Pub Date : 2025-08-14DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101089
Erzsébet Bukodi , John H. Goldthorpe , Leonie Westhoff
We identify and seek to address four questions arising from current analyses of the relation between social class positions and age-earnings trajectories that call for further research. First, how far are findings from earlier cross-sectional analyses confirmed if individuals’ earnings are treated longitudinally? Second, how far do differences show up in such trajectories within classes, thus suggesting heterogeneity in employment relations? Third, how far are individuals’ educational levels associated with the shapes of their earnings trajectories independently of their class positions? And, fourth, how far does the class mobility of individuals over the course of their working lives lead to changes in their earnings trajectories? We address these questions on the basis of a rich British dataset relating to men and women aged 21–60, born between1941 and 1990, and by treating earnings trajectories in relation to class through multilevel growth curve modelling. In general, we find that earlier findings are robust and that the association between class position and age-earnings trajectories for the most part follows theoretical expectations insofar as classes are defined in terms of differences in employment relations.
{"title":"Social class and earnings trajectories in the UK: New findings from a longitudinal analysis","authors":"Erzsébet Bukodi , John H. Goldthorpe , Leonie Westhoff","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101089","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101089","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We identify and seek to address four questions arising from current analyses of the relation between social class positions and age-earnings trajectories that call for further research. First, how far are findings from earlier cross-sectional analyses confirmed if individuals’ earnings are treated longitudinally? Second, how far do differences show up in such trajectories <em>within</em> classes, thus suggesting heterogeneity in employment relations? Third, how far are individuals’ educational levels associated with the shapes of their earnings trajectories independently of their class positions? And, fourth, how far does the class mobility of individuals over the course of their working lives lead to changes in their earnings trajectories? We address these questions on the basis of a rich British dataset relating to men and women aged 21–60, born between1941 and 1990, and by treating earnings trajectories in relation to class through multilevel growth curve modelling. In general, we find that earlier findings are robust and that the association between class position and age-earnings trajectories for the most part follows theoretical expectations insofar as classes are defined in terms of differences in employment relations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101089"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144885689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-07DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101086
Andrea Pietrolucci , Jascha Dräger , Nora Müller , Marco Albertini
Parental wealth is a crucial dimension of socioeconomic status (SES) and plays a significant role in the intergenerational transmission of educational advantage. Previous research on the topic has been limited to a small number of countries, and findings on the relationship between parental wealth and educational attainment are hardly comparable across institutional contexts. Furthermore, the specific role of different wealth components remains unclear. This study addresses these gaps by comparing parental wealth-based inequalities in post-secondary enrollment across 15 European countries, using harmonized Household Finance and Consumption Survey data. We assess how different dimensions of parental wealth – net, real, and financial – relate to children's post-secondary enrollment, and how these associations vary across institutional contexts. Our findings reveal substantial enrollment gaps between high- and low-wealth families in all countries, with these disparities remaining significant in ten countries even after accounting for other parental SES dimensions. When considering net wealth, we observe the largest enrollment gaps in Southern and Eastern Europe and smaller gaps in most Continental countries. However, most of country differences are not statistically significant. Real wealth, particularly housing assets, is the strongest predictor of enrollment, whereas the role of household debt is more context-dependent. These results underscore the importance of disaggregating wealth components and considering the specific national context when assessing wealth-related educational inequalities.
