Patterns of Inequality During Institutional Decline: Educational Attainment of Multiple Generations in Former-Soviet Central Asia

• In Event: 246 - Regular Session. Schools, Social Mobility, and the Reproduction of Inequality

Abstract

In order to explore changes in inequality in periods of educational decline, this paper analyzes the educational attainment of adults born between 1946 and 1988 from four former- Soviet republics of Central Asia. Adults in the oldest cohorts attended school during the educational expansion of the Soviet period and the youngest cohorts attended education in the post-Soviet period, marked by educational contraction and increased privatization. Using household survey data collected in 2005-2006 by UNICEF, I conduct synthetic cohort analyses estimating the likelihood of attending incomplete secondary, secondary, and higher education for men and women; urban and rural residents; poor and non-poor; and ethnic majority and minority citizens. Findings for particular groups are mixed, but in general the results point to an increased polarization between advantaged groups and disadvantaged groups. The privileged groups were able to take advantage of the weak institutions and recent privatization to substantially increase their access to higher education, while the disadvantaged lost significant resources of support in the wake of institutional decline and subsequently attend only the foundational “incomplete secondary” education.

Author

• Christopher Michael Whitsel, North Dakota State University