SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND MARKET ECOLOGY - A REALIST SOCIOLOGICAL LOOK AT THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF SCHOOL CHOICE

Programs of school choice are based largely on the idea of a free mark et: Recent reform efforts have been based on the assumption that marke t-driven educational systems would bring higher achievement levels and greater satisfaction among clients. According to popular views, paren ts would shop for a school just as they do for any other commodity and competition between schools would ensue, with each school trying to i mprove itself thereby attracting consumers. There is a major drawback to this reasoning. Markets are rarely completely free from regulation and control, and the desires of individuals do not fully explain the s ocial facts of school choice. As a complement to cut-rent school choic e studies, a structural explanation of school choice within the theory of network analysis is presented. The study analyses choice in terms of inter-school student transfers and explains choice as the combined result of two factors. The first is the organization of student mobili ty in schools, in terms of vacant vacant positions (timing and volume) and student body composition, which posits nine ideal types of school organization. The second factor is the ecology of the market, given i n the number of schools in each type. Research conducted in a large ci ty in Israel serves as an example for the approach. The more general i mplications of the study suggest directions for the theoretical refine ment of mobility and attainment studies in sociology.