Downward Social Mobility across Generations: The Role of Parental Mobility and Education

Abstract

Intergenerational downward social mobility is an issue of growing relevance, but there are still very few studies examining possible risk factors for dropping down the occupational hierarchy. On the basis of unique longitudinal interview and register data from Sweden, this study analyses the roles played by parental upward mobility and parental levels of education in downward mobility. Elements from cultural capital theory (CCT) are investigated as possible mechanisms for explaining the relationship between independent and dependent factors. Whereas the study fails to find support for the role of parental mobility, the parents' level of education turns out to be a powerful predictor of downward mobility. And whereas the measure of cultural capital presents a weak or non-existent relationship with the dependent variable, two attitudinal variables, employed as indicators of habitus and a possible don Quixote effect, do present a significant relationship with the risk for downward mobility. However, while the study hypothesized these attitudes to be mediating mechanisms that might explain the relationship between parental educational level and downward mobility, in the multivariate analyses the attitudinal measures instead turn out to have an independent effect in addition to the parental level of education.

Keywords

Intergenerational Downward Mobility Parental Mobility Parental Educational Level Cultural Capital Theory Longitudinal Study

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

AHRNE

, Roman

, & Franzén

(1996). Det sociala landskapet. Göteborg: Korpen.

ALM

(2001). The Resurgence of Mass Unemployment. Studies on social consequences of joblessness in Sweden in the 1990s. Dissertation series no 53. Stockholm: Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University.

ALM

(2008). Social nedåtrörlighet mellan generationer - en prövning av tre perspektiv. Stockholm: Institutet för Framtidsstudier, arbetsrapportserien.

BARONE

(2006). Cultural Capital, Ambition and the Explanation of Inequalities in Learning Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis. Sociology, 40 (6): 1039–58. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0038038506069843]

BECKER

, & Hecken

A. E.

(2009). ‘Higher Education or Vocational Training? An Empirical test of the Rational Action Model of Educational Choices Suggested by Breen and Goldthorpe and Esser.’ Acta Sociologica, 52 (1): 25–45. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0001699308100632]

BOUDON

(1974). Education, Opportunity and Social Inequality. New York: Wiley.

BOURDIEU

, & Passeron

J. C.

(1977). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: Sage.

BOURDIEU

(1984). Distinction. A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University press.

BOURDIEU

(1986). The forms of capital, in Richardson

J.G.

(ed.). Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press.

10.

BREEN

, & Goldthorpe

, (1997). ‘Explaining Educational Differentials: Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory’. Rationality and Society, 9 (3): 275–305. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/104346397009003002]

11.

BREEN

(2001). A Rational Choice Model of Educational Inequality, Juan March Institute Working paper 2001/166.

12.

BREEN

, and Luijkx

(2004). Conclusion, in Breen

(ed.), Social Mobility in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1093/0199258457.003.0015]

13.

BREEN

, & Jonsson

J. O.

(2007). Explaining Change in Social Fluidity: Educational Equalization and Educational Expansion in Twentieth-Century Sweden, American Journal of Sociology, 112 (6): 1775–1810. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1086/508790]

14.

BROWN

D.K.

(1995). Degrees of Control. A Sociology of Educational Expansion and Occupational Credentialism. New York: Teachers College Press.

15.

CROOK

(1997). Cultural Practices and Socioeconomic Achievement. Westport: Greenwood Press.

16.

DEARY

I. J.

, Taylor

M. D.

, Hart

L, Wilson

, Smith

G. D.

Blane

, & Starr

J. M.

(2005). Intergenerational Social Mobility and Mid-Life Status Attainment: Influences of Childhood Intelligence, Childhood Social Factors and Education. Intelligence, 33 (5): 455–72. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/j.intell.2005.06.003]

17.

ERIKSON

(1984). Social Class of Men, Women and Families, Sociology, 18, 500–14. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0038038584018004003]

18.

ERIKSON

, & Goldthorpe

J.H.

(1992). The Constant Flux. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

19.

ERIKSON

, & Rudolphi

(2009). Change in Social Selection to Upper Secondary School-Primary and Secondary Effects in Sweden. European Sociological Review Advance Access published May 15, 2009.

20.

FRITZELL

, & Lundberg

(eds) (1994). Vardagens villkor. Stockholm: Brombergs.

21.

GABAY-EGOZI

, Shavit

, & Yaish

(2009). Curricular Choice: A test of a Rational Choice Model of Education, European Sociological Review Advance Access published June 5, 2009.

22.

GOLDTHORPE

J.H.

1996 ‘Class Analysis and the Re-Orientation of Class Theory: The Case of Persisting Differentials in Educational Attainment’, British Journal of Sociology, 47(3): 481–505. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2307/591365]

23.

GOLDTHORPE

, & Jackson

(2007). Intergenerational Class Mobility in Contemporary Britain: Political Concerns and Empirical Findings. British Journal of Sociology, 58 (4): 525–46. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00165.x]

24.

DE GRAAF

N. D.

, de Graaf

P. M.

, & Kraaykamp

(2000). Parental Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment in the Netherlands: A Refinement of the Cultural Capital Perspective, Sociology of Education, 73, 92–111. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2307/2673239]

25.

