Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wang, Chunlei
Language:English
Published: The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406655324
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu14066553242021-08-03T06:26:15Z Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998 Wang, Chunlei Sociology Using longitudinal (panel) data, I test how far Polish society was from a meritocracy in 1988 and 1998, and whether Poland moved closer to a meritocracy during the transition period from communism to democratic capitalism. This allows me to assess Nee's Market Transition Theory. Furthermore, I examine to what extent the trend toward a meritocracy is concomitant with an increase in social inequality. This allows me to re-evaluate Muller's assertion about the inverse relationship between democracy and social inequality. I apply linear programming methods to construct an ideal type of meritocracy, and an index of dissimilarity to test the meritocratic thesis. I use Theil index to evaluate the hypothesis about meritocracy and social inequality. Generally, findings of this paper provide empirical evidence to support Nee's Market Transition Theory: During the 1988-1998 period, Polish society became closer to a meritocracy. This, however, was accompanied by an increased disparity in income between people with more education and those with less education. A sizable proportion of college graduates who earned more than meritocratic income in 1988 retained such an advantage in 1998, whereas retention rates for people with less education were relatively lower. Democratization brought about greater social inequality, which contradicts Muller's assertion. 2001 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406655324 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406655324 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Sociology
spellingShingle Sociology
Wang, Chunlei
Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998
author Wang, Chunlei
author_facet Wang, Chunlei
author_sort Wang, Chunlei
title Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998
title_short Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998
title_full Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998
title_fullStr Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998
title_full_unstemmed Educational Meritocracy and Social Inequality in Poland during the Transition Period from 1988 to 1998
title_sort educational meritocracy and social inequality in poland during the transition period from 1988 to 1998
publisher The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2001
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406655324
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