Educational expansion and reduced prejudice have not increased economic opportunity or mobility
Evidence
Yet the facts concerning inequality of economic opportunity do not support this theory. Women’s suffrage and a more liberal attitude toward the “woman’s place” in the home and on the job has not enhanced the economic situation of women relative to men. The slackening of racial prejudice—-attested to in numerous recent surveys— and the dramatic ed ucational gains made by blacks have resulted in little occupational or in come gains for blacks relative to whites. Finally, the considerable expansion of education over the years has not increased social mobility. There is no evidence of a lessening of the economic importance of family background on life chances. And family background is important indeed: our data indicate that individuals whose parents were in the top socio economic decile earn, on the average, well over twice as much as those from families in the bottom decile. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 845
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to broader debates about whether education equalizes outcomes, and to ‘Great Gatsby Curve’ mobility research. — connects to: Schooling is too weak an influence to equalize economic opportunity — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 565; Educational attainment alone cannot close or reverse the racial wealth gap — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 344; College degrees do not close the racial wealth gap — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 344 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- College degrees do not close the racial wealth gap
#corroborates(0.95) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 344 - Educational attainment alone cannot close or reverse the racial wealth gap
#corroborates(0.90) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 344 - Racial income inequality persists despite near-parity in education
#exemplifies(0.85) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 453 - Egalitarian schooling barely changes income distribution
#corroborates(0.80) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 194