Patterns of intergenerational mobility of the old and new middle classes

It has often been proposed that new cleavages have emerged within the middle class. In this paper, we examine the distinction between social and cultural specialists and technocrats, and investigate whether these new and old middle class fractions are differentiated by their patterns of intergenerational mobility. To what extent do these newly distinguished middle class fractions have specific external and internal intergenerational mobility patterns? And to what extent have mobility boundaries between them been rising over time? To answer these questions, we use 47 Dutch national population sample surveys with detailed occupation codes collected between 1970 and 2006 (N = 60,978). Our analyses of internal and external homogeneity show that the middle class fractions each have characteristic mobility and immobility patterns and therefore a necessary condition is satisfied to declare them as separate classes. Furthermore, in the early periods, the social and cultural specialists were differentiated by a high level of immobility but in the later periods, the distance between the old and new middle classes has decreased significantly

Understanding the religious behaviour of Muslims in the Netherlands and the UK

The position of Muslims in Western societies is the subject of intense study and debate. However, remarkably little attention has been paid to the practice of European Muslims and how Muslim religiosity relates to conventional measures of social and economic integration. In this paper we draw on theories of secularization, assimilation, revitalization and integration to explore the correlates of attendance at religious meetings for Muslims of different backgrounds in the Netherlands and the UK. We conclude that patterns of religiosity and secularisation cannot be generalised across national contexts

Voting LPF: Stratification and the Varying Importance of Attitudes

A BSTRACT Large differences exist between socio-cultural specialists and technocrats in the extent they voted for the List Pim Fortuyn (LPF), showing us that support for the party was aligned by social class. Distinguishing between the two specialist types provided the opportunity to test Kitschelt’s hypothesis on the importance of communicative experiences and capabilities in the labour market and the importance of cultural and economic ethnic threats. Cultural ethnic threat explains social class differences in LPF voting better than economic ethnic threat, though we cannot claim that the latter is of no relevance. We show this using the Dutch sample of the European Social Survey ( n = 2,260). Moreover, we show that sociopolitical attitudes that affect voting for the LPF do so to a much smaller extent among lowereducated people and non-socio-cultural specialists. The interactions between socio-political attitudes and education and social class are significant.

Career Class (Im)mobility of the Social-Cultural Specialists and the Technocrats in the Netherlands

Scholars have long argued that there are two occupational fractions within the middle class forming two separate classes. They are commonly referred to as the technocrats and the social-cultural specialists. In this article, we distinguish two ‘new’ classes of the highand low-grade social-cultural specialists and two ‘old’ classes of the high- and low-grade technocrats within the middle class. The classes of the social-cultural specialists are expected to be as closed as the other social classes. If the classes of the social-cultural specialists indeed form ‘new’ classes, they should become more closed over time. Therefore, we investigate whether the social-cultural specialists and the technocrats have different patterns of intragenerational class (im)mobility compared to other classes and whether these patterns change over time. We use Dutch mobility data from 16 representative surveys (n¼12,548). The results strongly support the ‘new’ class division and show that the class of the high-grade social-cultural specialists are more closed than all other social classes. The class of the lower-grade social-cultural specialists is also rather closed and indeed becomes more closed over time

De opkomst van de ‘nieuwe’ sociale klassen binnen de dienstenklasse in Nederland : Politieke oriëntatie van de ‘nieuwe’ sociale klassen tussen 1970 en 2000

The rise of ‘new’ social classes within the service class in the Netherlands: Political orientation of the ‘new’ social classes between 1970 and 2000 The employment structure of the Netherlands and other advanced countries is evolving from an industrial structure to a post-industrial structure. Yet existing social class schemas, like the wellknown EGP class schema, were constructed for an industrial employment structure. In this study we adjust the EGP class schema to account for this transformation by using ‘new class’ theories and the literature on post-industrial class structure. Our research question is to what extent does the adjusted EGP class schema explain people’s political orientation better than the standard EGP class schema in the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial employment structure. Our first hypothesis states that the ‘new’ social classes distinguished in the adjusted EGP class schema differ in their political orientation from the ‘old’ social classes in the service class. Our second hypothesis states that, during their formation, the ‘new’ social classes will become increasingly effective in explaining differences (effect size) in people’s political orientation. Experts’ knowledge has been employed to classify the occupations within the service class. Furthermore, we used 18 data sets gathered in the Netherlands between 1970 and 2000. The total number of respondents was 32,700. The adjusted EGP class schema proved substantially better at explaining people’s political orientation than the standard EGP class schema; the ‘new’ social classes did differ substantially in their political orientation from the ‘old’ classes. Furthermore, our results showed that the political orientation of the low-grade social and cultural specialists became more crystallized from 1970 onwards.

The Rise of ‘New’ Social Classes within the Service Class in The Netherlands : Political Orientation of Social and Cultural Specialists and Technocrats between 1970 and 2003

The employment structure of The Netherlands and other advanced countries is evolving from industrial to postindustrial. Yet existing social class schemata, like the well-known Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero (EGP) class schema, were constructed for an industrial employment structure. In this study, we adjust the EGP class schema to account for this transformation by using new class theories. We distinguish a ‘new’ class of social and cultural specialists and an ‘old’ class of technocrats with both a higher and a lower version in the service class. Our research question concerns the extent to which the adjusted EGP class schema is a better predictor of people’s political orientation than the standard EGP class schema. We assume that the ‘new’ classes differ in their political orientation from the ‘old’ classes. We also assume that, during their formation, the ‘new’ classes become increasingly effective in explaining differences in people’s political orientation. Experts’ knowledge is employed to classify the occupations. In addition, we use the data of 34,856 respondents gathered between 1970 and 2003 in The Netherlands. The adjusted EGP class schema explains people’s political orientation substantially better than the standard EGP class schema; the ‘new’ classes vote significantly more for leftist parties and differ substantially in their political orientation from the ‘old’ classes. Furthermore, our results show that the political orientation of the low-grade social and cultural specialists has become more crystallized since 1970.

Understanding the religious behaviour of Muslims in the Netherlands and the UK

The position of Muslims in Western societies is the subject of intense study and debate. However, remarkably little attention has been paid to the practice of European Muslims and how Muslim religiosity relates to conventional measures of social and economic integration. In this paper we draw on theories of secularization, assimilation, revitalization and integration to explore the correlates of attendance at religious meetings for Muslims of different backgrounds in the Netherlands and the UK. We conclude that patterns of religiosity and secularisation cannot be generalised across national contexts