{"title":"The educational wealth divide in Europe: Post-secondary enrollment gaps across parental wealth components and countries","authors":"Andrea Pietrolucci , Jascha Dräger , Nora Müller , Marco Albertini","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101086","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101086","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Parental wealth is a crucial dimension of socioeconomic status (SES) and plays a significant role in the intergenerational transmission of educational advantage. Previous research on the topic has been limited to a small number of countries, and findings on the relationship between parental wealth and educational attainment are hardly comparable across institutional contexts. Furthermore, the specific role of different wealth components remains unclear. This study addresses these gaps by comparing parental wealth-based inequalities in post-secondary enrollment across 15 European countries, using harmonized Household Finance and Consumption Survey data. We assess how different dimensions of parental wealth – net, real, and financial – relate to children's post-secondary enrollment, and how these associations vary across institutional contexts. Our findings reveal substantial enrollment gaps between high- and low-wealth families in all countries, with these disparities remaining significant in ten countries even after accounting for other parental SES dimensions. When considering net wealth, we observe the largest enrollment gaps in Southern and Eastern Europe and smaller gaps in most Continental countries. However, most of country differences are not statistically significant. Real wealth, particularly housing assets, is the strongest predictor of enrollment, whereas the role of household debt is more context-dependent. These results underscore the importance of disaggregating wealth components and considering the specific national context when assessing wealth-related educational inequalities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101086"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144879871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101085
Claudia Diehl, Katja Pomianowicz, Thomas Hinz
This paper explores why ethnic minority students are more likely than majority students to believe that they should attend a higher educational track. Based on a survey of seventh-grade students in Germany, we examine two explanations for this “perception gap.” First, minority students may be more likely than majority students to be placed in a track that is too low for them (“exposure” to unfair treatment). Second, minority students, who are more frequently enrolled in the lowest educational tracks and are often the children of highly ambitious parents, may feel a greater need to attribute limited educational success to unfair treatment in order to protect their self-esteem (“ex-post rationalization of a lack of success”). We find little evidence for the “exposure" mechanism. Instead, the “perception gap” between majority and minority students largely reflects their more frequent enrollment in the lowest, stigmatized track of the education system and their parents' high, unmet educational aspirations.
{"title":"On the wrong track? Perceived track mismatch among ethnic minority and majority students in the German education system","authors":"Claudia Diehl, Katja Pomianowicz, Thomas Hinz","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101085","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101085","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores why ethnic minority students are more likely than majority students to believe that they should attend a higher educational track. Based on a survey of seventh-grade students in Germany, we examine two explanations for this “perception gap.” First, minority students may be more likely than majority students to be placed in a track that is too low for them (“exposure” to unfair treatment). Second, minority students, who are more frequently enrolled in the lowest educational tracks and are often the children of highly ambitious parents, may feel a greater need to attribute limited educational success to unfair treatment in order to protect their self-esteem (“ex-post rationalization of a lack of success”). We find little evidence for the “exposure\" mechanism. Instead, the “perception gap” between majority and minority students largely reflects their more frequent enrollment in the lowest, stigmatized track of the education system and their parents' high, unmet educational aspirations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101085"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144830586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-25DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101084
Efrat Herzberg-Druker
Numerous scholars have explored the association between women's changing employment patterns and the changing income inequality in recent decades. While most studies indicate that increased women's employment reduces household inequality, a few suggest the opposite effect. This research investigated whether shifts in the division of paid work (i.e., changes in the working hours) among heterosexual couples, as compared to changes in women's work alone, contribute to changes in income inequality. It also examined whether the selection of couples into the different types of division of paid work based on their level of education is a mechanism underlying the growing inequality. Based on counterfactual analyses of data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), encompassing 21 OECD countries, the findings demonstrate shifts in couples' division of paid work, particularly the increase in fulltime dual-earner households, are associated with rising income inequality in most countries studied. However, changes in educational attainment were not found to be the mechanism underlying the association between changes in couples' division of paid work and changes in income inequality.
