Social Mobility - Stratification Sociology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology

Download Social Mobility - Stratification Sociology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Social Mobility & Status Attainment I Three Generations of Comparative Intergenerational Stratification Research docsity.com 3 Generations of Research in Intergenerational Stratification • The core issue: what are the mechanisms of transmission of socioeconomic advantage from generation to generation • I follow the outline of Ganzeboom et al. (1991); 3 generations of research after WW II are distinguished docsity.com Main Questions/Findings of 1st Generation • Overall pattern of social mobility is much the same in all Western industrial societies (vs. idea of US exceptionalism) • Mobility rates higher in industrial than in nonindustrial societies • Effects of political structure on mobility? – Political stability - + > mobility rate – Socialism - + > mobility rate docsity.com Ancillary Questions of 1st Generation • Effect of mobility on voting behavior – see discussion in Lipset et al. pp. 314-316 • Strong similarity of prestige hierarchies in different societies (Treiman 1977) docsity.com The 2nd Generation • The paradigm of 2nd generation research is Blau & Duncan (1967); it reflects 3 major innovations 1. Use of 3-digit US Census occupational classification 2. Duncan’s SEI scale of occupational status (see later) 3. Measurement of indirect effects with the use of path models (see later) docsity.com Measurement of Status (cont’d) • Hauser & Warren (GRUSKY pp. 281-286) conclude: “Although composite measures of occupational status may have heuristic uses, the global concept of occupational status is scientifically obsolete.” (p. 285) How do they get to that conclusion? • What do they propose instead of SEI? Why? docsity.com Data for B&D Attainment Model TABLE 1 Simple Correlations for Five Status Variables Variable Variable Y Ww U X V Y¥: 1962 occ. status 541 . 596 405 wo22 ‘W: First-job status eps 538 -417 332 U: Education ate .438° 453 X: Father's occ. status aa .516 V: Father's education docsity.com B&D Status Attainment Model FIGURE 1 Path coefficients in basic model of the process of stratification education Father’s al” Respondent's education Father's occ. docsity.com Status Achievement Model With IQ .12(.08) .82(.75) i R'sOcc (48 (.53) docsity.com New Substantive Questions • How does effect of R’sEd on R’sOcc compare with direct effect of F’sEd on R’sOcc? B&D find ratio is 2.9:1. They conclude that in mid-20th century US achievement was more important than ascription in determining occupational status • B&D reckon that industrialization increases importance of achievement relative to ascription processes docsity.com Substantive Questions (cont’d) • Note how ascription is associated with relative effect of family background (e.g., F’sOcc), and achievement is associated with relative effect of education (R’sEd) • Treiman (1970) – In more developed countries F’sOcc -> R’sEd and F’sOcc -> R’sOcc weaker (less ascription) • Effect of political structure – less ascription under socialism docsity.com Results from CASMIN (cont’d) a. Inheritance & sectoral effects more important than hierarchical effects for relative mobility patterns b. Patterns of relative intergenerational mobility do not differ much across industrial countries (except that relative mobility is slightly higher in Sweden & US) docsity.com Problems with CASMIN • Other research finds large between-country variation in parameters of mobility tables (vs. common fluidity model) • CASMIN loglinear levels model does not estimate overall characterization of mobility regime • Other models that do reveal single dimension resembling occupational status ordering of classes docsity.com Results from 3 Generations of Research • Throughout the world intergenerational occupational mobility is driven by SES as measured by SEI-type scales • Throughout the world there is excess intergenerational occupational immobility especially in classes with significant proprietorship • Mobility patterns differ across time and countries; responsible factors not clear docsity.com