The Risky Business of Educational Choice in the Meritocratic Society

Abstract

Education is widely regarded as key to promoting social mobility in postindustrial societies. Most Western countries have invested massively in their educational systems over the course of the twentieth century, leading to significant expansions of the educational system’s secondary and tertiary sectors. Despite these historical developments, stratification scholars have demonstrated that, whereas lower-class students’ absolute chances of educational attainment have increased, their chances relative to higher-class students’ chances have improved only moderately in most Western countries (Breen et al., 2009). For example, among those born between 1954 and 1964 in such diverse countries as France, Germany, and Sweden, the educational prospects of those originating in the unskilled class are respectively roughly ten, nine, and six times worse than the prospects of those originating in the service class (Breen et al., 2009, p. 1510). These figures clearly show that, although variation between countries is substantial, educational inequalities persist in postindustrial society.