Nonpersistent Inequality in Educational Attainment: Evidence from Eight European Countries

Abstract

In their widely cited study, Shavit and Blossfeld report stability of socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment over much of the 20th century in 11 out of 13 countries. This article outlines reasons why one might expect to find declining class inequalities in educational attainment, and, using a large data set, the authors analyze educational inequality among cohorts born in the first two-thirds of the 20th century in eight European countries. They find, as expected, a widespread decline in educational inequality between students coming from different social origins. Their results are robust to other possible choices of method and variables, and the authors offer some explanations of why their findings contradict Shavit and Blossfeld's conclusions.

Educational Inequalities in Repeat Abortion: A Longitudinal Register Study in Finland 1975–2010

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Education as the great equalizer: a theoretical framework

“…Admittedly, however, most of the research has focused on inequality in educational opportunities (that is, the association between social origins and individuals' educational attainments: OE) and on variations in educational returns (that is, the association between individuals' educations and their occupational outcomes: EO) over time and/or across countries (Kogan et al 2011;Shavit and Blossfeld 1993;Shavit and Müller 1998). Most of the recent studies have documented a decline in inequality in educational opportunities by social background (Shavit et al 2007;Breen et al 2009;Ballarino et al 2009). Educational returns and their trend over time show more variation across countries, so that they have increased in some countries (for instance the USA; Goldin and Katz 2008), while they have declined or remained stable in others (for instance in many European countries; Müller and Gangl 2003).…”

Tendências das desigualdades de acesso ao ensino superior no Brasil: 1982-2010

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