{"title":"Couples' division of paid work and rising income inequality: A study of 21 OECD countries","authors":"Efrat Herzberg-Druker","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101084","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101084","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Numerous scholars have explored the association between women's changing employment patterns and the changing income inequality in recent decades. While most studies indicate that increased women's employment reduces household inequality, a few suggest the opposite effect. This research investigated whether shifts in the division of paid work (i.e., changes in the working hours) among heterosexual couples, as compared to changes in women's work alone, contribute to changes in income inequality. It also examined whether the selection of couples into the different types of division of paid work based on their level of education is a mechanism underlying the growing inequality. Based on counterfactual analyses of data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), encompassing 21 OECD countries, the findings demonstrate shifts in couples' division of paid work, particularly the increase in fulltime dual-earner households, are associated with rising income inequality in most countries studied. However, changes in educational attainment were not found to be the mechanism underlying the association between changes in couples' division of paid work and changes in income inequality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101084"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144722356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-04DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101074
Dafna Gelbgiser , Limor Gabay-Egozi
Despite attaining higher education levels than ever before, women continue to earn less than men. Using data from 26 countries obtained from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), we examine how the supply of college-educated adults shapes gender differences in the value of educational attainment in today's labor market. Our analysis reveals two interrelated processes that disadvantage women. First, in high-supply contexts, women acquire college credentials at higher rates but are more constrained in acquiring high cognitive skills, particularly numeracy, leading to a misalignment between their credentials and skills. Second, in high-supply contexts, the returns to college credentials in accessing high pay decrease for both genders, while the importance of cognitive skills remains stable. Cognitive skills are increasingly vital in high-supply contexts, particularly for women, but college credentials remain a stronger safeguard against low pay. These results shed light on the gendered patterns of rewards to education across supply contexts and the income distribution, providing insights into the different incentives of men and women to pursue education and the stalling of the gender gap. Addressing the gender pay gap requires a comprehensive approach that both enhances educational attainment and prioritizes the development of high cognitive skills, particularly among women.
{"title":"The gendered value of education in the ‘college-for-all’ era and the role of literacy and numeracy skills","authors":"Dafna Gelbgiser , Limor Gabay-Egozi","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101074","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite attaining higher education levels than ever before, women continue to earn less than men. Using data from 26 countries obtained from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), we examine how the supply of college-educated adults shapes gender differences in the value of educational attainment in today's labor market. Our analysis reveals two interrelated processes that disadvantage women. First, in high-supply contexts, women acquire college credentials at higher rates but are more constrained in acquiring high cognitive skills, particularly numeracy, leading to a misalignment between their credentials and skills. Second, in high-supply contexts, the returns to college credentials in accessing high pay decrease for both genders, while the importance of cognitive skills remains stable. Cognitive skills are increasingly vital in high-supply contexts, particularly for women, but college credentials remain a stronger safeguard against low pay. These results shed light on the gendered patterns of rewards to education across supply contexts and the income distribution, providing insights into the different incentives of men and women to pursue education and the stalling of the gender gap. Addressing the gender pay gap requires a comprehensive approach that both enhances educational attainment and prioritizes the development of high cognitive skills, particularly among women.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101074"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144604908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-04DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101075
Maye Ehab
This paper evaluates the effect of family formation on women’s occupational status, which identifies their social mobility. This study extends research by studying the long-term impact of marriage and the anticipation effect before marriage. We estimate fixed-effects and fixed-effects individual slopes panel models to identify the impact of marriage and childbearing on occupational status using retrospective data from Egypt’s Labor Market Panel Survey for 2018. After accounting for selection based on levels and growth of occupational status, this study found that women witness a marriage premium only in years 4 and 7 after marriage, contrary to the fixed-effects estimates. This result shows that the premium witnessed by married women in the other years is due to selection into marriage based on both status levels and growth. Hence, accounting for various type of selection and estimating a yearly heterogeneous impact of marriage are crucial in estimating the marriage premium. Two possible mechanisms that might result in changes in occupational status are examined. Changes in work experience or employment sector explain the occupational adjustment that happens during the years of marriage, which demonstrates the importance of building women’s human capital and the role of providing public sector jobs that facilitates women’s double-shift roles. The results do not point to an effect of child-birth parities on the occupational status, but rather a marriage premium.
