Linking the macro to the micro: a multidimensional approach to educational inequalities in four European countries

Bukodi, Erzsébet; Eibl, Ferdinand; Buchholz, Sandra; Marzadro, Sonia; Minello, Alessandra; Wahler, Susanne; Blossfeld, Hans-Peter; Erikson, Robert S.; Schizzerotto, Antonio

doi:10.1080/14616696.2017.1329934

Cited by 39 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…However, while these trends may account for the observed increase in overall social fluidity during the 20th century, it is not clear whether they also led to an increase in the mobility chances of individuals from unskilled working-class backgrounds. With the notable exception of an extension of compulsory schooling in all German states ( Bundesländer ) during the two decades following World War II (see Betthäuser, 2018; Müller and Haun, 1994), there have been few reforms of the German education system, which can be expected to have substantially reduced the educational inequality between this group and people from more advantaged backgrounds (see, Bukodi et al, 2018, Neugebauer et al, 2013; Schneider, 2006). Moreover, given the generally low level of educational attainment of people from disadvantaged backgrounds (Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993), it is questionable whether the trend of educational expansion in Germany has increased the educational attainment of this group to an extent that would have given rise to a weakening of the effect of their parental class background on their labour market chances.…”

Section: Why Expect Over-time Change In Social Mobility?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Left behind? Over-time change in the social mobility of children from unskilled working-class backgrounds in Germany

Betthäuser

2019

Acta Sociologica

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Research on intergenerational social mobility tends to focus on examining the level of overall social fluidity in society. However, from a social justice perspective it can be argued that the type of social fluidity that matters most is upward mobility from the lowest rung of the social ladder. This article examines the labour market chances of children from parents in unskilled working-class positions, relative to children from skilled working-class and higher social class backgrounds, and how they have changed across four birth cohorts in post-WWII Germany. We find that individuals from unskilled working-class backgrounds have substantially lower labour market chances than individuals from skilled working-class backgrounds or higher social class backgrounds. Moreover, we find that the gap in labour market chances between individuals from unskilled working-class backgrounds and individuals from more advantaged backgrounds has not narrowed but, if anything, has widened across the four birth cohorts we examine. Our results suggest that an important factor underlying this sustained labour market inequality is a persistently high level of educational inequality between these groups.

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Section: Why Expect Over-time Change In Social Mobility?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Left behind? Over-time change in the social mobility of children from unskilled working-class backgrounds in Germany

Betthäuser

2019

Acta Sociologica

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“…The upper class of EGP-like schemes will be too large and heterogeneous to effectively identify privilege. Moreover, this omnibus approach conflates class effects with the effects of cultural and social resources, which must be captured by separate variables (Bukodi and Goldhorpe 2013;Bukodi et al 2018;Rose and Harrison 2010). Instead, social scientists can employ these class schemes specifically as measures of the economic dimension of social position and interpret class effects as emerging from employment relations (Goldthorpe, McKnight 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Class Hierarchies in Postindustrial Societies: A criterion and construct validation of EGP and ESEC across 31 countries

Smallenbroek¹,

Hertel²,

Barone³

2021

Preprint

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In social stratification research, the most frequently used social class schema are based on employment relations (EGP and ESEC). These schemes have been propelled to paradigms for research on social mobility and educational inequalities and applied in cross-national research for both genders. Using the European Working Conditions Survey, we examine their criterion and construct validity across 31 countries and for both genders. We investigate whether classes are well-delineated by the theoretically assumed dimensions of employment relations and we assess how several measures of occupational advantage differ across classes. We find broad similarity in the criterion validity of EGP and ESEC across genders and countries as well as satisfactory levels of construct validity. However, the salariat classes are too heterogeneous and their boundaries with the intermediate classes are blurred. To improve the measurement of social class, we propose to differentiate managerial and professional occupations within the lower and higher salariat respectively. We show that implementing these distinctions in ESEC and EGP improves their criterion validity and allows to better identify privileged positions.

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“…And parental education could then be seen as indicating specifically educational resources in the sense of parents' capacity to further their children's educational careers through creating a supportive home learning environment and providing them with informed guidance through the educational system (Schütz et al, 2005;Pfeffer, 2008). Bukodi and Goldthorpe (2013) followed this approach in analyses of educational inequality in the British case and, together with others in two comparative studies (Bukodi, Erikson and Goldthorpe, 2014;Bukodi et al, 2018). Further British findings of relevance have then been reported in Bukodi, Bourne and Betthäuser (2017) and Bourne et al (2018).…”

Section: (Iii)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary and Secondary Effects of Social Origins on Educational Attainment: New Findings for England

Bukodi¹,

Goldthorpe²,

Zhao³

2020

Preprint

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We aim to bring together two strands of existing research into inequalities in individuals’ educational attainment associated with their social origins: that into the relative importance of the primary and secondary effects of social origins; and that into the relative importance of different components of social origins, indicative of different kinds of parental resources. Our main findings are the following. The secondary effects of social origins – their effects via the educational choices that young people make given their prior academic performance – are clearly operative across five key educational transitions within the English educational system. More specifically, we estimate that 35% of the total effect of social origins is secondary in the earliest transition we consider, and from 15-20% in the subsequent four. Further, mediation analyses reveal that secondary effects are most strongly associated with parental education and then to a lesser degree with parental status, while little association exists with parental class and none at all with parental income. Primary effects are also at all transitions most strongly associated with parental education and status but in this case both parental class and parental income do retain some importance. Finally, secondary effects on educational transitions appear to be top-driven. There is a clear tendency for their importance to be greater in the case of young people with highly educated, professional parents as compared with those of all other social backgrounds. We suggest an explanation for our empirical findings as resulting largely from the concern of such parents and their children to avoid the occurrence of downward intergenerational mobility, especially in terms of education and status.

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Linking the macro to the micro: a multidimensional approach to educational inequalities in four European countries

Cited by 39 publications

References 45 publications

Left behind? Over-time change in the social mobility of children from unskilled working-class backgrounds in Germany

Left behind? Over-time change in the social mobility of children from unskilled working-class backgrounds in Germany

Measuring Class Hierarchies in Postindustrial Societies: A criterion and construct validation of EGP and ESEC across 31 countries

Primary and Secondary Effects of Social Origins on Educational Attainment: New Findings for England

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