Abstract (EN)

The paper seeks to understand factors that account for differences in upward social mobility for individuals from different social backgrounds. Higher education could be an instrument to facilitate upward social mobility; however, it is equally true that those who enter higher education are also those whose parents are highly educated. Thus, higher education could actually account for inter-generational persistence, rather than inter-generational mobility, i.e. it might not facilitate individuals with poorly educated parents to attain higher education and thus, reap the rewards in the labour market through better paying jobs. This research seeks to understand how social identity (caste) and class (economic status of the parents) affect the possibility of upward mobility, and finds that high school performance plays a critical role in later life outcomes.