The rise of the schooled society: An empirical investigation of the centrality of schooling and its societal effects

Schooling – the process whereby all children in society are formally educated in schools – has become incredibly important in the past decades (Baker, 2014; Meyer, 1977). Never before in history did so many children go to school for such a long time. Although a world without mass schooling seems almost unimaginable today, it’s a relatively recent development. Since the Second World War, a worldwide educational revolution (cf. Parsons, 1979) has transformed an increasing number of countries into schooled societies (cf. Baker, 2014), where schooling not only shapes people’s thinking, behavior and feelings, but also has strong (and widely accepted) effects on their social status and opportunities in life.

My PhD dissertation (defended in public on December 11, 2025), titled Paradoxes of the schooled society: Investigating the centrality of schooling and its institutional effects from a global perspective, maps national differences in the development of schooled society in countries worldwide, and studies how this is associated with education-based inequalities in religiosity, work, and political trust and involvement. In societies where schooling has become a central institution (demographically, culturally and structurally), educational attainment becomes an important basis of differences and inequality. This leads to processes of group formation, which have major and wide-ranging political consequences. I argue (1) that schooling is a central societal institution, (2) that this centrality is associated to increased education-based differences, (3) and that these processes are both the cause and consequence of education-based group formation.

The schooled society thesis

The thesis of the schooled society argues that schooling strongly shapes contemporary society (Baker, 2014). It proposes that schooling is a primary, global, and multidimensional institution. First, schooling is often seen as something that simply serves the economy or prepares people for jobs. But it plays a much bigger role than that. Schooling is a primary, core institution in modern society (Baker, 2014). It actively shapes how other institutions work – from the labor market to politics and public life. By teaching certain kinds of knowledge, values, and skills, the school system defines which abilities ‘count’ and who is seen as competent or successful (Kavadias et al., 2024; van Noord et al., 2019). In this way, schooling publicly and legally establishes who qualifies as an expert and who does not. Far from being neutral, schooling organizes society itself (Meyer, 1977).

Second, schooling is a global phenomenon. Although countries differ in many ways, school systems around the world are surprisingly similar (Baker, 2014). School structures, curricula, exams, and diplomas are increasingly standardized and follow shared models (Inkeles & Sirowy, 1983; Fiala, 2007). This global spread reflects the idea that schooling is essential for a modern, rational society. Around the world, schooling is treated as the foundation for progress and development, helping to sustain a shared ‘world culture’ about how societies should be organized (Schofer & Meyer, 2005).

 

Far from being neutral, schooling organizes society itself

 

Third and importantly, the expansion of schooling is not just about more people going to school. It also has cultural and structural effects. (Kavadias et al., 2025). Schooling has become a key marker of social status: degrees increasingly determine who is respected, trusted, and rewarded. A powerful belief underlies this system: the idea that equal access to schooling allows the most talented and hardworking people to rise to the top. According to this view, schooling makes societies fairer, more efficient, and more competitive on a global stage.

While compelling, the schooled society is a theory in need of an indicator, a way to assess its presence. Therefore, we constructed the Schooled Society Index [SSI]. This new index captures how central schooling is in countries around the world. Applying this index to our Schooled Society Dataset, which covers 192 countries across the world, our results show that the SSI helps explain differences between countries in demographic, economic, and political outcomes – and does so better than simple measures like the share of higher educated people in a country.

Schooling as a basis of social status

In societies where schooling plays a central role, education has become one of the most important ways people are ranked and valued. Educational qualifications are not only gatekeepers on the labor market – they form a key and independent source of social status (Meyer, 1977; van Noord et al., 2019). In other words, schooling increasingly determines who is respected, trusted, and rewarded in society.

This happens in two main ways. First, schooling reshapes other institutions, such as the economy, politics, and public organizations. As a result, education-based differences matter more in everyday life – influencing societal pathways, social interactions, and life chances (Baker, 2014; Schofer & Meyer, 2005). Second, educational qualifications have become widely accepted cultural symbols of merit and competence. Diplomas signal who is perceived as capable and deserving, and they are rewarded with status, income, and influence (Bourdieu, 1985; van Noord et al., 2019).

 

Schooling increasingly determines who is respected, trusted, and rewarded in society

 

Our analyses show that the SSI moderates education-based differences across several areas of life. In strongly schooled societies, higher educated people are consistently less religious, report higher levels of career success (both in terms of income and how satisfying and meaningful they find their work), and are more trusting of and involved in politics. Importantly, the gap between less and higher educated people in religiosity, political trust, and political involvement is larger in these societies than in less strongly schooled ones. Our studies also show that in strongly schooled societies, these education-based inequalities accumulate over the life course, and that educational attainment becomes an increasingly independent driver of inequality.

