Education, Occupation and Social Origin: A Comparative Analysis of the Transmission of Socio-Economic Inequalities

Education, Occupation and Social Origin is a must-read book for anyone even faintly interested in social inequality. Comparing across many cohorts in 14 nations, the disheartening conclusion that here emerges is the lack of any genuine equalization of life chances. Advantage breeds advantage and, alas, educational expansion has not proven to be the great social leveler. This volume delivers the most up-to-date evidence, and it does it with scientific rigor and bravura. From the first to the last page this is world-class scholarship that will define our research agenda for many years to come.'
- Gosta Esping-Andersen, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain

Questioning the assumption that education is the 'great social equalizer', this book takes a comparative approach to the Social Origin-Education-Destination triangle by examining advantage in 14 different countries, including case studies from Europe, Israel, the USA, Russia and Japan.

Contributions from leading experts examine the relation between family background, education and occupational achievement over time and across educational levels, focussing on the relationship between individuals' social origins and their income and occupational outcomes. Providing new theoretical insights, this book eloquently analyses a variety of barriers to social mobility. Using concepts of compensatory and boosting advantage to explain the intergenerational transmission of social inequality, it refutes the notion of contemporary societies as education-based and meritocratic, showing that in most of the countries studied there is no sign of decreasing intergenerational association, despite the expansion of education.

With its multitude of pertinent case studies, Education, Occupation and Social Origin will be of interest to academics and students of social policy as well as those interested in social inequalities and their evolution over time. It will also be a useful reference for governmental policy makers in the wake of the current economic crisis.

Contributors: S. Arita, G. Ballarino, E. Bar Haim, C. Barone, F. Bernardi, A. Bessudnov, E. Bihagen, C. Blank, M. Bouchet-Valat, M. Grätz, J. Härkönen, T. Keller, F. Laganà, A. Mastekaasa, N. Panichella, C. Peugny, R. Pollack, P. Róbert, Y. Sato, Y. Shavit, J. Tolsma, F. Torche, L.-A. Vallet, L. Vandecasteele, M.H.J. Wolbers

Edited by Fabrizio Bernardi, Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute and Gabriele Ballarino, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy