Becoming Adult in a Changing Society

James S. Coleman is an American sociologist who has focused much of his work on mathematical sociology. His areas of interest have been social conflict, collective decision making, and the sociology of education. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1955 and taught at Johns Hopkins University.

Coleman is best known for heading a commission charged by the federal government with investigating the lack of educational opportunities for minorities in public schools. The document produced by the commission, Equity of Educational Opportunity (1966), is better known as the Coleman Report. It indicated that student achievement has more to do with family background and peer environment than with school resources. The Coleman Report became the basis for the institution of student busing to achieve racial integration in public schools.

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