This article assesses how processes of social closure enhance intergenerational immobility in the regulated professions and thus promote persistence at the top of the occupational hierarchy. We compare four European countries (GB, Germany, Denmark and Sweden) that differ considerably in their degree of professional regulation and in their broader institutional arrangements. We run log-linear and logistic regression models on a cumulative dataset based on three large-scale surveys with detailed and highly comparable information at the level of unit occupations. Our analyses indicate that children of licensed professionals are far more likely to inherit the occupation of their parents and that this stronger micro-class immobility translates into higher chances of persistence in the upper class. These results support social closure theory and confirm the relevance of a micro-class approach for the explanation of social fluidity and of its cross-national variations. Moreover, we find that, when children of professionals do not reproduce the micro-class of their parents, they still display disproportionate chances of persistence in professional employment. Hence, on the one hand, processes of social closure erect barriers between professions and fuel micro-class immobility at the top. On the other hand, the cultural proximity of different professional groups drives intense intergenerational exchanges between them. Our analyses indicate that these micro- and meso-class rigidities work as complementary routes to immobility at the top.
This article investigates the association between social origins and education by focusing on fields of study within tertiary education and by disaggregating the upper class of social origin into different meso-classes and micro-classes of professionals. It has long been known that Italy is characterised by the highest levels of professional regulation in Europe, but little attention has been given to the link between professional regulation and educational stratification. This paper therefore analyses micro-dynamics of professionals’ social reproduction in Italy. These processes of intergenerational mobility come to light in the first place by linking micro-classes of social origin to fields of study. Using ISTAT’s “Sbocchi Professionali dei Laureati” survey (2011) and employing multinomial logistic regression analyses, this article demonstrates how social selection into highly regulated fields of study is guided by parents’ profession domains; sons and daughters of professionals are analysed separately. Finally, insights into an additional distinction between employed and self-employed professionals’ social reproduction are also offered.
It has long been known that Italy is characterized by the highest levels of professional regulation in Europe, but little attention has been given to the link between professional regulation and educational stratification. This article investigates the association between social origins and education by focusing on fields of study within tertiary education and by disaggregating the upper class of social origin into different micro-classes of professionals. Thus, since these professions are regulated in the first place by educational fields of study, it assesses how processes of social closure enhance occupational intergenerational immobility in the professional employment in Italy. Recently, deregulation of liberal professions in Italy has been central in many public and political debates. It contributes to these debates by examining the micro-level dynamics in the professionals’ social reproduction and related practises of social exclusion, which may have strong implications for policy interventions. By using ISTAT’s “Sbocchi Professionali dei Laureati” survey (2011), and employing multinomial logistic regressions, it shows how social selection into highly regulated fields of study is guided by parents’ professional domain. The analyses indicate that both sons and daughters of licensed professionals are more inclined to graduate in a field of study that is in line with the father’s profession and that this propensity is stronger among children of regulated self-employed professionals.
This article explores intergenerational social class mobility and the role played by education for cohorts born from 1950 to 1980 in Finland. The period covered was one of profound economic advances and strong educational expansion. We employ full population census and register data from Statistics Finland, from which mobility tables for five-year cohorts that have reached the age of 35 have been constructed at the following six time points: 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. We analyse the origin-education-destination (OED) triangle by using multiplicative and topological log-linear models. The results suggest that the fluctuation of OD over cohorts is not considerable, that educational inequalities decrease for both men and women, whereas trends in class returns to education vary across gender. These decrease for men and remain stable for women. Finally, we detect a very important role played by education that differs across gender but diminishes over time, overall, when using a double layer log-linear model. We discuss these results in relation to both stability in intergenerational mobility and social fluidity over birth cohorts.
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