Educational Reproduction in Great Britain

A Prospective Approach

Bibliographic Data

ID2236087
AuthorsR Breen (0000-0002-9718-0743, corresponding author), John Ermisch (0000-0002-3633-5246)
Year2017
Volume33
Issue4
Pages590-603
Publication date2017-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/esr/jcx061
OpenAlexW2736680011
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited21

We examine the extent to which the educational attainments of a generation are reproduced in Great Britain. We address a very specific question—what was the effect, among people born around the middle of the 20th century, of having acquired a University degree on the probability of having a child who also acquires a degree? We consider the two central processes involved: the effect of having a degree on whether a person had a child and, conditional on having at least one child, the effect of having a degree on whether at least one child acquired a degree. We find a strong and persistent negative effect of having a degree on the chances of having a child, but, among those who had a child, the possession of a degree had a large positive effect on the probability of that child also acquiring a degree. These two effects largely cancel out, and thus having a degree had a very small effect on the chances of having a child who also had a degree. One major advantage of adopting the prospective approach used here is that it helps to better answer questions concerning the intergenerational effects of changes in education.

Degree (music) · Developmental psychology · Possession (linguistics) · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Global Health Care Issues · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Psychology