Doctoral Dissertation Research: Why Has the Meritocratic Power of Advanced Degrees Declined?: The Role of Higher Education in Promoting Upward Mobility

为什么研究生教育没有促进更大的社会流动性，而本科教育却促进了？大学通常被认为是一个伟大的均衡器，因为它促进了向上流动。但是，高等教育的扩张可能并不能保证每个人都有平等的机会，尤其是在越来越多的人获得高等学位的情况下。这个项目将研究为什么家庭背景的影响在高学历人群中变得更强，而在只有学士/学士学位的人群中仍然很弱。本研究通过研究至少拥有学士/学士学位的人的收入水平来评估三种解释。这些人可能：1)获得高收入的高级学位，如MBA或专业学位（纵向选择）；2)本科阶段主修非职业专业，研究生阶段主修有利可图的专业，包括卫生、法律和商业（横向选择）；或者3)较早完成教育，有较多年的工作经验（累积优势）。该项目将对关心各类高等教育投资的相对权衡的家庭和教育工作者产生影响。该项目还将为各州和美国社会制定旨在促进有用教育投资的政策提供启示。这个项目将分析获得不同程度高等教育的成年人的教育收入回报。该项目将分析2003年、2010年、2013年和2015年全国大学毕业生调查数据和IPUMS 5%人口普查数据中超过15万名年龄在35-54岁之间的受访者，其中至少有学士学位？本科学历，有正收入。该项目将使用对数乘层效应和多元回归模型来检验垂直选择、水平选择和累积优势在多大程度上解释收入水平差异。该项目还将研究这些过程中的性别差异以及这些影响如何随时间变化。该项目将为有关社会流动性和社会选择在美国各类高等教育中的作用的社会学理论提供信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Why has graduate education not facilitated greater social mobility while undergraduate education has? College is often thought to be the great equalizer because it promotes upward mobility. But the expansion of higher education may not ensure equal opportunity for everyone, especially when a growing number of people are acquiring an advanced degree. This project will study why the influence of family background becomes stronger among advanced degree holders while it is still weak among those with a BA/BS degree only. This study evaluates three explanations by studying the income levels of those with at least a BA/BS degree. These people may: 1) attain a highly-lucrative advanced degree such as an MBA or professional degree (vertical selection); 2) major in a non-vocational field of study at the undergraduate level and a profitable one at the graduate level, including health, law, and business (horizontal selection); or 3) complete education at an earlier age and have more years of work experience (cumulative advantage). The project will provide implications for families and educators concerned with the relative tradeoffs for investment in various types of higher education. The project will also provide implications for states and U.S. society generally in creating policies aimed at promoting useful educational investment. This project will analyze income returns to education for adults who achieve various levels of higher education. The project will analyze over 150,000 respondents aged 35-54 from the 2003, 2010, 2013 and 2015 National Survey of College Graduates data and the IPUMS 5% Census data with at least a bachelor?s degree and having a positive income. The project will use log-multiplicative layer effect and multivariate regression models to examine the extent to which vertical selection, horizontal selection, and cumulative advantage explain income level differences. The project will also study gender differences in these processes as well as how these effects have changed over time. The project will inform sociological theories concerned with social mobility and the role of social selection into various types of higher education in the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.