Inequality of Opportunity in Comparative Perspective: Recent Research on Educational Attainment and Social Mobility

• Published in: Annual review of sociology Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 223 - 243
• Main Authors: Breen, Richard, Jonsson, Jan O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto, CA Annual Reviews 01-01-2005; Annual reviews; Annual Reviews, Inc
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Catholic schools; Classes, stratification, mobility; Comparative analysis; Comparative studies; Countries; Crosscultural Differences; Differentiation and Stratification; Education; Educational Attainment; Educational inequality; Equal education; Equal opportunities; Hypotheses; Income inequality; Inequality; Labor market; Modeling; Neighborhoods; Occupational mobility; Opportunity Structures; Parent socioeconomic status; Siblings; Social Background; Social classes; Social inequality; Social Mobility; Social organization. Social system. Social structure; Socioeconomic factors; Sociology; Upward mobility; educational inequality; Intergenerational Mobility; intergenerational inheritance; Social Mobility; Social reproduction; Academic Achievement; comparative studies; Comparative Research; Inequality
• ISSN: 0360-0572; 1545-2115
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.31.041304.122232

Studies of how characteristics of the family of origin are associated with educational and labor market outcomes indicate the degree of openness of societies and have a long tradition in sociology. We review research published since 1990 into educational stratification and social (occupational or class) mobility, focusing on the importance of parental socioeconomic circumstances, and with particular emphasis on comparative studies. Large-scale data now available from many countries and several time points have led to more and better descriptions of inequality of opportunity across countries and over time. However, partly owing to problems of comparability of measurement, unambiguous conclusions about trends and ranking of countries have proven elusive. In addition, no strong evidence exists that explains intercountry differences. We conclude that the 1990s witnessed a resurgence of microlevel models, mostly of a rational choice type, that signals an increased interest in moving beyond description in stratification research.