Measuring Social Inequality In Educational Attainment

Abstract

In the literature on the relationship between class of origin and educational attainment, the typical conclusion is that class inequality was stable over the last century, and the attempts at egalitarian reform thus proven ineffective. The conclusion turns out to depend on the choice of statistical measure, in this case loglinear measures of association. Also linear measures of association give similar results. If instead, measures of inequality are used, the contrasting conclusion of a strong reduction in the class bias in recruitment to higher education emerges.

As the provision of higher education has increased over time, the trends in the results of these three measures differ. It is argued that it is measures of inequality that capture inequality in the allocation of higher education or bias in the allocation mechanisms. The argument in favor of using loglinear measures has been the special property of “margin insensitivity” attributed to them. It has also been suggested that they capture bias in the allocation mechanism, which may develop in a way different from the trend in the inequality of the allocation outcome. It is argued that neither claim is tenable.

Citation

Hellevik, O. (2013), "Measuring Social Inequality In Educational Attainment", Elisabeth Birkelund, G. (Ed.) Class and Stratification Analysis (Comparative Social Research, Vol. 30), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 319-339. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0195-6310(2013)0000030015