IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/injoed/v63y2018icp4-11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Higher education, economic inequality and social mobility: Implications for emerging East Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Marginson, Simon

Abstract

Higher education systems in the Chinese civilizational zone (East Asia) are rapidly improving in quantity and quality, associated with the growth of middle classes and absolute social mobility. But are they contributing to more equal opportunities between students with different backgrounds, and greater relative social mobility? The article reviews the case of the United States, where expansion of the middle-class growth and social mobility via education in the 1950s/1970s was followed in the 1980s and after by a marked increase in inequality in incomes and higher education, and less social mobility. Will this same reversal occur in China and Korea?

Suggested Citation

  • Marginson, Simon, 2018. "Higher education, economic inequality and social mobility: Implications for emerging East Asia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 4-11.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:63:y:2018:i:c:p:4-11
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.03.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059316304771
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.03.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hyun-Hoon LEE & Minsoo LEE & Donghyun PARK, 2012. "Growth Policy and Inequality in Developing Asia: Lesson from Korea," Working Papers DP-2012-12, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    2. Caroline Hoxby & Christopher Avery, 2013. "The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(1 (Spring), pages 1-65.
    3. Jamil Salmi, 2009. "The Challenge of Establishing World-Class Universities," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2600.
    4. Björn Gustafsson & Li Shi & Ludmila Nivorozhkina, 2011. "Why are household incomes more unequally distributed in China than in Russia?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 35(5), pages 897-920.
    5. Jo Blanden, 2013. "Cross-Country Rankings In Intergenerational Mobility: A Comparison Of Approaches From Economics And Sociology," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 38-73, February.
    6. Samuel R. Lucas, 2009. "Stratification Theory, Socioeconomic Background, and Educational Attainment," Rationality and Society, , vol. 21(4), pages 459-511, November.
    7. Kang-Kook Lee, 2012. "Growth And Inequality In Korea," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Jinjun Xue (ed.), Growth with Inequality An International Comparison on Income Distribution, chapter 6, pages 121-137, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Hartog, Joop & Sun, Yuze & Ding, Xiaohao, 2010. "University rank and bachelor's labour market positions in China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 971-979, December.
    9. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Shi, Xinzheng & Wu, Binzhen, 2012. "Does attending elite colleges pay in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 78-88.
    10. Blanden, Jo, 2013. "Cross-national rankings of intergenerational mobility: a comparison of approaches from economics and sociology," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59310, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Simon Marginson, 2016. "High Participation Systems of Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(2), pages 243-271, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Chun & Liu, Hao & Zhang, Huiping & Yuan, Qin, 2023. "The impact of internet use on the perceptions of class boundaries and life trajectories: A report from a representative survey in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10).
    2. Pingping Gui & Gazi Mahabubul Alam & Aminuddin Bin Hassan, 2024. "Whether Socioeconomic Status Matters in Accessing Residential College: Role of RC in Addressing Academic Achievement Gaps to Ensure Sustainable Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Simson, Rebecca & Harris, J. Andrew, 2022. "Diversity and liberalisation reforms: Evidence from the University of Nairobi," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Simson, Rebecca, 2021. "Regional inequality in university attainment in seven African countries since 1960," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Philipp Kruse, 2021. "Exploring International and Inter-Sector Differences of Social Enterprises in the UK and India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Duan, Yide & Zhang, Haotian & Wang, Wenfu & Ao, Xiaoyan, 2022. "The effects of China's higher education expansion on urban and rural intergenerational mobility," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Pingping Gui & Gazi Mahabubul Alam, 2024. "Do Chinese Residential Colleges Narrow the Education Disparity Caused by Socioeconomic Status? A Comparison of Public and Private Universities Using Two Main Approaches to Assess Disparities in Access," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-14, June.
    8. Chen, Chen & Frank, Vanclay, 2020. "University social responsibility in the context of economic displacement from the proposed upgrading of a higher education institution: The case of the University of Groningen Yantai campus," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Song, Yang, 2019. "Sorting, school performance and quality: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 238-261.
    2. Marginson, Simon, 2018. "Global trends in higher education financing: The United Kingdom," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 26-36.
    3. Jo Blanden, 2019. "Intergenerational income persistence," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 176-176, January.
    4. Bo, Shiyu & Liu, Jing & Shiu, Ji-Liang & Song, Yan & Zhou, Sen, 2019. "Admission mechanisms and the mismatch between colleges and students: Evidence from a large administrative dataset from China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 27-37.
    5. Chong Lu, 2022. "The effect of migration on rural residents’ intergenerational subjective social status mobility in China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3279-3308, October.
    6. Neidhöfer, Guido & Serrano, Joaquín & Gasparini, Leonardo, 2018. "Educational inequality and intergenerational mobility in Latin America: A new database," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 329-349.
    7. Catherine Haeck & Pierre Lefebvre, 2020. "The Evolution of Cognitive Skills Inequalities by Socioeconomic Status across Canada," Working Papers 20-04, Research Group on Human Capital, University of Quebec in Montreal's School of Management.
    8. Azam Mehtabul, 2016. "Intergenerational Educational Persistence among Daughters: Evidence from India," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(4), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Castleman, Benjamin L. & Owen, Laura & Page, Lindsay C., 2016. "Reprint of “Stay late or start early? Experimental evidence on the benefits of college matriculation support from high schools versus colleges”," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 113-124.
    10. Guido Neidhöfer, 2019. "Intergenerational mobility and the rise and fall of inequality: Lessons from Latin America," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(4), pages 499-520, December.
    11. Lindo, Jason M. & Marcotte, Dave E. & Palmer, Jane E. & Swensen, Isaac D., 2019. "Any press is good press? The unanticipated effects of Title IX investigations on university outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Avery, Christopher & Castleman, Benjamin L. & Hurwitz, Michael & Long, Bridget Terry & Page, Lindsay C., 2021. "Digital messaging to improve college enrollment and success," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Adam Altmejd & Andrés Barrios-Fernández & Marin Drlje & Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Dejan Kovac & Christine Mulhern & Christopher Neilson & Jonathan Smith, 2021. "O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling Spillovers on College and Major Choice in Four Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1831-1886.
    14. Mendolia, Silvia & Siminski, Peter, 2017. "Is education the mechanism through which family background affects economic outcomes? A generalised approach to mediation analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-12.
    15. Magali Duque & Abigail McKnight, 2019. "Understanding the relationship between inequalities and poverty: a review of dynamic mechanisms," CASE Papers /217, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    16. Christopher Neilson & Adam Altmejd & Andres Barrios-Fernandez & Marin Drlje & Dejan Kovac, 2019. "Siblings' Effects on College and Major Choices: Evidence from Chile, Croatia and Sweden," Working Papers 633, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    17. Andrews, Rodney J. & Imberman, Scott A. & Lovenheim, Michael F., 2020. "Recruiting and supporting low-income, high-achieving students at flagship universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    18. Chenhong Peng & Paul Siu Fai Yip & Yik Wa Law, 2019. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility and Returns to Education in Hong Kong: A Developed Society with High Economic Inequality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 133-156, May.
    19. Gurantz, Oded & Pender, Matea & Mabel, Zachary & Larson, Cassandra & Bettinger, Eric, 2020. "Virtual advising for high-achieving high school students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan & Claudia Vittori, 2017. "Moving Towards Estimating Sons' Lifetime Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the UK," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(1), pages 79-100, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:63:y:2018:i:c:p:4-11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-educational-development .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.