The U-turn in educational inequality. Why a multidimensional approach matters for measuring social inequalities in tertiary educational attainment

IF 2.7 1区社会学 Q1 SOCIOLOGY

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility Pub Date : 2024-10-18 DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2024.100994

Elias H. Kruithof, Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study examines the evolution in the association between social origins and tertiary educational attainment in Belgium, from post-World War II to the millennium’s onset. For this, we rely on a multidimensional measurement of social origins that accounts for interaction mechanisms between parental class and educational resources. We analyse 13,803 individuals over four birth cohorts. In contrast to previous studies, we find a decline in social inequalities for cohorts born before 1975, followed by a resurgence among those born afterwards. This U-turn in social inequalities of tertiary educational attainment is only observable when social origins are measured multidimensionally. Additionally, we investigate the interaction effects between parental resources, revealing divergent evolutions in accumulation and compensation mechanisms. Our findings underscore the renewed importance of combining parental education with parental social class for generations born after 1975.

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教育不平等的转折。为什么采用多维方法衡量高等教育成就中的社会不平等现象很重要？

本研究探讨了比利时从二战后到本世纪初社会出身与高等教育成就之间关系的演变。为此，我们对社会出身进行了多维度的测量，考虑了父母阶级和教育资源之间的互动机制。我们分析了四个出生组群中的 13 803 人。与以往研究不同的是，我们发现 1975 年前出生的人群中社会不平等现象有所下降，而 1975 年后出生的人群中社会不平等现象则有所回升。只有在对社会出身进行多维度测量时，才能观察到高等教育程度社会不平等的这种 U 型转弯。此外，我们还研究了父母资源之间的互动效应，揭示了积累和补偿机制的不同演变。我们的研究结果表明，对于 1975 年以后出生的一代人来说，将父母的教育与父母的社会阶层结合起来具有新的重要性。

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来源期刊

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility SOCIOLOGY-

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

6.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The study of social inequality is and has been one of the central preoccupations of social scientists. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility is dedicated to publishing the highest, most innovative research on issues of social inequality from a broad diversity of theoretical and methodological perspectives. The journal is also dedicated to cutting edge summaries of prior research and fruitful exchanges that will stimulate future research on issues of social inequality. The study of social inequality is and has been one of the central preoccupations of social scientists.