THE PERSISTENCE OF EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES IN STATE-SOCIALIST HUNGARY - TRAJECTORY-MAINTENANCE VERSUS COUNTERSELECTION

In this article, which examines the persistence of inequalities in the allocation of education in state-socialist Hungary, the authors chall enge the theory of counterselection, which holds that quotas implement ed after the Communist seizure of power reduced educational inequaliti es based on class of origin, and advocate a theory of trajectory maint enance, which takes into account efforts by social groups to maintain intergenerational social status. Using data collected in 1983 and 1992 by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, the authors show that th e persistence of class-based inequalities during the state-socialist p eriod can be explained largely in terms of the ability of two groups-c adre administrators and professionals-to use the educational system fo r reproducing social status. They also show that the children of profe ssionals were much more likely than those of cadres to advance to tech nical and academic high schools and then into tertiary institutions.