CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF HORIZONTAL STRATIFICATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role of horizontal stratification (qualitative differences within the same education level) in higher education for social stratification and inequality. Sociological studies long debated the role of educational expansion for social mobility, where it is assumed that increased access to higher education occurs more or less uniformly. However, the limited focus on the quantitative increase in the number of highly educated individuals may obscure another important mechanism, that is, the growth of institutional heterogeneity through the proliferation of lower-tier institutions. This study examines the case of social mobility, and two critically related outcomes – assortative mating and gender stratification.