Effect of Education and Other Attributes on Social Status: Findings from a Conjoint Analysis

• In Event: 30620 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1: Education, Poverty, and Inequality

Abstract

In the United States, an individual’s educational standing has become an increasingly prominent marker of social status, made visible through social media posts, institutional affiliations, and everyday interactions. Yet, how education compares to other well-documented sources of status—such as occupation, income, and ascribed characteristics (e.g., gender, race, age, immigration status)—remains unclear. To address this gap, I conduct a pre-registered conjoint survey experiment in which respondents evaluate pairs of hypothetical profiles that randomly vary nine attributes: three educational dimensions (level, specialization, institution) and six other attained or ascribed status markers. By examining forced-choice and rating tasks, this design provides a robust means of isolating and comparing the causal impact of each attribute on perceived social standing. The study proceeds in two phases. First, an exploratory sample (n=500) is used to refine hypotheses about the main effects and to guide further inquiry into subgroup and interaction effects. Next, a larger validation sample (n=1000) tests these hypotheses in a confirmatory framework, following a preregistered analysis plan. Preliminary expectations suggest that while occupation and income exert the greatest influence on status perceptions, education retains an important, independent effect. Among educational attributes, degree level appears more consequential than institutional prestige or field of specialization. These findings contribute to two key literatures: they extend research on educational stratification beyond economic and material outcomes and illuminate how status beliefs shape and reinforce broader patterns of social inequality. By highlighting the interplay between education and other dimensions of status, this study offers a deeper understanding of the role education plays in (re)producing social hierarchies.

Author

• Alex Wei Jie Chow, Stanford University