ABSTRACT
This chapter takes up the topic of gender stratification and argues for the utility of a rational choice-based model that combines assumptions from human capital theory (the economic input) with the social-institutional context (the sociological input). It argues that under certain social-institutional constraints it is rational for parents to create an intrafamilial market for education. Japan is used as a model to explore what some of those constraints might be. Parental aspirations for sons will be affected by the sex composition and number of children. The chapter summarizes the nature of the human capital development system in Japan and for illustrative purposes contrasts it with that of the United States. It then develops a number of hypotheses that are suggested by this macro level institutional environment. These go beyond the simple observations that Japanese men and women have varying amounts of education and that parental opinion supports sex-segregated educational outcomes.
