Is a College Degree Still the Great Equalizer? Intergenerational Mobility across Levels of Schooling in the United States

2011/11/01 by Florencia Torche · 596 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Bachelor #Bachelor degree #Degree (music) #Demographic economics #Demography #Earnings #Economic growth #Economics #Educational attainment #Geography #Higher Education Research Studies #Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies #Mathematics education #Meritocracy #Occupational mobility #Political science #Psychology #Quarter (Canadian coin) #Social and Cultural Dynamics #Social mobility #Social science #Socioeconomic status #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1086/661904

published in American Journal of Sociology 117(3), 763-807 (University of Chicago Press)

openalex publication_date 2011/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

A quarter century ago, an important finding in stratification research showed that the intergenerational occupational association was much weaker among college graduates than among those with lower levels of education. This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the “meritocratic power” of a college degree. Drawing on five longitudinal data sets, the author analyzes intergenerational mobility in terms of class, occupational status, earnings, and household income for men and women. Findings indicate that the intergenerational association is strong among those with low educational attainment; it weakens or disappears among bachelor’s degree holders but reemerges among those with advanced degrees, leading to a U-shaped pattern of parental influence. Educational and labor market factors explain these differences in mobility: parental resources influence college selectivity, field of study, and earnings more strongly for advanced-degree holders than for those with a bachelor’s degree alone.

Citations

• More Universalism, Less Structural Mobility: The American Occupational Structure in the 1980s

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