SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The present study attempts to assess the extent to which economic differences between ethnic groups and between individuals have been reduced or eliminated by the expansion of educational opportunities in Kenya, By analysing the patterns of wage income distribution, the conditions which affect them and some of their consequences, the study attempts to explain part of the process of perpetuating income inequalities in the country. From the analysis of a considerable amount of empirical data, a picture is painted of a society in which economic status is inherited. For although the economic success of individuals in the labour market is strongly influenced by their educational attainments, the prior influence of inherited characteristics such as birth-order, family-size, ethnic and occupational origins on these scholastic achievements has served to create profound inequalities in individual access to income. In addition, the increasing tendency of the urban labour market to recruit the sons of other wage employees suggests that economic ties are being strengthened and perpetuated across generations.