitism to Equality of Opportunity, (Siri Hettige)24. Transformation of Japanese Universities Through the Process of Internationalization: A Comparative Perspective with Anglo-Saxon Universities, (Hiroyuki Takagi)25. Is There an Alternative University Model? The Debate around the Chinese Model of the University, (Qiang Zha, Jinghuan Shi and Xiaoyang Wang)Part V: Higher Education in a Global Policy Perspective26. Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions: Challenges and Opportunities, (Carolyn Ford and Julie McMullin)27. Global Higher Education Partnerships: Equity and Epistemic Concerns with Distribution and Flows of Intellectual Capital, (Felix Maringe and Hans De Wit)28. Higher Education in Crisis: Critical Voices from Emerging Countries, (Maria Ligia Barbosa and Tom Dwyer)29. The Digital Revolution in Higher Education: Rhetoric and Reality, (Sue Bennett)30. Gender Equality and Inequality in Global Higher Education: Changing the Rules of the Game?, (Miriam E. David)31. Life after Higher Education: The Diversity of Opportunities and Obstacles in a Changing Graduate Labour Market, (Kate Purcell and Charoula Tzanakou)32. Educational Transformations: Work and Government Policy in the Schooled Society, (Frank Fernandez and David P. Baker)

"This volume offers a foundational contribution to the field—one that is both comprehensive in its global reach and impressive in the array of analytical perspectives thoughtfully presented in each chapter. It will stand as a valuable resource for many years to come." - Patricia J. Gumport, Professor of Education, Director of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research, and Vice Provost for Graduate Education, Stanford University