Inequality across Three Generations under Pressure from Sovietization Policies

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the multigenerational impact of Sovietization policies on the reproduction of educational inequalities in Estonia. Estonia provides an opportunity to assess the multigenerational effect under conditions of regime changes after transitioning from the independent Estonian Republic to Soviet Estonia and thence to the newly independent post-Soviet Estonia. During Sovietization, a wide range of measures involving repressions and positive discrimination were applied to abruptly hinder intergenerational continuity. Analysis based on retrospective data from the Estonian Family and Fertility Survey 2004 indicates grandparents’ social positions are associated with grandchildren’s attainment of higher education. Their influence is only partially mediated through the parental generation. Overall, the Sovietization policies have not reduced either the two or three-generational reproduction of inequality. Moreover, these policies produced unintended consequences, facilitating the transmission of advantage in three generational perspectives. Our findings argue in favour of the importance of contextual sensitivity and a multigenerational perspective in research of social stratification.