{"title":"Family formation and occupational status: Premium or penalties for women?","authors":"Maye Ehab","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101075","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101075","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper evaluates the effect of family formation on women’s occupational status, which identifies their social mobility. This study extends research by studying the long-term impact of marriage and the anticipation effect before marriage. We estimate fixed-effects and fixed-effects individual slopes panel models to identify the impact of marriage and childbearing on occupational status using retrospective data from Egypt’s Labor Market Panel Survey for 2018. After accounting for selection based on levels and growth of occupational status, this study found that women witness a marriage premium only in years 4 and 7 after marriage, contrary to the fixed-effects estimates. This result shows that the premium witnessed by married women in the other years is due to selection into marriage based on both status levels and growth. Hence, accounting for various type of selection and estimating a yearly heterogeneous impact of marriage are crucial in estimating the marriage premium. Two possible mechanisms that might result in changes in occupational status are examined. Changes in work experience or employment sector explain the occupational adjustment that happens during the years of marriage, which demonstrates the importance of building women’s human capital and the role of providing public sector jobs that facilitates women’s double-shift roles. The results do not point to an effect of child-birth parities on the occupational status, but rather a marriage premium.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101075"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144595927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-03DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101073
Jad Moawad
There is ongoing debate regarding the impact of economic recessions on health outcomes. Additionally, prior research yields conflicting results on whether economic recessions widen the health disparity between highly educated and less educated individuals. We investigate this issue by examining the impact of the Great Recession and the subsequent double-dip recession on health disparities, using cross-classified multilevel models. We use longitudinal data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) covering 29 countries from 2005 to 2015. Our findings reveal compelling evidence that the Great Recession and the subsequent double-dip recession significantly widened the health disparity between individuals with lower and higher levels of education. Conversely, our results indicate that austerity measures, specifically reductions in health spending, narrowed this health gap between low and high educated.
{"title":"The impact of economic fluctuations on health inequalities in Europe: Evidence from 29 countries between 2005 and 2015","authors":"Jad Moawad","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101073","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101073","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is ongoing debate regarding the impact of economic recessions on health outcomes. Additionally, prior research yields conflicting results on whether economic recessions widen the health disparity between highly educated and less educated individuals. We investigate this issue by examining the impact of the Great Recession and the subsequent double-dip recession on health disparities, using cross-classified multilevel models. We use longitudinal data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) covering 29 countries from 2005 to 2015. Our findings reveal compelling evidence that the Great Recession and the subsequent double-dip recession significantly widened the health disparity between individuals with lower and higher levels of education. Conversely, our results indicate that austerity measures, specifically reductions in health spending, narrowed this health gap between low and high educated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"99 ","pages":"Article 101073"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144588130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101072
Danilo Kuzmanic
Socially disadvantaged students entering higher education often enrol in less selective programs than they could aim for, resulting in diminished labour market outcomes. Drawing from administrative data on first-year entrants to higher education in Chile in 2018, this study addresses socioeconomic disparities in the mismatch between students' academic achievement and the labour market outcomes of their degrees, focusing on the role of geographic proximity. The uneven geographic access to degrees aligning with students' achievement is critical to understanding the high socioeconomic disparities in Chilean higher education. I show that these disparities would remain practically unchanged even if students enrolled in their best-matched degrees within 50 kilometres of their locality. Moreover, I find no socioeconomic disparities between students with nearby matching degrees, whereas high differences arise between students residing far away from suitable options. This study highlights the geographical challenges in addressing mismatch disparities in a high-participation higher education system.
{"title":"Do spatial inequalities explain social disparities in mismatch in Chilean higher education?","authors":"Danilo Kuzmanic","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101072","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101072","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Socially disadvantaged students entering higher education often enrol in less selective programs than they could aim for, resulting in diminished labour market outcomes. Drawing from administrative data on first-year entrants to higher education in Chile in 2018, this study addresses socioeconomic disparities in the mismatch between students' academic achievement and the labour market outcomes of their degrees, focusing on the role of geographic proximity. The uneven geographic access to degrees aligning with students' achievement is critical to understanding the high socioeconomic disparities in Chilean higher education. I show that these disparities would remain practically unchanged even if students enrolled in their best-matched degrees within 50 kilometres of their locality. Moreover, I find no socioeconomic disparities between students with nearby matching degrees, whereas high differences arise between students residing far away from suitable options. This study highlights the geographical challenges in addressing mismatch disparities in a high-participation higher education system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101072"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144563062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-18DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101071
Till Hovestadt , Georg Lorenz
How do social networks affect educational inequality? Previous theory suggests that inequality is reinforced by a lack of social influence between social groups, while intergroup social influence could diminish inequality. According to this view, friendships between students with different socioeconomic status (SES) might decrease educational inequality due to cross-SES social influence. An underlying assumption is that social influence occurs ubiquitously across all friendships. We challenge this assumption and suggest that friends with the same SES exert stronger influence on each other than friends with a dissimilar SES—a phenomenon known as similarity bias. We test whether similarity bias based on SES is relevant for social influence on educational aspirations using multilevel Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models on longitudinal data of 236 friendship networks in Germany and Sweden. Pointing towards similarity bias, our results show that social influence on educational aspirations is significantly stronger among same-SES friends than among cross-SES friends. Counterfactual simulations based on the SAOMs suggest that the absence of similarity bias would lead to decreases in the socioeconomic aspiration gap by up to 9 percent. We conclude that similarity bias can stabilize educational inequality even in socioeconomically mixed social settings.
