Yossi Shavit
Weinberg Professor in Sociology of Stratification and Inequality at Tel Aviv University, Israel; Director of the Educational Policy Program at the Taub Center for Social and Economic Policy in Israel, and recent President of the Israeli Sociological SocietyAbout the author:
I am interested primarily in the social processes and institutions that determine how equal or unequal societies become. My research focuses especially on educational systems because they are often expected to remedy the ills of society, including inequality.
What I want to achieve:
My research over the years has led to me understand that the expectation that education is a quick fix to social ills are exaggerated. By and large, educational institutions are reflections of society and economy and often reinforce, rather than attenuate, their negative effects. This realization is important because it directs attention to other arena that canaffect change, such as the distribution of income and legal action towards the attenuation of discrimination and exploitation.