2,000 Families: identifying the research potential of an origins-of-migration study

Despite recent advances, critical areas in the analysis of European migration remain underdeveloped. We have only a limited understanding of the consequences of migration for migrants and their descendants, relative to staying behind; and our insights of intergenerational transmission is limited to two generations of those living in the destination countries. These limitations stem from a paucity of studies that incorporate comparison with non-migrants – and return migrants – in countries of origin and which trace processes of intergenerational transmission over multiple generations. This paper outlines the theoretical and methodological discussions in the field, design and data of the 2,000 Families study. The study comprises almost 50,000 members of migrant and non-migrant Turkish families across three family generations, living in Turkey and eight European countries. We provide indicative findings from the study, framed within a theoretical perspective of “dissimilation” from origins, and reflect on its potential for future migration research

Educational Expansion and Educational Achievement in Comparative Perspective

We carry out an analysis of societal variations in the process of educational attainment using a multilevel modeling strategy to assess how societal modernization, educational expansion, educational inequality, a world-wide secular trend toward greater equality of opportunity, and communist educational policies affect the dependence of educational attainment on parental status and the gender gap in educational attainment. Using data from 31 societies we define five-year school cohorts ranging from 1890-94 to 1980-84, and carry out our analysis based on the 304 "contexts" (created by crossing cohort by country) for which we have adequate data. We develop arguments as to why educational reproduction should be reduced by educational expansion but reinforced by educational inequality and as to why the level of education should increase and the gender gap diminish with societal modernization and over time, and we pose several claims regarding the impact of communism on equality of educational opportunity. Our hypotheses are generally confirmed

Comparative Intergenerational Stratification Research : Generations and Beyond

In this article we review 40 years of cross-national comparative research on the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic advantage, with particulax attention to developments over the past 15 years--that is, since the transition between (what have become known as) the second and third generations of social stratification and mobility research. We identify the generations by a set of core studies and categorize them with respect to data collection, measurement, analytical models, research problems, main hypotheses, and substantive results. We go on to discuss a number of new topics and approaches that have gained prominence in the research agenda in the last decade. We conclude that the field has progressed considerably with respect to data collection and measurement;h at shifts across generations with respect to data analytic and modelling strategies do not unambiguously represent advances; and that with respect to problem development and theory formulation the field has become excessively narrow.