Can class and status really be disentangled?

Tak Wing Chan and John Goldthorpe (CG) have argued that it makes theoretical and empirical sense to use indicators of both class and status in analyses of cultural consumption, political attitudes and labour market outcomes in order to disentangle different mechanisms of stratification. However, we argue that class and status measured by occupationally based stratification variables are too strongly mutually associated for this to be a reliable approach. We provide empirical analyses, using secondary survey data from the UK’s BHPS, that indicate that the measures of class and status largely tap the same form of stratification. It turns out that class accounts for around 75% and more of the variation in status and even more if excluding outliers. Moreover, class and status are similarly associated with earnings, have similar experience-earnings curves, and patterns in relevant model residuals are not consistent with the theoretical differences between class and status. In conclusion we point out alternative and more accurate usages of Weber’s concepts of status and also suggest a more realistic and pragmatic view on occupationally based stratification variables

Work life complexity no longer on the rise: trends among 1930s-1980s birth cohorts in Sweden

There is a conception that contemporary work lives become ever more complex. Pioneering research has indicated that work lives have indeed become more complex, yet at a modestly increasing pace. This paper uses Swedish registry data across an exceptionally long time period, including cohorts born from 1931 to 1983. The following conclusions are drawn using state-of-the-art methods of measuring sequence complexity. For early-careers, an increasing complexity trend is evident between the 1950s and 1960s birth cohorts, yet complexity fluctuates around a stable trend for the 1970s birth cohorts and onward. For mid-careers, which are considerably more stable on average, complexity has decreased among women born between the 1930s and the early-1950s. However, the opposite trend holds true for men, resulting in a gender convergence in work complexity. We observe a subsequent standstill of the mid-career complexity trend across both genders, followed by a modest decline for the last observed cohorts. Analyses point to educational expansion as an important driver of the initial increase of early-career complexity. Taken together, this study affirms an initial shift to more work life complexity in the twentieth century, yet we find no unidirectional trend toward more complexity over the last decades

Measuring the Potential Power Elite in the UK and Sweden

This paper proposes a methodology for using survey data to understand the composition of elites, through analysing the pool of potential members. An occupational-based measure of ‘potential power elite' (PPE) is created and compared with other measures of occupational advantage. It is argued that this measure can be utilised to explore if the processes causing certain social groups to be under-represented in elite positions are around selection or the population recruited from. We provide analysis of elite positions in the UK and Sweden, demonstrating differences in terms of the potential pool of elite members and the occupational histories of people of those employed in roles associated with elite recruitment. We argue that understanding the composition of the PPE provides a more nuanced analysis of the processes of meritocracy in accessing positions of power and social influence

Nya möjligheter för stratifieringsforskning i Sverige : Internationella yrkesklassificeringar och stratifieringsmått över tid

New opportunities for social stratification research in Sweden: International occupational classifications and stratification measures over time The Swedish occupational classifications have in recent years been changed to a version of the international standard ISCO-88(COM), i.e. SSYK 96. As a consequence, a wide variety of internationally well-known stratification measures can be applied to Swedish data sets. In this article some tests of the validity of translation keys between the older national classifications and SSYK 96 are presented. The keys seem to work satisfactorily. Thus, it is possible to create long time-series with ISCO/SSYK and use these well-known stratification measures over time. Hence, the international interest in Swedish data sets, and empirical results based on these data sets, could rise. Moreover, in the article an empirical regularity, which is quite astonishing, is paid attention to; stratification measures based on different theoretical rationales indicate very similar hierarchies of occupations.Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p

Vad alla bör ha råd med : en analys av vilken konsumtion som anses vara nödvändig i dagens Sverige

What everyone should be able to afford. An analysis of w hat kinds of consumptionare regarded as necessary in contemporary Sweden Some degree of consensus concerning perceptions of consumption is important to create and refine social policy as well as measures of poverty. Possible reasons for both consensus and certain social cleavages about what is perceived as necessities are discussed. Analysing data from Statistics Sweden’s 1998 Survey of Living Conditions, the following conclusions are drawn. There are 12 items for which there is a fairly high level of consensus. This indicates the possibility of calculating both a generally accepted level for supplementary benefits and an accepted measure of poverty/living standards. However, there are also cleavages. The most interesting, and even surprising, ones show a more restricted view on necessities among groups that are relatively economically advantaged, i.e. well-educated and ‘higher’ social classes. Moreover, there are sex differences and expected political differences - ‘neoliberals’ have a somewhat more restricted view.Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p

Nya möjligheter för stratifieringsforskning i Sverige : Internationella yrkesklassificeringar och stratifieringsmått över tid

New opportunities for social stratification research in Sweden: International occupational classifications and stratification measures over time The Swedish occupational classifications have in recent years been changed to a version of the international standard ISCO-88(COM), i.e. SSYK 96. As a consequence, a wide variety of internationally well-known stratification measures can be applied to Swedish data sets. In this article some tests of the validity of translation keys between the older national classifications and SSYK 96 are presented. The keys seem to work satisfactorily. Thus, it is possible to create long time-series with ISCO/SSYK and use these well-known stratification measures over time. Hence, the international interest in Swedish data sets, and empirical results based on these data sets, could rise. Moreover, in the article an empirical regularity, which is quite astonishing, is paid attention to; stratification measures based on different theoretical rationales indicate very similar hierarchies of occupations.Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p

Inlägg : Är det dags för en tvärinstitutionell redäktion?

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p

Does Your Class Give More than a Hint of Your Lifetime Earnings?: Assessing Indicators for Lifetime Earnings Over the Life Course for Sweden

From a sociological stratification perspective, we would expect occupationally based measures to be valid proxies for lifetime earnings, but recent research suggests that annual earnings outperform occupational measures. In this article, we examine how class, occupation, education, and annual earnings are associated with lifetime earnings across almost complete working lives, at ages of around 20–65 years for Swedish cohorts born in the 1940s. Our results indicate that while annual earnings are considerably more accurate proxies for the lion’s share of working life, occupational measures are as expected more stable and somewhat better at the start and end of working lives. Our results also support the idea that micro-classes are better proxies of lifetime earnings than big classes. Contrary to some previous research, occupational measures perform better for women than for men in this respect, and occupational measures are better than education. Our main conclusions are that proxies for lifetime earnings have life-cycle biases that should be considered in, for instance, analyses of intergenerational mobility, and that occupationally based measures are more stable than annual earnings but, overall, are not very valid as indicators of lifetime earnings compared to annual earnings