Persistent Inequalities? Expansion of Education and Class Inequality in Italy and Spain

Abstract

The paper analyses inequalities in educational outcomes (IEO) by class of family of origin in Italy and Spain for five 10-year cohorts born from 1920 to 1969, using the cumulative logit (ordinal regression) model. In both countries the question is whether, as education expanded, the class IEO's remained stable or diminished. The dominant view in the 1990s was that, with the exception of a few countries, inequalities persisted. In the current decade the consensus on this is changing, and decreasing class IEO is now more often found. Italy has been given as an example of educational expansion while maintaining class IEO. Spain was not included in previous analyses. The results show clearly that class IEO diminished in Spain as well as in Italy; differences in the timing of expansion and change in IEO can be accounted for through the different institutional settings of the two countries. A more contained reduction of IEO is found in Spain than in Italy.