Preliminary Programme

Does the persistence of inequality between generations differ between men and women? Does the presence of gainfully women within families benefit children in socioeconomic outcomes?
Research about contemporary and past periods has shown that higher levels of socioeconomic disparity in some periods may hamper the levels of social mobility over generations later on and make intergenerational inequality persistent in the long-term (OECD, 2018; Eriksson and Goldthorpe, 1991). According to this view, countries with early and stronger economic inequality decline during the second half of the twentieth century would also show higher equality of opportunities among individuals (Björklund and Jäntti, 2009). However, researches have not accounted for the likely effects of gender differences on inequality within the increasing female labour force at that time (Härkönen et al., 2016). Thus, in pre-Social welfare periods the increasing inclusion of females’ labour participation could take over the inequality burden and relieved inequality among men. However, the inclusion of women's earnings on families could also have ameliorated the investments on children and reduce sibling's gender gaps (Mincer & Polachek, 1974).
To address these aspects, individual and longitudinal income information from both men and women are used separately, based on tax data records from the Scanian Economic Demographic Database (SEDD) between 1947 and 2015. The database covers rural areas in Southern Sweden and the town of Landskrona during a period of industrialisation and post-industrialisation. From 1968, the Database has been linked to the national population registers from Statistics Sweden, which gives information about the population originally captured on SEDD and their descendants in other locations in Sweden, so that out-migrating descendants as well as locally residing individuals can be followed.
In this paper, the premise that an early decline of economic inequality happened among men but not among women is considered. Thus, observing unequal effects of women and men on intergenerational may inform better about the role gender gap played on social mobility and (in)equality of opportunities. However, it is also contemplated the fact that having a gainfully mother may have been also beneficial for both sons and daughters. The main hypothesis are that a decline of economic inequality in pre-Social welfare Sweden from 1940’s onwards (Roine & Waldenström, 2008); was due to the increasing female’s labour force participation. However, while inequality among men declined, it was higher and lasted longer among women. Thus, there would be a higher persistence of inequality across generations between mothers and daughters than between fathers and sons. However, the fact of having or not a gainfully women at home may have played an important role in reducing or not sibling’s gender inequalities.
Analytically, this paper observes the intergenerational income positions (eg. decile groups of income distribution) and control for demographic features as sibship size, birth order or age at childbirth comparing feminine and masculine lines of transmission as mother-daughter and father-son within households with female´s earnings. Moreover, it will be compared also all families with and without gainfully mothers, inquiring for whom inequality over time might have been more persistent. (Show less)

Historically, marriage and family were the aims of most young people. Up until now partnership and parenthood signify key transitions to adulthood and symbolise recognition as a ‘real’ man or woman. Besides this, partnership provides a range of benefits such as pooling of various types of resources and positive health effects. There is a lack of knowledge in both society and research on how disabilities affect partnering. Disability determines perceived access to partners in the environment of people with disabilities, which leads to further inequalities. Such disabling circumstances go long back in time and have far-reaching effects on the equality and wellbeing of people with disabilities and their social status in life back in time as well as nowadays.
This study aims to compare results covering more than 200 years in order to obtain new knowledge on how disabilities affect access to partnering through either marriage or cohabitation. Our results present selection of findings from the recent or still ongoing studies within the ERC-funded DISLIFE project, led by one of the authors (Prof. Lotta Vikström), based on quantitative life-course methods using Swedish population registers. These registers indicate impairment at the micro-level and often identify even the type of it, enabling statistical regression analysis on how multiple intersections of disability and demography (age, gender and socio-economic status) interplay in Swedish society from past to present.
Our long-term findings show remarkable persistence across time. It appears that disabilities keep limiting both men’s and women’s partnering chances across life substantially (more than 50%), while only some minor variations depending on type of disability (sensory, physical, mental), gender and time are found. This major result holds over time despite that Swedish society underwent large-scale transformation during the two centuries concerned. It moved from being one of the poorest countries in 19th-century Europe to become internationally known as one of the most developed welfare states worldwide with the goal to decrease inequality between citizens. Yet these structural changes had little impact on the negative association between disability and partnership, which we show persists still today.
The study results identify continuity of a stable pattern of inequality and are of international interest as they provide a unique baseline for the comparisons and highlight partnership possibilities from disability and life-course approach. (Show less)

According to modernization theory ascribed characteristics become less important and achieved characteristics become more important for status attainment when societies modernize (Blau & Duncan, 1967; Treiman, 1970). This has been most often studied for the effect of father’s status (ascribed characteristics) on son’s status (e.g. Knigge, Maas, van Leeuwen & Mandemakers, 2014). A second way to test modernization theory is by studying partner choice: to what extent do men with high status fathers or who achieved a high status themselves marry higher status brides (e.g. Maas & van Leeuwen, 2019).
In this study we test modernization theory with respect to a third ascribed characteristic: ethnic background. Many studies covering a wide range of countries have shown that migrants on average reach lower status than the native population. There are two main explanations for this difference (van Tubergen, Maas & Flap, 2004). According to resource theories migrants possess fewer resources that are helpful in reaching a higher status. Another explanation is that the native population discriminates migrants. In general, therefore, it is expected that migrants reach a lower status than natives.
According to modernization theory, with modernization, the ascribed characteristic ethnicity becomes less important. In terms of the migration literature: there is less discrimination. But at the same time achieved characteristics, i.e. resources, become more important. Since migrants tend to have fewer resources than natives, the overall outcome for the difference between natives and immigrants is thus unclear.
We will test modernization theory by comparing migrants with natives with respect to status later in life (at the marriage of their children). This allows us to compare the effects of status shortly after migration (as an indicator of an achieved characteristic) and the additional effect of being a migrant (as an ascribed characteristic). We do so against the background of modernization in the Netherlands between 1812 and 1922. Our research question is: did the effect of ascribed characteristics, i.e. being a migrant, for status attainment decrease and the importance of achieved characteristics, i.e. status early in life, increase with modernization?
We use two data sources. The first is GENLIAS, a database that contains information from all marriage certificates for the period 1812 to 1922 in a number of Dutch provinces (Oosten & Mandemakers 2007). The certificates include information on date and place of marriage; name, birthplace, age, and occupation of bridegroom and bride; and names and occupations of the couple’s parents. We use a version of GENLIAS (version 2007_03) that links the marriage certificates of children to those of their parents. In this way, we can estimate the effects of country of birth and early occupational status - from their own marriage certificate - on occupational status later in life – from their children’s marriage certificate. The second data source is the Historical International Standardized Community Indicators-Netherlands (HISCI-NL) dataset (Knigge, Schulz & Zijdeman 2012). This dataset includes yearly measures for a number of modernization processes for all municipalities in the Netherlands. (Show less)

This paper explores social mobility indicators and trends in Barcelona in the nineteenth century (1840-1880). Using information obtained from marriage registers for several benchmark years, it takes the recorded occupations of the grooms and of both spouses’ fathers to measure intergenerational socioeconomic mobility. Occupations, together with the age at marriage and the geographic origin of the husband and wife, also enable an analysis of assortative mating patterns. Barcelona’s dynamic economic activity, and the upturn in immigration flows at the time, provide the backdrop against which to test the impact of urbanisation and industrialisation on the economic opportunities for young adults and, by extension, on the marriage market. (Show less)