The article analyses trends in educational homogamy in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary from 1988 to 2000. Our hypothesis is that educational homogamy strengthened in post-socialist countries as a result of changing socioeconomic conditions during the post-communist transformation. We argue that people's behaviour changes in reaction to a new socioeconomic environment, in which the risks associated with a poor marital match are more pronounced. We analyse vital statistics on all new marriages in 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, and 2000 in each country. Log-linear and log-multiplicative models led to the rejection of our hypothesis. Between 1988 and 2000, educational homogamy remained low and constant in the Czech Republic and high and constant in Poland, whereas it increased slightly in Hungary and rather significantly in Slovakia. The article concludes with a discussion of some possible explanations of these varied trends in educational homogamy with regards to changes in demographic as well as social mobility processes in former socialist countries during the 1990s.
Inglehart’s theory of postmaterialism hinged on the scarcity hypothesis, according to which the spread of postmaterialist values depends on the degree of individuals’ and societies’ existential security, rooted in macro-level economic conditions. But does a country’s level of economic development systematically shape individuals’ existential security, and thus postmaterialism? In this article, the authors revisit this question by utilizing 2010–2014 World Values Survey data for testing whether the effect of existential security on postmaterialism varies by macro-conditions across 59 countries representing 72% of the world’s population. Based on multilevel models, the authors find strong effects of individuals’ socioeconomic conditions on postmaterialism, confirming one aspect of the scarcity hypothesis, but also find weak associations between the effects of those conditions by economic factors at the national level. While there is substantial cross-national variation in the effect of individual scarcity, that variation cannot be accounted for by the macro-conditions predicted by the theory.
This article deals with the relationship between educational homogamy and educational mobility in 29 European countries. It answers three interrelated questions: (1) Is there any relationship between educational mobility and educational homogamy? (2) Does educational homogamy diverge from educational mobility (negative relationship) or does educational heterogamy strengthen educational mobility (positive relationship)? (3) If there is any positive relationship, do educational mobility and educational heterogamy indicate the level of educational inequality to the same degree? To answer these questions the authors use data from three waves of the European Social Survey (2002, 2004 and 2006). The answers are given in absolute (percentages) as well as in relative measures (log-multiplicative effects). The results show that there is a positive relationship between educational mobility and educational heterogamy. For all countries analysed, relative educational heterogamy is a stronger indicator of educational inequalities than relative educational mobility. The systematic deviation of educational heterogamy from educational mobility is explained by a number of factors that the authors discuss in the last part of the article.
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