ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between social class and entry to postgraduate study in Britain. In the face of higher education's staggering growth in the last quarter century it is perhaps unsurprising that sociologists and higher education researchers have focused their attention on access to first degrees. Extensive research in the UK and elsewhere has investigated entry to undergraduate study and its domination by the more advantaged social classes. The chapter reviews sociological thinking on the relationship between higher education, social mobility and social reproduction, together with the limited previous research on postgraduate education in particular. It focuses on two particular outcomes: enrolment on a taught higher degree; or on a higher degree by research. Enrolment is first of all computed across social class background, with a range of other salient variables subsequently added to the analysis, including gender, first-degree institution, first-degree attainment and subject discipline.
