Abstract
Previous research has shown that the intergenerational transmission of advantage disappears once individuals obtain a bachelor’s degree. This is known as the equalization thesis: the ‘meritocratic power’ of a college degree. This paper revisits the question of origin-destination association among college graduates. We improve on earlier studies by using three large sample (40,000+) of the National Survey of College Graduates, consisting of birth cohorts between 1938 and 1985. Contrary to the equalization thesis, we find that parental education and parental income are associated with substantially higher post-college incomes. An individual’s own attainment only partially mediates the association through the type of college attended, but not through attaining an advanced degree. The consistency of the origin-destination estimates across three decades supports a reproduction thesis of mobility.
Highlights
Researchers contend that education plays a dual role in social stratification and mobility
Ratios (IRRs) from negative binomial regressions converted into percentages to aid interpretation: a coefficient of -.044 should be read as 4.4 percent lower earnings
Analyzing three different cross-sectional surveys of college graduates – from 1993, 2003 and 2015 – we observed a consistent pattern whereby greater parental education was associated with substantially higher earnings for baccalaureate offspring, and lower parental education was associated with lower offspring’s earnings
Summary
Researchers contend that education plays a dual role in social stratification and mobility. Blau and Duncan’s (1967) study, replicated by Featherman and Hauser (1978), observed significant paths from father’s education and occupation to son’s occupational attainment via son’s education – the stratifying aspect.. Blau and Duncan’s (1967) study, replicated by Featherman and Hauser (1978), observed significant paths from father’s education and occupation to son’s occupational attainment via son’s education – the stratifying aspect.1 They noted, that the major part of the relationship between son’s education and son’s occupation was independent of social origins or parental background, interpreting this as evidence for a trend in the United States of “declining status ascription and increasingly universalistic status allocation” (Featherman and Hauser 1978, p.481). The general argument of this so-called equalization thesis is that occupational positions have become more dependent on rational selection through the educational system in highly industrialized countries, erasing the influence of family background in high-skill job matching
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