The question of socio-educational downclassing

Abstract

This article presents a conceptualization of downclassing. To begin with, it is proposed the notion of socio-educational downclassing to address the situation of individuals in their thirties who are at the top of the educational structure and in a relatively low position in the pay scale structure. Secondly, some explanations of the rise of social downclassing are briefly described and it is assessed its influence on transformations of the value of graduates qualification in relation to their social position. Finally, a diachronic perspective is adopted to revise the studies that have addressed the issue of downclassing and that have focused on graduates. Given the fact that those studies have been basically done in France and the United States, the article concludes with a proposal on the relevance of testing the theories aforementioned in a different Sociocultural context, particularly affected by the economic crisis, as the case of Spain.