Intergenerational Educational Mobility among Mexican Americans Across the 20th Century
Posted: 1/31/2020 (CSDE Seminar Series)
This Friday, Jennifer Van Hook from the Pennsylvania State University will discuss educational mobility among Mexican Americans and how cross-sectional assessments of Mexican-American integration are misleading and underestimate this group’s prospects going forward. Concerns about the integration of Mexican-Americans have been amplified by the phenomenon of third generation delay, whereby the 3rd-or-higher generation has similar or lower educational attainment than the 2nd generation in analyses of cross-sectional data. Using unique longitudinal data, however, Van Hook and her team find no evidence of third generation delay. Although Mexican-Americans still experience disadvantages, the educational attainment of third-generation Mexican-Americans increased dramatically and consistently across generations. The third-generation delay pattern seen in cross-sectional analyses stems in large part from historical disadvantages in starting points and educational mobility. Van Hook and her team’s results reveal dramatic improvements in Mexican-American educational opportunities among the children of immigrants since the 1970s—contrary to the results from cross-sectional analyses.
Date: 02/07/2020
Time: 12:30 - 1:30PM
Location: 121 Raitt Hall