Genere, origine sociale e disuguaglianza di istruzione nell'Italia contemporanea

The paper studies the pattern over time of inequality of educational opportunities (IEO) in post ww2 Italy, by social origin and parental educational level. The analysis uses the two main Italian data sets on social stratification, the Indagine nazionale sulla mobilità sociale (1985) and the Indagine longitudinale sulle famiglie Italiane (1997). The pooled data sets are analyzed through a cumulative logit model (ordered logit) which allows modelling of both schooling and the expansion of education. Results confirm what was already known : gender IEO has diminished as did social origin IEO, though to a lesser extent. In addition the analysis shows that : a) the decine of gender IEO takes place at the higher educational levels, while compulsory schooling still shows a male bias; b) this decline is stronger in the agricultural classes where the male advantage was greater; c) the pattern of decline of gender IEO is the same for all classes and all parental educational levels, with the exception mentioned under b).