Socioeconomic status, cultural capital, educational attainment and inequality: An analysis based on PISA2018 Results of China, Finland, South Korea and Singapore

Based on the academic research results related to the relationship between socioeconomic status, cultural capital and educational inequality, this study uses the relevant data from PISA2018 and employs research methods such as Multilevel Linear Model and regression analysis, taking four countries with better PISA scores in previous years, namely China, Finland, Singapore and South Korea as examples to investigate the effects of socioeconomic status and cultural capital on student performance in these countries respectively. It was found that in Finland and Singapore, where the economies are more developed, the effects of cultural capital and socioeconomic status on PISA scores are limited, which may be related to the importance of culture and arts in their school education systems, and must compensate for the inequalities brought about by family background; while in Korea and China, the effects of socioeconomic status-related factors on students' PISA scores are limited, and culture-related factors gradually occupy the main position of influencing students' scores, reflecting the poor emphasis on culture-related factors in the education systems and family education of these countries.