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After the Credential Society
Mitchell L. Stevens, Stanford University
Description
Semester:
- Fall 2026
Speakers:
Professor, Graduate School of Education
Professor (By courtesy), Sociology
Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
Lecture Time:
Fri, September 4, 2026 @ 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Lecture Location:
R2240, Ross building
Speaker Webpage(s):
No speaker websites available.
Introduced By:
TBD
Abstract
Over the course of the twentieth century the United States was a world leader in expanding access to formal schooling: first by providing school access to all of its citizens through high school; then in funding postsecondary education and variously encouraging mass completion of four-year degrees. In the process we created a schooled society, in which school credentials are primary mechanisms for mediating and producing identity as well as sorting and stratifying persons, groups, occupations, and knowledge. Sociologists have yet to theorize an historical epoch that might come after the schooled society. I provide empirical motivation for pursuing such an enteprise and sketch its broad outlines.
Recording & Additional Notes
Mitchell Stevens is Professor of Education at Stanford, where he convenes the Learning Society project and the
Pathways Network. He studies the history, finance, and politics of postsecondary education in the United States and
worldwide. The author of award-winning studies of home education and selective admissions, his most recent books
are Remaking College: The Changing Ecology of Higher Education and Seeing the World: How US Universities Make
Knowledge in a Global Era. He is Co-Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, and Academic Editor of the
Stanford Social Innovation Review. He has written scholarly articles for a variety of academic journals and editorial for
the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other
venues.