How does income inequality affect children’s educational opportunities?
Researcher Max Thaning is leading a new Forte-funded project to explore how increasing income inequality impacts children’s educational choices and future prospects. The study compares developments in Sweden with other Nordic countries and the US to shed light on changes in social mobility.
Max Thaning. Photo: Magnus Dahl
A new research project, funded by Forte, will examine how rising income inequality affects children’s educational opportunities and future life chances. The study will also compare trends in educational mobility in Sweden with other Nordic countries and the US.
The research focuses on the links between family background, children’s educational performance and choices, and how these connections can be understood in relation to changes in income distribution. The results aim to provide a deeper understanding of the long-term challenges faced by the Swedish welfare model.
“It is crucial to understand how societal changes affect children’s education and future prospects. With this research, we aim to contribute knowledge that updates the current understanding of social mobility and its future development. A key objective is to address the question of to what extent increased inequality in childhood spills over into educational opportunities and choices as children grow up,” says project leader Max Thaning from the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) at Stockholm University.
The project offers insights into whether and how increasing income inequality spills over into disparities in future generations' educational outcomes. The evidence provided is instrumental to understanding the long-term challenges for the Swedish welfare state to provide equal opportunities for its citizens.
Research at the Social Policy unit includes investigating explanations for the development of the welfare state, as well as the effects of social policy on an individual and societal level, often in an international comparative perspective and with quantitative research methods.
