Intergenerational Educational Mobility of PhDs and the “Plafond” Effects: A French-Argentine Comparative Study

Abstract

We analyze educational mobility at the third generation for a population of PhDs in the humanities and social sciences and, particularly, in Education at both an Argentine university and a French provincial university. Our theoretical framework fits within the context of interactionist theories versus reproductivist theories (hyperfunctionalism), on the one hand, and within the issue of the University of the elite versus the University of the masses in both developed and developing contexts and their relation to the “plafond” effect, on the other. Our hypothesis is that diploma saturation at the doctoral level in countries that were once the birthplace of this academic degree results in decreasing processes of intergenerational educational mobility.The methodology used was quantitative-descriptive and explicative and qualitative. We carried out a comparative study of the mobility observed in both an important Argentine province and an important French province. Our findings show that said mobility remains in force, with all of the implications that this has at the social and professional level.