ABSTRACT
This chapter defines educational prestige as the respect or esteem shown to persons who have a given level and type of education. It recognizes three levels of education: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The chapter assumes that the level and type of education is socially perceived as a dimension of social stratification, and as such constitutes a source of prestige. Educational prestige is conceptually different from occupational prestige. The chapter treats educational categories, which constitute the subject of evaluation in terms of prestige, as analytical. It represents a "life-cycle" study, to collect information about the course of a person's educational, occupational, and migratory career as well as his or her family history. The chapter believes that incomplete education, regardless of the level, is ascribed relatively low prestige because persons failing to complete a particular level of education are perceived as not possessing some universally valued attributes.
