Expansion without equalization? Inequalities of access to PhD in Italy from the 90s onwards

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Gianluca Argentin, Gabriele Ballarino, Sabrina Colombo
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/136
Language Italian Pages 17 P. 149-165 File size 167 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2014-136008
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Typically, the expansion of the participation to a given level of education is associated with an equalization of participation, that is with a decrease of the ascribed inequalities in the opportunity to get the title itself. Relevant inequalities might relate to gender, family background, ethnic origin and so on. This paper asks whether this statement holds for the PhD courses in Italy. The question is relevant, as in Italy participation to this educational level increased by a factor of four between the late 90s and the mid 2000s. The analysis of two different databases of university graduates from this period (Almalaurea 1999- 2005; Istat 1992-2004) shows, however, that neither gender differences nor class differences have significantly changed.

Keywords: PhD, educational inequalities, social stratification, labour market, graduates

  1. Acemoglu D. (2002). Technical Change, Inequality and the Labor Market. Journal of Economic Literature, 40: 7-72.
  2. Argentin G. (2010). Lauree, competizione di mercato e riproduzione sociale. Caratteristiche, percorsi ed esiti occupazionali dei neolaureati italiani in un contesto in rapido mutamento, Tesi di dottorato, Università di Milano-Bicocca.
  3. Argentin G., Ballarino G. (2014). I rendimenti dell’istruzione: variazioni nello spazio e nel tempo. In: Barbieri P., Fullin G., a cura di, Lavoro, istituzioni, disuguaglianze. Bologna: il Mulino, pp. 165-188.
  4. Argentin G., Ballarino G., Colombo S. (2012). Accesso ed esiti occupazionali a breve del dottorato di ricerca in Italia. Un’analisi dei dati Istat e Stella. Sociologia del lavoro, 126: 165-181.
  5. Argentin G., Ballarino G., Colombo S. (2013). Expansion, inflation and displacement. Occupational outcomes of Italian PhD graduates, 1999-2005, presentazione allo Spring Meeting dell’ISA-RC28, università di Trento.
  6. Argentin G., Triventi M. (2011). Social inequalities in higher education and labour market in a period of institutional reforms: Italy, 1992-2007. Higher Education, 3: 309-323. Arum R., Gamoran A., Shavit Y. (2007). More Inclusion Than Diversion: Expansion, Differentiation and Market Structure in Higher Education. In: Shavit, Arum and Gamoran, eds., Stratification in Higher Education. A Comparative Study. Stanford: Stanford UP, pp. 1-35.
  7. Ballarino G. (2011). Le politiche per l’università. In: Ascoli U., a cura di, Il welfare in Italia. Bologna: il Mulino, pp. 197-223.
  8. Ballarino G., Colombo S. (2010). Occupational outcomes of PhD graduates in Northern Italy. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2: 149-171.
  9. Ballarino G., Barone C., Panichella N. (2014). Social background and education in occupational attainment in 20th century Italy, EUI Working Paper 2014/03.
  10. Ballarino G., Bratti M. (2009). Field of Study and University Graduates’ Early Employment Outcomes in Italy during 1995-2004. Labour, 23(3): 421-457.
  11. Ballarino G., Bernardi F., Schadee H., Requena M. (2009). Persistent Inequalities? Expansion of education and class inequality in Italy and Spain. European Sociological Review, 25: 123-138.
  12. Ballarino G., Scherer S. (2013), More investment – but less returns? Changing returns to education in Italy across three decades. Stato e mercato: 359-388.
  13. Ballarino G., Schizzerotto A. (2011). Le disuguaglianze intergenerazionali di istruzione. In: Schizzerotto A., Trivellato U., Sartor N., eds., Generazioni disuguali.
  14. Le condizioni di vita dei giovani di ieri e di oggi: un confronto. Bologna: il Mulino, pp. 71-110.
