Enduring Legacy? Charles Tilly and Durable Inequality

This article assesses Charles Tilly’s Durable Inequality and traces its influence. In writing Durable Inequality, Tilly sought to shift the research agenda of stratification scholars. But the book’s initial impact was disappointing. In recent years, however, its influence has grown, suggesting a more enduring legacy

The Great Separation: Top Earner Segregation at Work in High-Income Countries

Analyzing linked employer-employee panel administrative databases, we study the evolving isolation of higher earners from other employees in eleven countries: Canada, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Spain, South Korea, and Sweden. We find in almost all countries a growing workplace isolation of top earners and dramatically declining exposure of top earners to bottom earners. We compare these trends to segregation based on occupational class, education, age, gender, and nativity, finding that the rise in top earner isolation is much more dramatic and general across countries. We find that residential segregation is also growing, although more slowly than segregation at work, with top earners and bottom earners increasingly living in different distinct municipalities. While work and residential segregation are correlated, statistical modeling suggests that the primary causal effect is from work to residential segregation. These findings open up a future research program on the causes and consequences of top earner segregation.En nous appuyant sur des données administratives longitudinales employeur–employés, nous analysons l’évolution de la ségrégation sociale des salariés à hauts salaires dans onze pays: Allemagne, Canada, Corée du Sud, Danemark, Espagne, France, Hongrie, Japon, Norvège, République tchèque et Suède. Nous constatons dans presque tous les pays une forte augmentation de l’entre soi des salariés bien payés sur le lieu de travail et une diminution spectaculaire de leur exposition aux bas salaires. Nous comparons ces tendances à l’évolution de la ségrégation fondée sur la catégorie sociale, l’éducation, l’âge, le sexe et le statut migratoire, et nous constatons que l’augmentation de l’entre soi des hauts salaires est celle qui est la plus prononcée et la plus générale. Nous montrons que la ségrégation résidentielle se développe aussi, bien que plus lentement que la ségrégation au travail, avec les hauts et les bas salaires vivant de plus en plus dans des municipalités distinctes. Ségrégation au travail et ségrégation résidentielle sont corrélées. Mais nos modèles statistiques suggèrent aussi que la principale relation de causalité va de la ségrégation au travail vers la ségrégation résidentielle. Ces résultats ouvrent la voie à un futur programme de recherche sur les causes et les conséquences de la ségrégation des hauts salaires.1 Introduction 2 From ethnic residential segregation to earnings segregation at work 3 Administrative data for estimating exposure measures 4 A strong increase in earnings segregation at work 5 A robust trend 17 French robustness tests 6 A specific trend 7 The link between work and residential segregation 8 Elements for a research program on the causes and consequences of increasing segregation at work The roots of growing earnings segregation at work The consequences of growing earnings segregation at work Appendices A1 Data sources and sample definition A2 Demonstration of the symmetry of relative exposure gRh = hRg A3 Figure construction A4 French robustness checks Supplementary figures and tables Reference