Overeducation as Status Inconsistency: Effects on Job Satisfaction, Subjective Well-Being and the Image of Social Stratification

Abstract

In this article, we aim to study the effects of the experience of overeducation, understood as a specific form of status inconsistency, in three areas: job satisfaction, subjective well-being, and the image of social stratification and the economic achievement process. For this, we use survey data from Spain and employ analytical procedures that have not previously been applied to this field (diagonal reference models). Thus, we make an empirical contribution (we test hypotheses concerning the impact of overeducation on specific types of attitudes) and a methodological contribution (we show the fruitfulness of applying to the study of overeducation a standard procedure for analysing the effects of social mobility and status inconsistency). We conclude that the experience of overeducation has some negative effects, but they are mostly confined to the sphere of work. The education/employment inconsistency reduces job and economic satisfaction, but does not affect overall subjective well-being or the image of social stratification.