The direct effect of social origin on men’s occupational attainment over the early life course: An Italian-Dutch comparison

Highlights: The direct social origin effect is stable over historical and biographical time. Career mobility is stronger in the Netherlands compared to Italy. The intragenerational stability of the direct effect is the result of contrasting mechanisms. Social origin plays a role beyond the first job entry in both countries. The direct effect would decrease without the role that social origin plays over the career. ABSTRACT: : Outline Highlights Abstract Keywords 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical framework 3. Data, variables and methods 4. Empirical results 5. Discussion and conclusions Appendix A. Supplementary data References Figures (2) Fig. 1. Growth curve models: predicted average differences in ISEI along the first 10… Fig. 2. Growth curve models: predicted average differences in ISEI along the first 10… Tables (1) Table 1 Extras (1) Document Elsevier Research in Social Stratification and Mobility Volume 56, August 2018, Pages 1-11 Research in Social Stratification and Mobility The direct effect of social origin on men’s occupational attainment over the early life course: An Italian–Dutch comparison Author links open overlay panelGiampieroPassarettaa PaoloBarbieribMaarten H.J.WolberscMarkVisserc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2018.04.002 Get rights and content Highlights • The direct social origin effect is stable over historical and biographical time. • Career mobility is stronger in the Netherlands compared to Italy. • The intragenerational stability of the direct effect is the result of contrasting mechanisms. • Social origin plays a role beyond the first job entry. • The direct effect would decrease without the role that social origin plays over the career. Abstract The article examines the direct effect of social origin on occupational attainment over the early life course of Italian and Dutch men in the period 1946–2005. Based on cross-country and cross-cohort comparisons, we explore the role of the context in favouring the direct transmission of social advantages. Early employment careers are reconstructed using the ‘Italian Longitudinal Household Panel Study’ and the ‘Family Survey Dutch Population’. Multilevel growth curve analyses are used to understand whether the direct effect of social origin at labour market entry increases, decreases or remains stable over the first 10 years of occupational career. Empirical results show that, in both countries, the direct social origin effect is stable over historical and biographical time. Independently of structural and institutional conditions influencing the extent of career mobility, offspring hailing from advantaged social background enjoy a better occupational position at labour market entry, while experiencing similar rates of career progression compared to their counterparts from less-advantaged families. However, when entering the labour market in the same occupational position, offspring from the service class enjoy higher rates of progression compared to their working-class counterparts. Taken together, these pieces of evidence imply that the direct social origin effect would decrease over the early career without the additional role that social background plays beyond the labour market entry