Social origins, elite education and elite destinations

Key takeaways

(file:///C:\Users\scott\Downloads\BCS%20DUMP\CLS%20WP%2020165%20-%20Social%20origins,%20elite%20education%20and%20elite%20destinations.pdf)

Bibliography: Sullivan, A., Parsons, S., Green, F., Wiggins, R., n.d. Social origins, elite education and elite destinations.

Authors:: Alice Sullivan, Sam Parsons, Francis Green, Richard Wiggins

Collections:: UCL BCS Dump

First-page: 2

Abstract

This paper examines pathways to high socio-economic positions for men and women born in Britain in 1970. Our analysis draws on the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), exploiting data from birth to age 42. We provide a comprehensive account of the way in which cognitive and educational attainment mediate the link between social origins and elite destinations in terms of social class and earnings in mid-life. We assess the roles of private and selective secondary schools, and of high-status universities and fields of study. We find that, once a sufficiently detailed picture of educational attainment is taken into account, education fully explains the link between social origins and top social class destinations.

Citations

content: "@sullivanSocialOriginsElite" -file:@sullivanSocialOriginsElite

Reading notes

Imported on 2024-05-07 21:39

⭐ Important

& We find that, once a sufficiently detailed picture of educational attainment is taken into account, education fully explains the link between social origins and top social class destinations. (p. 2)
& Finally, our results may seem to present a rosy picture of broadly ‘meritocratic’ access to top jobs and incomes. Against this, we should first of all be clear that our models only explain a minority of the variance in access to the top jobs and incomes, leaving plenty of scope for factors other than cognition and education to play a role. But in terms of explaining the origins-destinations link, the important point is that the parental resources and access to high quality education which provide huge advantages in developing cognitive skill and achieving educational credentials are not evenly distributed. As parents with the necessary resources invest heavily in their children’s education (Putnam 2015; Reardon 2011), ascriptive forces are increasingly expressed as ‘mer (p. 30)