Educational Stratification in Russia During the Soviet Period

A national survey of educational stratification in Russia reveals substantial inequality of educational attainments throughout the Soviet period. Parents' education, main earner's occupation, and geographical origin contributed to these inequalities. Gender preferences for men were removed, and for some transitions reversed. Although secondary education grew rapidly, higher education failed to keep pace. This disparity led to a university-level enrollment squeeze, and the resulting bottleneck hurt disadvantaged classes more than advantaged ones. In turn the effect of social origins on entering university increased after 1965. The upshot was no net change in the origin-based differences in likelihood of attaining a VUZ degree across three postwar cohorts.

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