On the Changing Role of Education in Social Reproduction in Different Sociopolitical Systems

Abstract

One of the functions of education is the transmitting of social reproduction from one generation to the next. Especially interesting are comparisons between systems with and without explicit educational reforms designed to reduce social inequality, and that are based on the assumption that the link between education and occupation is extremely strong in the socialist countries. However, these conclusions are largely based on research which lacks a time dimension or applies only to post-revolution cohorts. Thus, no conclusions can be drawn with regard to the consequences of social refomls and the transition to socialism.

This issue is tested in a cohort analysis of 1981 data from the Netherlands and 1982 data from Poland. The main methods of analysis are multiple regression techniques and log-linear models.