Soc714X Social Class

The most common way that people achieve upward mobility in the U.S. is through educational advancement. Getting more education often — though not always — results in upward mobility. Failing to keep up with increasing standards in educational attainment can result in downward mobility. (For example, in the 1950s, a high school diploma was the minimum requirement for a middle class occupation. Today, a college degree is required.)

Although education is a kind of "mobility engine" in our society, the relationship between class and education is far from straightforward. Our educational system works to reinforce the class structure even as it provides some people with the means for modest mobility. We'll discuss both aspects of education, mobility enhancing and mobility inhibiting, by drawing on some contemporary social research.

In order to take advantage of the mobility opportunity of higher education, an individual must have access to our system of colleges and universities. Unlike with secondary education, the state makes no promises of free — or even affordable — college tuition. In order to gain a college degree, a student must be able to pay for it. Thus, class position determines, in part, access to post-secondary education.

Table 1 shows the relationship between social class and cognitive ability in determining access to higher education. We would expect cognitive ability to affect college attendance, because college requires considerable academic skill. If it were the only factor, the percentages across each row in the table would be equal. What we see, however, is that students from higher class positions are more likely to attend college, regardless of their intellectual ability. Thirty-five percent of the students from high SES families with the lowest cognitive abilities were in attendance, compared to only thirteen percent of those lowest skill students from lowest SES families. About half of the students with the highest academic skills from the lowest SES families attended college, but more than 8 out of 10 of the brightest students from high SES families were enrolled. The table makes clear that class does influence access to higher education.

Class affects not only access to higher education, but also the kind of college education a student might get. As we have seen, in our lecture on economic power, elite schools confer more than just a credential; they invest in their students a certain amount of social capital. This can have a larger influence on the student's achieved social class than the degree itself.

Imagine two students: one with a degree from an elite liberal arts college, the other with a degree from a state university. Even though their educational attainment is identical, they are likely to end up in different positions in the class hierarchy. Once again, education reinforces class difference at the same time as it facilitates mobility.

Table 2 shows the percentage of applicants accepted at Ivy League colleges for elite prep school students and a national sample of public high school seniors. At each college, students from the elite prep schools were more likely to gain admittance--in some cases, more than twice as likely. These are among the universities with the most social capital to invest in students. That prep school students have an advantage getting in to these institutions reflects one more way that class determines educational outcomes, and therefore, achieved class position.

Wherever in the class hierarchy one begins, getting more education often leads to upward mobility. Although we occasionally hear stories about someone who drops out of high school and strikes it rich, data from national surveys clearly show that higher SES is strongly associated with higher educational attainment. The likelihood of becoming a billionaire CEO of a high-tech company as a high school dropout is miniscule, but the odds of achieving a modest middle class position with a college degree are more favorable.

Table 3 shows the average occupational prestige score by educational attainment for a national sample of adult Americans. The differences between each pair of educational levels is statistically significant. (This means that we can be confident that the difference between each pair reliably reflects the social world.) Those with more education are more likely to attain higher prestige occupations. This pattern holds true for men and women, as well as for whites and minorities.

The same pattern holds for average income by educational achievement. (Data in this table come from the 1996 General Social Survey.)