Social Class Privilege and Education

Beginning with James Coleman, researchers have long argued that school outcomes, whether attainment (how far one goes in school) or achievement, are linked in large part to student social class background. Since Coleman and colleagues' 1966 report, Equality of Educational Opportunity (better known as the Coleman Report), a number of scholars have extended research on school-related outcomes to postsecondary education, only to determine that higher education itself, though promising equality of opportunity, is increasingly stratified by social class. Indeed, although educational opportunities were extended to a broader segment of population in the United States and in a variety of other nations during the 20th century, differences by social class have persisted at largely consistent levels.

Research by Jay Campbell, Catherine Hombo, and John Mazzeo suggests ...