Higher Education Expansion and Attainment Gaps in Meritocratic Beliefs

• In Event: Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 15. Meritocracy

Abstract

This study examines how the expansion of higher education has shaped public beliefs in meritocracy across 30 Western countries. Drawing on four waves of repeated cross-national data from the International Social Survey Programme (1987, 1992, 2009, 2019, ISSP), the results show that the gross tertiary enrollment ratio is positively associated with overall endorsement of meritocratic beliefs. Individuals with a college degree express stronger meritocratic beliefs than non-degree holders. Furthermore, the magnitude of the attainment gap increases with gross tertiary enrollment ratios, indicating that higher education expansion reinforces belief divides. These findings advance theoretical debates by integrating neo-institutional and conflict perspectives. Expansion diffuses meritocratic norms while simultaneously stratifying their credibility across groups. It further reveals that mass higher education generates a dual consciousness of meritocracy, combining endorsement and skepticism among degree-holders. The study highlights how expanding education systems shape the ideological foundations of inequality and underscores the paradoxical role of higher education as both a universalistic script and a positional resource.

Authors

• Angran Li, New York University Shanghai

• Minghao Tang, East China Normal University