Status attainment in the Netherlands, 1811-1941

Societies have distinctive social structures and individuals are positioned within the structure, or hierarchy, of the society. The broad consensus within social science is that an individual’s position is partially ascribed by their social background and partially by their own achievements. The relative influence of social background and personal achievement remains an empirical question. In a society where social background is relatively more important it is plausible that an individual will attain a status position that is similar to their parents. Conversely, in a society where personal achievement is more influential it is plausible that a greater degree of discrepancy between status position and social background may be observed. This study examines the extent to which macro level developments have been able to shift the relative importance of background and achievement for status attainment in the Netherlands during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The present thesis distinguishes six macro level developments that are sometimes referred to as ‘modernization’: industrialization, educational expansion, mass communication, mass transportation, urbanization and in-migration. For each of the developments hypotheses are derived on how they influence status attainment through marriage as well as intergenerational status attainment. The hypotheses are tested using hierarchical linear analyses. Large scale individual level datasets are augmented with contextual data on each of the macro level developments. The approach taken provides new insights in spatial and temporal variation in the status attainment process. Moreover, it allows hypotheses on ‘modernization’ to be tested on their home ground: in a period before and during industrialization

Like my father before me: intergenerational occupational status transfer during industrialization (Zeeland, 1811–1915).

This article studies the influence of macro-level developments on intergenerational status transfer in the Dutch province of Zeeland between 1811 and 1915. Hypotheses on the effects of industrialization, educational expansion, mass communication, urbanization, geographical mobility, and mass transport are derived from conflicting theories. The influences of these contextual characteristics on status attainment are tested using hierarchical linear models, incorporating data on some 40,000 fathers and sons in over 100 municipalities. The results show regional as well as temporal differences in the association between a father’s and a son’s occupational status. In contrast to what is supposed by the logic of industrialism thesis, hardly any of the macro-level developments decreased the influence of a father’s occupational status on that of his son. On the contrary, a father’s status became more influential in the more industrialized areas.

Nieuwe data, ‘nieuwe’ methode? : Een sociologisch historische toepassing van multiniveau-analyse

Diverse technische en methodische ontwikkelingen hebben grootschalig vergelijkend onderzoek naar historische sociale stratificatie mogelijk gemaakt. Met de kwantiteit van de onderzoekspopulatie is echter ook de diversiteit van de onderzoekspopulatie toegenomen. Aan de ene kant biedt deze variatie mogelijkheden voor onderzoek naar de invloed van contextuele kenmerken op het proces van statusverwerving. Aan de andere kant betekent het vaak dat de onderzoekseenheden uit één en dezelfde context niet onafhankelijk zijn, een belangrijke aanname bij veel gebruikte regressietechnieken. In een dergelijk geval raden statistici het gebruik van multiniveauanalyse aan. Na een beknopte uitleg van deze techniek volgt een toepassing ervan. Hierbij wordt onderzocht of het verband tussen beroepsstatus van vaders en zonen in Zeeland eind negentiende en begin twintigste eeuw verschilde tussen gemeenten en over de tijd. Tevens wordt getoetst of dergelijke verschillen samenhangen met urbanisering, migratie en religie.

Reputation and internet auctions: eBay and beyond

Each day, a countless number of items is sold through online auction sites such as eBay and Ricardo. Though abuse is being reported more and more, transactions seem to be relatively hassle free. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the sites' reputation mechanisms prevent opportunistic behavior. To analyze this issue, we ¯rst summarize and extend the mechanisms that a®ect the probability of sale of an item and its price. We then try to replicate the results as found in four recent papers on online auctions. Our analyses reveal that (1) it makes sense to di®erentiate between `power sellers' and the less regular users, (2) there are variables that have an e®ect on sales that are often not controlled for, (3) one should carefully consider how reputation is operationalized, (4) neglecting heteroscedasticity in the data can have serious consequences, and (5) there is some support indicating that e®ects di®er across auction sites