  15. Ballarino G., Bernardi F. (2014), Participation, equality or opportunity and returns to tertiary education in contemporary Europe. European Societies, 16, 4:
  16. 422-4421-21.
  17. Barone C. (2009), A new look at schooling inequalities in Italy and their trends over time. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 27, 2: 92-109.
  18. Breen R., Luijkx R., Müller W., Pollak R. (2009). Non-Persistent Inequality in Educational Attainment: Evidence from Eight European Countries. American Journal of Sociology, 114: 1475-1521.
  19. Breen R., Luijkx R., Müller W., Pollak R. (2010). Long-term Trends in Educational Inequality in Europe: Class Inequalities and Gender Differences. European Sociological Review, 26: 31-48.
  20. CNSVU (2002). Relazione annuale sullo stato della didattica nei corsi di dottorato e sulle procedure di valutazione adottate dalle università, doc. 2/02, www.cnsvu.it.
  21. CNSVU (2011). Undicesimo Rapporto sullo Stato del Sistema Universitario, www.cnsvu.it.
  22. Collins R. (1992). Teorie sociologiche. Bologna: il Mulino.
  23. Collins R. (2000). Comparative and Historical Patterns of Education. In: Hallinan M.T., a cura di, Handbook of the Sociology of Education. New York: Kluwer, pp. 213-239.
  24. Colombo S. (2006). I criteri di selezione del personale. L’ingresso nel mercato del lavoro gestito dai professionisti della selezione. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  25. Firebaugh G. (2008). Seven rules for social research. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  26. Kivinen O., Hedman J., Kaipainen P. (2007). From Elite University to Mass Higher Education. Educational Expansion, Equality of Opportunity and Returns
  27. to University Education. Acta Sociologica, 50: 231-247. Mare R.D. (1980). Social Background and School Continuation Decisions. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 75: 15-32.
  28. Mare R.D. (1981). Change and Stability in Educational Stratification. American Sociological Review, 46: 72-87.
  29. Marks G.N. (2014). Education, Social Background and Cognitive Ability. The decline of the social. New York: Routledge.
  30. Miur (2013). Banca dati dei docenti di ruolo, www.miur.it.
  31. Müller W., Gangl M., eds. (2003). Transitions from Education to Work in Europe. The Integration of Youth into EU Labour Markets. Oxford: Oxford UP.
  32. Pfeffer F. (2008). Persistent Inequality in Educational Attainment and its institutiona
  33. context. European Sociological Review, 24: 543-565.
  34. Recchi E. (2007). Italy: Expansion, Reform, and Social Inequality in Access to Higher Education. In: Shavit Y., Arum R., Gamoran A., eds., Stratification in Higher Education. A Comparative Study. Stanford: Stanford UP, pp. 400-420.
  35. Shavit Y., Yaish M., Bar Haim E. (2007). The Persistence of Persistent Inequality. In: Scherer S., Pollak R., Otte G., Gangl M., a cura di, From Origin to Destination. Trends and Mechanisms in Social Stratification Research. Frankfurt and New York: Campus, pp. 37-57.
  36. Shavit Y., Blossfeld H.-P., a cura di (1993). Persistent inequality. Change in educational attainment in thirteen countries. Boulder: Westview.

  • Italian doctorate holders in the political and social sciences: career options, job growth and salary Alessandra Decataldo, Antonio Fasanella, Brunella Fiore, in International Review of Sociology /2019 pp.409
    DOI: 10.1080/03906701.2019.1672350
  • Professione vs. formazione: i dottorandi di ricerca in Italia Alfredo Ferrara, in SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO 2/2015 pp.67
    DOI: 10.3280/SD2015-002003
  • Italian PhD students at the borders: the relationship between family background and international mobility Valentina Tocchioni, Alessandra Petrucci, in Genus 14/2021
    DOI: 10.1186/s41118-021-00127-5

Gianluca Argentin, Gabriele Ballarino, Sabrina Colombo, Espansione senza equalizzazione? Le disuguaglianze di accesso al dottorato di ricerca in Italia dagli anni ’90 in avanti in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 136/2014, pp 149-165, DOI: 10.3280/SL2014-136008