Social Class and Education: Soviet Findings and Reactions

One consequence of the revival of sociology in Soviet Russia has been to focus attention on the influence of social class on the educational aspirations and educational attainment levels of Soviet youth. Recent Soviet studies have shown that the social class composition of the student body varies markedly among the various types of educational institutions, with the share of workers' children declining and that of intelligentsia children increasing as students progress through secondary school. The reverse is true of vocational schools training students for workers' occupations. Differences between intelligentsia and worker in access to advanced education, however, appear much less marked than general urban-rural differences. These studies have led to the explicit recognition and public discussion of the continuing problem of social inequality in Soviet society.