Converging Destinies? Educational Mobility and Reproduction among Immigrant and Native Families over Three Generations in France

Milan Bouchet-Valat , French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED)
Mathieu Ferry, Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University
Lucas Drouhot, Cornell University
Mathieu Ichou, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Ognjen Obucina, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Intergenerational mobility within immigrant families has been the subject of growing empirical interest. Yet, research has been limited to two generations, even though the role of grandparents has received much recent attention in the general population, and assimilation theories posit that convergence with natives takes more than two generations. In this study, we compare the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment over three generations between immigrant-origin families and native families in France. Based on new data from the Trajectoires et Origines 2 survey (2019-2020), we show substantial catching up in educational attainment and higher social fluidity across generations in immigrant families for whom the grandparental educational starting point was very low. Despite this partial convergence with natives, grandchildren of North African immigrants still experience enduring educational disadvantage.

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 Presented in Session 43. Migrant Populations and Education