Wiebke Schulz

Occupational career attainment during modernization. A study of Dutch men in 841 municipalities between 1865 and 1928

This paper addresses the effects of modernization processes on occupational career attainment. We ask whether modernization processes increased the success of occupational careers, and whether the effect of social background varies by regional level of modernization. We analyse a unique data set with information about the careers of around 7000 men who were active in the labour market in the Netherlands between 1865 and 1928. Modernization processes are measured at the municipality level (e.g. presence of post office and train station, educational expansion). The results of cross-classified multilevel growth models show that in municipalities with more advanced modernization, men enjoy higher social status at the beginning of their career, but that their status grows more slowly over the course of their career. The effect of social background hardly varies in response to modernization processes. Our results indicate that regional modernization processes have had restricted impact on individual mobility outcomes.

Pathways of intergenerational transmission of advantages during adolescence: Social background, cognitive ability, and educational attainment

Educational attainment in adolescence is of paramount importance for attaining higher education and for shaping subsequent life chances. Sociological accounts focus on the role of differences in socioeconomic resources in intergenerational reproduction of educational inequalities. These often disregard the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability and the importance of children’s cognitive ability to educational attainment. Psychological perspectives stress the importance of cognitive ability for educational attainment but underemphasize potentially different roles of specific socioeconomic resources in shaping educational outcomes, as well as individual differences in cognitive ability. By integrating two strands of research, a clearer picture of the pathways linking the family of origin, cognitive ability, and early educational outcomes can be reached. Using the population-based TwinLife study in Germany, we investigated multidimensional pathways linking parental socioeconomic position to their children’s cognitive ability and academic track attendance in the secondary school. The sample included twins (N = 4008), respectively ages 11 and 17, and siblings (N = 801). We observed strong genetic influences on cognitive ability, whereas shared environmental influences were much more important for academic tracking. In multilevel analyses, separate dimensions of socioeconomic resources influenced child cognitive ability, controlling parental cognitive ability. Controlling adolescent cognitive ability and parental cognitive ability, parental socioeconomic resources also directly affected track attendance. This indicated that it is crucial to investigate the intertwined influences on educational outcomes in adolescence of both cognitive ability and the characteristics of the family of origin.

Status Attainment und Soziale Mobilität

Dieser Beitrag legt dar, wie die Berucksichtigung genetischer Variation die Erklarungskraft soziologischer Untersuchungen zu Status Attainment und sozialer Ungleichheit verbessern kann. Die Berucksichtigung genetischer Variation kann helfen, Probleme kausaler Schlusse bei der Erklarung sozialer Ungleichheit zu mindern, die fur eine implizite oder explizite Interpretation einer Gesellschaft als „offen“ oder „geschlossen“, als meritokratisch oder nicht meritokratisch ausschlaggebend sein konnen. Nach der Einleitung stellen wir die methodologischen Grundlagen verhaltensgenetischer und genetisch informativer Forschung dar (Abschn. 2) und zeigen theoretische Mechanismen und empirische Beispiele auf, wie genetische Variation Status Attainment beeinflussen kann (Abschn. 3). Anschliesend werden die Grundlagen von Gen-Umwelt-Interaktionen diskutiert, insbesondere im Hinblick auf theoretische Uberlegungen zur Genese und Bewertung sozialer Ungleichheit (Abschn. 4). Im letzten Teil stellen wir mogliche Vorteile und Fallstricke der Einbeziehung genetischer Variation in soziologische Erklarungen zu Status Attainment und sozialer Ungleichheit dar. Um zu verstehen, wie soziale und genetische Faktoren miteinander wirken und das Leben beeinflussen, braucht es anspruchsvolle Forschungsdesigns auf der Grundlage solider soziologischer Theorie und Methodologie (Abschn. 5).

Occupational Career Attainment of Single Women During Modernization: The logic of industrialism thesis revisited

ABSTRACT Modernization processes are said to have caused major changes in individual social mobility outcomes. Whether the predictions of the logic of industrialism thesis hold for the careers of women is unclear however. This study provides the first systematic account of how regional modernization processes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries influenced the careers of the female working population. Unlike research focusing on specific occupational groups and localities, this study models and makes predictions relating to the careers of a random sample of the single female labour force nationwide. We use an excellent source for studying womens careers in different regions and over time. The Historical Sample of The Netherlands provides information about the occupational careers of 1148 single women active on the labour market between 1865 and 1928. To include regional modernization processes, we have collected a set of theoretical indicators, such as communication, transport, and social values, which are measured at the level of municipalities and which may vary yearly. Over historical time, as well as over the course of their careers, the status of women increased. Apart from the emergence of bureaucratic organizations and the expansion of the teaching sector, contextual modernization processes had hardly any influence on womens status. We conclude that the logic of industrialism thesis only partly captures the effect of societal changes on the career success of women. Further research might focus on the role of the emergence of bureaucratic organizations and restrictive practices for the career success of women during modernization.