HEMMINGSSON

, Lundberg

, & Diderichsen

(1999). The Roles of Social Class of Origin, Achieved Social Class and Intergenerational Social Mobility in Explaining Social-Class Inequalities in Alcoholism among Young Men. Social Science and Medicine, 49 (8): 1051–59. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00191-4]

26.

JACKSON

, & Marsden

(1962). Education and the Working Class: Some General Themes Raised by the Study of 88 Working Class Children in a Northern Industrial City. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

27.

JACKSON

, Erikson

R. E.

, Goldthorpe

J. H.

, & Yaish

2007. Primary and Secondary Effects in Class Differentials in Educational Attainment: The Transition to A-level Courses in England and Wales, Acta Sociologica, 50, 211–29. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0001699307080926]

28.

JANSSON

C-G.

(1995). On Project Metropolitan and the Longitudinal Perspective. Project Metropolitan, Research Report no. 4. Stockholm: Department of Sociology, University of Stockholm.

29.

JONSSON

J.O.

(1987). Class Origin, Cultural Origin and Educational Attainment, European Sociological Review, 3, 229–42.

30.

LAMONT

, & Lareau

(1988). Cultural Capital: Allusions, Gaps and Glissandos in Recent Theoretical Developments, Sociological Theory, 6, 11–34. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2307/202113]

31.

LAREAU

(1987). Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships: The Importance of Cultural Capital. Sociology of Education, 60, 73–85. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2307/2112583]

32.

DI MAGGIO

(1982). Cultural Capital and School Success, American Sociological Review, 47, 189–201.

33.

MILLER

(1960). Comparative Social Mobility, Current Sociology, 9 (1): 1–80. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/001139216000900101]

34.

NASH

(2003). Inequality / Difference in Education: Is a Real Explanation of Primary and Secondary Effects Possible?, British Journal of Sociology, 54 (4): 433–51. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/0007131032000143537]

35.

NASH

(2006). Controlling for “Ability”: A Conceptual and Empirical Study of Primary and Secondary Effects, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27 (2): 157–72. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/01425690600556149]

36.

PARKIN

(1971). Class Inequality and Political Order: Social Stratification in Capitalist and Communist Societies. St Albans: Paladin.

37.

VAN DER PLOUGH

(1994). ‘Educational Expansion and Returns on Credentials’, European Sociological Review, 10: 63–78.

38.

RICHARDSON

C.J.

(1977). The Problem of Downward Mobility. British Journal of Sociology, 28 (3): 303–320. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2307/589996]

39.

RODGERS

, & Mann

S. L.

(1993). ‘Re-thinking the Analysis of Intergenerational Social Mobility: A Comment on John W. Fox's Social Class, Mental Illness, and Social Mobility.’ Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 34 (2): 165–72. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.2307/2137242]

40.

SCB (1982). ‘Socioekonomisk Indelning (SEI).’ Meddelanden i samordningsfrågor, 1982: 4, Stockholm: Statistics Sweden.

41.

SOFI (2005). Project Metropolitan, Codebook I. Stockholm: Swedish Institute for Social Research.

42.

SELLERS

S.L.

(2000) Dreams Delivered, Dreams Deferred: Mental and Physical Health Consequences of Social Mobility among Black American Men and Women. (Doctoral dissertation). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.

43.

STENBERG

S-Å

, & Vågerö

(2005). Cohort Profile: The Stockholm Birth Cohort of 1953, International Journal of Epidemiology, 35 (3): 546–548.

44.

STENBERG

S-Å

, Vågerö

, Österman

, Arvidsson

, von Otter

, & Jansson

C-G

(2006). Stockholm Birth Cohort Study 1953-2003: A New Tool for Life-Course Studies. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 35 (1): 104–10.

45.

STOCKÉ

(2007). Explaining Educational Decision and Effects of Families’ Social Class Position: An Empirical Test of the Breen-Goldthorpe Model of Educational Attainment. European Sociological Review, 23, 505–19.

46.

SULLIVAN

(2001). Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment, Sociology, 35 (4): 893–912. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0038038501035004006]

47.

TIEBEN

(2009). ‘Parental Resources and Relative Risk Aversion in Intra-Secondary Transitions: A trend Analysis of Non-standard Educational Decision Situations in the Netherlands.’ European Sociological Review Advance Access Published November 23, 2009.

48.

TIMMS

(1998). Gender, Social Mobility and Psychiatric Diagnoses. Social Science and Medicine, 9, 1235–47. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/S0277-9536(97)10052-1]

49.

TOLSMA

, de Graaf

N. D.

, & Quillian

(2009). ‘Does Intergenerational Social Mobility Affect Antagonistic Attitudes Towards Ethnic Minorities?’, British Journal of Sociology, 60 (2): 257–77. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01230.x]

50.

VAN DER WERFHORST

H. G.

, & Andersen

(2005). Social Background, Credential Inflation and Educational Strategies, Acta Sociologica, 48 (4): 321–340. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/0001699305059945]

51.

VAN DER WERFHORST

H. G.

, and Hofstede

2007

‘Cultural Capital or Relative Risk Aversion? Two Mechanisms for Educational Inequality Compared.’

British Journal of Sociology, 58(3): 391–415. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00157.x]

52.

WEST

(1991). Rethinking the Health Selection Explanation for Health Inequalities. Social Science and Medicine, 32, 373–84. [doi://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/0277-9536(91)90338-D]