Educational credentialism and persistent structural inequalities in the era of modernization in Spain

Abstract

It is common to hear in political debates that developed economies can solve the problems of individual aspirations, economic efficiency and social justice through the creation of an economy based on high qualifications and high salaries. Along with these premises, there is a tendency to grant the University a special role in the field of social and economic development. However, credential goods based on higher education degrees that give access to the best positions within the structure of occupations are highly costly, whether we adopt the cultural point of view or from the economic perspective. In this research note we present part of the results of a study of more than three years in which the importance of the educational and economic resources available to university students of different socioeconomic origins and their effects on the university experience and the different transitions to the labor market, 12 months after completing their studies.