Is a College Degree Still the Great Equalizer? Intergenerational Mobility across Levels of Schooling in the United States
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.
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Prior survey-based research shows that the association between children's and parents' incomes or occupational status is much weaker among college graduates.
“These findings are consistent with prior research using survey data showing that the association between children's and parents' incomes or occupational status is much weaker among college graduates (Hout 1988; Torche 2011).”
From Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility (2017) · cites this paper as Torche 2011
Cites
The polarization of the U.S. labor market
Autor, D. H., Katz, L. F., & Kearney, M. S. (2006) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/000282806777212620 · Cited by 1,594 · see citing works
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Social and Economic Returns to College Education in the United States
Hout, M. (2012) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102503 · Cited by 943 · see citing works
Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility
Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w23618 · Cited by 632 · see citing works
Disparities in Debt: Parents’ Socioeconomic Resources and Young Adult Student Loan Debt
Houle, J. N. (2014) · Sociology of Education · doi:10.1177/0038040713512213 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Passing It On: Parent-to-Adult Child Financial Transfers for School and Socioeconomic Attainment
Rauscher, E. (2016) · RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences · doi:10.7758/rsf.2016.2.6.09 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Blanden, J., Doepke, M., & Stuhler, J. (2022) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w29979 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“These and other forms of horizontal stratification have long been highlighted in the sociological literature (Gerber and Cheung, 2008; Torche, 2011) and have increasingly also been the subject of economic research.”
BackgroundEducational Mobility in the Developing World
Torche, F. (2021) · Social Mobility in Developing Countries · doi:10.1093/oso/9780192896858.003.0007 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationLaidley, T., Vinneau, J., & Boardman, J. (2019) · Sociological Science · doi:10.15195/v6.a22 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Torche, F.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Torche, Florencia
- ORCID
- Torche, Florencia
- Venue
- American Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2011-11
- Volume
- 117
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 763-807
- ISSN
- 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5390
- OpenAlex
- W1580804840
- Cited by
- 587
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 39 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 48.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Cultural Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
- Keywords
- intergenerational mobility, college degree, educational attainment, occupational status, earnings, household income, social class, parental influence, meritocracy, gender differences, advanced degrees, bachelor's degree holders, college selectivity, field of study
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