A Compared Cohort History of Residential Mobility, Social Change and Home-ownership in Paris and the Rest of France

Abstract

The joint analysis of two INED longitudinal surveys, one based on a national sample and the other on a sample of Parisians, presents a reconstruction of the residential history of a cohort born between 1926 and 1935 and an evaluation of the role of the Paris region in the migration patterns of these generations . The first part of the paper advocates the advantages offered by such longitudinal data which nevertheless presents the researcher with new challenges . For those French generations born between the two world wars, the beginnings in the post-war housing crisis were difficult . A comparison of the social as well as the residential histories of individuals confirms the close link between geographical and social mobility . The analysis of the social origin and the occupational characteristics of individuals in these categories exhibits the high social mobility in the Paris region which favours dynasties of professionals and provides better opportunities for the other occupations . The Paris region appears as the ideal location to improve one's chances of social advancement . Another characteristic of the post-1950s housing transformation is the diffusion of home-ownership . This affected provincials and Parisians in different ways, both of which are closely examined .

Family dynamics and housing

“…In many instances I pay particular attention to the difference between home ownership and renting. This is because housing tenure is such a crucial characteristic of housing (Lelièvre and Bonvalet 1994;Kendig 1990) and has received a lot of attention in the literature. The disciplines I draw on are demography, geography, sociology, and housing economics, and the geographical coverage is restricted to Europe, North America, and Australia.…”

Migration histories and occupational achievement

“…Within the UK, migration to the South East of England (including London) particularly favours upward social mobility (Fielding, 1992). The Paris region serves a similar function in France (Lelièvre & Bonvalet, 1994).…”

Job access at labour market entry and occupational achievement in the life course

“…Fielding (1992) demonstrates that the southeast region of England acts as an 'upward social mobility escalator' within the British urban and regional system. Lelievre and Bonvalet (1994) show for France that the Paris region appears to be the ideal location for improving one's chances of social advancement. Blau and Duncan (1967: 260, footnote) take the spatial distribution of occupational positions into account in the notion of opportunity structure: "(…) the opportunity structure is defined by the total distribution of occupations in a community (…)".…”

“…They operationalize opportunity structure by city size. The English (Fielding, 1992) and French (Lelievre and Bonvalet, 1994) studies used a simple operationalization of opportunity structure. They investigated whether a stay in the capital led to more upward social mobility than did remaining outside the capital.…”

“…In the 1960s, Blau and Duncan (1967) showed that the chances for upward social mobility were highest in the urban growth centres of the USA. Although their classic work on social mobility was a source of inspiration for later research on occupational achievement (the status attainment tradition), the importance of the opportunity structure as a prerequisite for career advancement has been overlooked by many researchers (some exceptions are Wagner, 1989;Fielding, 1992;Lelievre & Bonvalet, 1994).…”