{"title":"Social network effects on educational inequality: The role of similarity bias in social influence","authors":"Till Hovestadt , Georg Lorenz","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101071","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101071","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How do social networks affect educational inequality? Previous theory suggests that inequality is reinforced by a lack of social influence between social groups, while intergroup social influence could diminish inequality. According to this view, friendships between students with different socioeconomic status (SES) might decrease educational inequality due to cross-SES social influence. An underlying assumption is that social influence occurs ubiquitously across all friendships. We challenge this assumption and suggest that friends with the same SES exert stronger influence on each other than friends with a dissimilar SES—a phenomenon known as similarity bias. We test whether similarity bias based on SES is relevant for social influence on educational aspirations using multilevel Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models on longitudinal data of 236 friendship networks in Germany and Sweden. Pointing towards similarity bias, our results show that social influence on educational aspirations is significantly stronger among same-SES friends than among cross-SES friends. Counterfactual simulations based on the SAOMs suggest that the absence of similarity bias would lead to decreases in the socioeconomic aspiration gap by up to 9 percent. We conclude that similarity bias can stabilize educational inequality even in socioeconomically mixed social settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101071"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144338816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-17DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101070
Richard Nennstiel , Rolf Becker
Switzerland’s comparatively slow but ongoing educational expansion, alongside the persistent gender disparities in the Swiss labor market, offers a unique context in which to investigate how returns to education, as regards occupational status, have evolved for men and women over the last 50 years. Drawing on large-scale administrative census data (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000) and annual structural surveys (2011–2020), social changes across pseudo-birth cohorts (1920–1994) at two career stages (ages 25–30 and 45–50) are analyzed. Two questions are investigated: (1) How have inequalities in occupational status between men and women with similar levels of educational attainment shifted over time? (2) Which mechanisms – such as part-time work, childcare responsibilities, and sector allocation – explain these gender differences, and how have their impacts changed? The findings reveal that although raw gender gaps in occupational status have narrowed in younger cohorts – particularly at early career stages – significant disparities persist when accounting for key mechanisms. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition shows that part-time work and labor market segregation continue to produce gendered penalties. The results underscore that even as women’s educational attainment has surpassed that of men in recent cohorts, structural factors continue to limit full returns to education for women, in regard to their occupational status.
{"title":"Equal educational qualifications but unequal labor market outcomes: An exploration of gender disparities in occupational status and their mechanisms, over five decades","authors":"Richard Nennstiel , Rolf Becker","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101070","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Switzerland’s comparatively slow but ongoing educational expansion, alongside the persistent gender disparities in the Swiss labor market, offers a unique context in which to investigate how returns to education, as regards occupational status, have evolved for men and women over the last 50 years. Drawing on large-scale administrative census data (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000) and annual structural surveys (2011–2020), social changes across pseudo-birth cohorts (1920–1994) at two career stages (ages 25–30 and 45–50) are analyzed. Two questions are investigated: (1) How have inequalities in occupational status between men and women with similar levels of educational attainment shifted over time? (2) Which mechanisms – such as part-time work, childcare responsibilities, and sector allocation – explain these gender differences, and how have their impacts changed? The findings reveal that although raw gender gaps in occupational status have narrowed in younger cohorts – particularly at early career stages – significant disparities persist when accounting for key mechanisms. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition shows that part-time work and labor market segregation continue to produce gendered penalties. The results underscore that even as women’s educational attainment has surpassed that of men in recent cohorts, structural factors continue to limit full returns to education for women, in regard to their occupational status.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101070"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}