Educational Expansion and Inequality of Access to University: The Effects and Changes in the Effects of Social Class and Academic Achievement

Abstract

This paper examines whether the effects of social class and academic achievement on access to university have changed due to rapid educational expansion since the 1990s. Analyzing the National Survey of Social Stratification and Mobility in Japan, the magnitude of the effects of the father’s occupation decreased significantly after educational expansion only in male samples, but impacts of the father’s and mother’s education have not changed significantly in both male and female samples. The direct effects of the father’s and mother’s education remain strong after controlling the stable impacts of academic achievement, indicating that “secondary effects” play important roles even in Japan. Considering the above, it is argued that the trends and mechanisms of educational inequality appear differently depending on which social class variables researchers use.