Work

The Status of Graduates in Post-Mass Higher Education: Are We Still Just Reproducing Elites?

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: The article examines the influence of the social status of university graduates in the Czech Republic on their situation in post-mass higher education. More specifically, it tests the validity of hypotheses concerning the impact of family background, income level, reselection of the field of study, and the extent of saturation of prestigious fields (medicine, law) with individuals from elite backgrounds by applying the socio-economic status (SES) concept and the theory of maximally maintained inequality. The hypotheses are tested on the Graduate 2018 survey dataset. The research results confirm the persistent importance of parents' education on graduates' SES. The income security of graduates affects their life satisfaction to a certain degree but has no effect on the reselection of their field of study. The results also show the above-average saturation of medical and legal disciplines by graduates with elite status.

Source: Czech Sociological Review

DOI: 10.13060/csr.2021.002

Authors: Jan Kohoutek, Vítězslav Lounek, Michaela Šmídová, Jana Korečková

Institution: Centre for Higher Education Studies

Language: English

Topic: Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Quality education

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W3137586315