Education-based group formation

Because educational qualifications have become such a powerful source of status, it also shapes how people form groups. Educational levels are not just categorizations used by researchers – they increasingly form the basis of real sociological groups, with shared lifestyles, identities, and enduring divisions between them (Kuppens et al., 2018; van Noord et al., 2025).

 

In strongly schooled societies, social divisions increasingly run along educational lines

 

There are three main reasons for this. First, people with similar levels of education tend to follow similar life paths and spend time in the same places – which increases contact and similarity (Vanderstraeten & Van der Gucht, 2023). Second, educational differences are broad, highly visible and deeply embedded in institutions, making them an accessible and meaningful basis for people to categorize themselves and others (Turner et al., 1994). Third, such distinctions are rooted in, and legitimized by, meritocratic beliefs – the widespread idea that success reflects talent and effort. This in turn helps justify the higher social standing of the higher educated and strengthens group identity and bias (Kuppens et al., 2018).

All in all, our findings confirm that in strongly schooled societies, social divisions increasingly run along educational lines. Education-based differences in work outcomes largely reflect unequal opportunities rather than individual choices. The education effect on political trust is more independent from other factors, such as employment sector. Most strikingly, in the political life of strongly schooled societies, both education-based between-group differences and within-group similarities are larger than in less strongly schooled societies. In other words, education-based groups grow more distinct from each other, while becoming more internally alike.

These dynamics have major political consequences. Education-based intergroup dynamics have been shown to lie at the heart of contemporary political conflicts and movements, including the rise of the populist right (Van Noord et al., 2025).

In sum, my PhD research shows that schooling does far more than reproduce society. By creating socially meaningful categories and legitimizing inequalities between them, schooling fundamentally shapes society. As such, educational attainment has become a central dividing line in social, economic, and political life – especially in countries where schooling is most strongly institutionalized.

 

Image credit: photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash; licensed free to use.

References

Baker, D. (2014). The schooled society: The educational transformation of global culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1985). The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups. Social Science Information, 24(2), 195-220.https://doi.org/10.1177/053901885024002001.

Fiala R. (2007). Educational Ideology and the School Curriculum. In A. Benavot, C. Braslavsky, N. Trong (Eds.), School Knowledge in Comparative and Historical Perspective (pp. 15-34). Dordrecht: Springer.

Inkeles, A., & Sirowy, L. (1983). Convergent and divergent trends in national educational systems. Social Forces, 62(2), 303-333.https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/62.2.303.

Kavadias, L., Spruyt, B., & Kuppens, T. (2024). Religious life in schooled society? A global study of the relationship between schooling and religiosity in 76 countries. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 65(3), 247-270. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152231177238.

Kavadias, L., Spruyt, B., & Kuppens, T. (2025). The Schooled Society Index: Measuring the Centrality of Schooling in the Twenty-First Century from a Global Perspective. Socius, 11, 23780231251338676. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251338676.

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Meyer, J. (1977). The effects of education as an institution. American Journal of Sociology, 83(1), 55-77. https://doi.org/10.1086/226506.

Parsons, T. (1971). Higher Education as a Theoretical Focus. In H. Turk & R. L. Simpson (Eds.), Institutions and Social Exchange: The Sociologies of Talcott Parsons and George C. Homans (pp. 233-252). Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merill.

Schofer, E., & Meyer, J. W. (2005). The worldwide expansion of higher education in the twentieth century. American sociological review, 70(6), 898-920. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240507000602.

Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorization Theory. New York: Blackwell.

Vanderstraeten, R., & Van der Gucht, F. (2023). Educational Expansion and Socio- Geographical Inequality (Belgium, 1961-2011). Paedagogica Historica, 59(3), 466-491. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2021.1881800.

van Noord, J., Kuppens, T., Spruyt, B., Kavadias, L., Darnon, C., & Marot, M. (2025). Education-based affective attitudes: higher educated-bias is related to more political trust and less populism. Acta Politica, 60(2), 235-258. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-023-00322-6.

van Noord, J., Spruyt, B., Kuppens, T., & Spears, R. (2019). Education-based status in comparative perspective: The legitimization of education as a basis for social stratification. Social Forces, 98(2), 649-676. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz012.