Social closure, micro‐class immobility and the intergenerational reproduction of the upper class: a comparative study

Abstract

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.

Within-Occupation Forms of Positional Labour Market Advantage in Three Skilled Occupations

“…Table 2 summarises the findings. The study confirms that deliberate social closure is still relevant in the labour market (see Ruggera and Barone, 2017;van de Werfhorst, 2011). The findings confirm the social closure theories described earlier, but fundamentally extend these theories by demonstrating how within-occupational forms of closure fundamentally shape labour market transitions.…”

Licensed professions: a new look at the association between social origins and educational attainments in Italy

“…As previous studies have demonstrated when, the origin-destination association is analysed from a comparative perspective, it becomes apparent that professionals' social reproduction is a deeply pervasive phenomenon; it is prevalent in Germany and Denmark (Ruggera & Barone, 2017). In Italy, although professional regulation is even stricter than it is in Germany, occupational specificity levels are comparable (Ruggera, 2016).…”

“…male-bread winner model) and the advantages related to regulated professions in Italy, fathers' professional position is expected to be relevant for daughters' labour market outcomes as-even if at a broader class level (e.g. Ruggera & Barone, 2017). At the aggregate level, commonly used to study the origin-education relationship, social origin corresponds to Erikson and Goldthorpe's (1992) class scheme: higher service class I, including: higher entrepreneurs, higher managers and high level professionals; low service class II; skilled white collars (IIIa); routine non-manual (IIIb); selfemployed with no or few employees (IVab); farmers (IVc); skilled and unskilled manual working class (V-VI-VIIab).…”

“…Professionals are the largest group at the top of the occupational hierarchy, and their children display disproportionately greater likelihood of remaining in the upper class (Breen & Muller, 2020). Moreover, according to the Ruggera & Barone (2017), market-entry regulation is associated to the level of social reproduction of professional groups in various European countries. Since Italy has one of the highest levels of professional regulation in Europe and given the persistent and high level of social immobility at the top of the occupational hierarchy (Barone et al, 2010), understanding the processes behind professionals' social reproduction is crucial.…”

El poder político en España

“…No obstante, si los datos se ponen en perspectiva, este hecho no es algo tan infrecuente. Para empezar, porque los estudiosos de la estratificación social saben bien que esto es algo relativamente común en las ocupaciones de elevado estatus socio-económico, ya que existen mecanismos de cierre social que favorecen el hecho de que las profesiones se transmitan de una generación a la siguiente (Aina y Nicoletti, 2014;Ruggera y Barone, 2017). En segundo lugar, porque estudios pioneros en otros países como Estados Unidos (Prewit et al, 1966) o Canadá (Kornberg et al, 1969) sugieren que la proporción de representantes con parientes que también se dedicaban a la política puede estar por encima de los que se encuentran en el caso español.…”