This book encompasses a systematic, comparative study of change in educational stratification in 13 industrialized countries, exploring which societal conditions help reduce existing inequalities in educational opportunity. The contributors show that in most industrialized countries inequalities in educational opportunity among students from different social and economic strata have been remarkably stable since the early 20th century. Contributions include: (1) "Persisting Barriers: Changes in Educational Opportunities in Thirteen Countries" (Hans-Peter Blossfeld and Yossi Shavit); (2) "Making the Grade: Educational Stratification in the United States, 1925-89" (Michael Hout, Adrian E. Raftery, and Eleanor O. Bell); (3) "Changes in Educational Opportunities in the Federal Republic of Germany: A Longitudinal Study of Cohorts Born between 1916 and 1965" (Hans-Peter Blossfeld); (4) "Family Background and Educational Attainment in the Netherlands for the 1891-1960 Birth Cohorts" (Paul M. De Graaf and Harry B. G. Ganzeboom); (5) "Persisting Inequalities in Sweden" (Jan O. Jonsson); (6) "Educational Attainment in a Changing Educational System: The Case of England and Wales" (Alan C. Kerckhoff and Jerry M. Trott); (7) "Inequality of Educational Opportunity in Italy" (Antonio Cobalti and Antonio Schizzerotto); (8) "The Lifelong Shadow: Social Origins and Educational Opportunity in Switzerland" (Marlis Buchmann and Maria Charles with Stefan Sacchi); (9) "Changes in Educational Stratification in Taiwan" (Shu-Ling Tsai and Hei-Yuan Chiu); (10) "Trends in Educational Attainment in Japan" (Donald J. Treiman and Kazuo Yamaguchi); (11) "Who Won and Who Lost in a Socialist Redistribution in Czechoslovakia?" (Petr Mateju); (12) "Inequalities in Educational Opportunity in Hungary" (Szonja Szelenyi and Karen Aschaffenburg); (13) "Educational Inequalities in Postwar Poland" (Barbara Heyns and Ireneusz Biatecki); (14) "From Peasantry to Proletariat: Changes in the Educational Stratification of Arabs in Israel" (Yossi Shavit); and (15) "Educational Stratification on Observed and Unobserved Components of Family Background" (Robert D. Mare). (Contains 425 references.) (SLD)