Intergenerational educational mobility over the past century in Canada

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Education Studies
• Social Mobility Research

Background:

• Higher education enrollment has increased for young adults, suggesting potential for greater class mobility.
• This perceived mobility is attributed to structural expansion within the Canadian education system, not necessarily increased fairness.
• Exchange mobility, focusing on the link between social origins and destinations, offers a clearer measure of educational opportunity and social fairness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate changes in intergenerational educational exchange mobility in Canada over the 20th century.
• To determine if the linkage between parents' and children's educational attainment has shifted.
• To contribute to the under-researched area of social mobility in Canadian sociology.

Main Methods:

• Construction of a longitudinal dataset by merging fifteen cross-sectional surveys from Statistics Canada's General Social Survey (GSS) (1986-2014).
• Analysis of synthetic birth cohorts to examine transition probabilities, odds ratios, and logistic regression estimates.
• Comparison with recent economic studies on intergenerational income mobility.

Main Results:

• Intergenerational educational exchange mobility for both men and women has been stagnant in Canada throughout the past century.
• Educational system expansion has not translated into increased social fairness regarding educational attainment.
• Findings align with previous sociological and economic research on social mobility.

Conclusions:

• Despite significant growth in educational access, Canada has not experienced notable improvements in intergenerational educational mobility.
• Educational opportunities remain strongly tied to social origins, indicating a lack of progress in social fairness.
• Further research is needed to understand the factors contributing to stagnant social mobility in Canada.