The Educated Underclass: Students and the False Promise of Social Mobility

The dream of social mobility is dying. Where previous generations routinely expected to surpass their parents’ level of economic success, prospects for today’s young people are increasingly bleak.
            The Educated Underclass reveals the structural problems that are helping to create this problem. Gary Roth shows how universities—touted as the best way up the economic ladder for young people—actually reproduce traditional class hierarchies. And as more graduates emerge every year into economies that are no longer creating a steady stream of stable jobs, the odds of landing one decrease—and over-educated people end up scrapping for poorly compensated positions for which they’re overqualified. A broadside against the failures of our education system and our economy, The Educated Underclass aims to startle us out of our complacency, and wake us up to action.