IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/qualqt/v53y2019i3d10.1007_s11135-018-0818-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A multidimensional measure of social origin: theoretical perspectives, operationalization and empirical application in the field of educational inequality research

Author

Listed:
  • Pia Nicoletta Blossfeld

    (Universität Leipzig)

Abstract

This article describes the theoretical reasons and empirical operationalization of a multidimensional social origin measure. It is assumed that different parental resources are linked to social inequality through distinct mechanisms. This social origin variable can be used for the analysis of status inconsistencies as well as cumulating and compensating effects of social origin resources on inequality of opportunity. The proposed measure is easy to operationalize and to apply in cross-sectional, longitudinal or cross-national research. A great methodological advantage of the proposed origin measure is that it avoids the problem of multicollinearity that is prevalent in analyses that include various parental resources as separate covariates into a statistical model. To illustrate this social origin measure, we apply it to the field of educational inequality research and use data from the National Educational Panel Study in Germany. However, the approach can be easily generalized to other sociological or economic studies where social inequality is of interest (such as labor market, demographic, political, migration or ethnic research). The illustrative example combines the information of three family resources (parental education, parental class and parental status), but it can be extended to include further family resources such as income or wealth measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Pia Nicoletta Blossfeld, 2019. "A multidimensional measure of social origin: theoretical perspectives, operationalization and empirical application in the field of educational inequality research," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1347-1367, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:53:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11135-018-0818-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-018-0818-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-018-0818-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11135-018-0818-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Rolf & Blossfeld, Hans-Peter, 2017. "Entry of men into the labour market in West Germany and their career mobility (1945-2008) : A Long-term longitudinal analysis identifying cohort, period, and life-course effects," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 50(1), pages 113-130.
    2. Erikson, Robert & Goldthorpe, John H., 2009. "Social class, family background, and intergenerational mobility: A comment on Mcintosh and Munk," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 118-120, January.
    3. Erik Olin Wright, 1989. "Women in the Class Structure," Politics & Society, , vol. 17(1), pages 35-66, March.
    4. Erzsebet Bukodi & Shirley Dex & John Goldthorpe, 2011. "The conceptualisation and measurement of occupational hierarchies: a review, a proposal and some illustrative analyses," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 623-639, April.
    5. Becker, Rolf & Blossfeld, Hans-Peter, 2017. "Entry of men into the labour market in West Germany and their career mobility (1945 - 2008) : A Long-term longitudinal analysis identifying cohort, period, and life-course effects," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 50(1), pages 113-130.
    6. John Ermisch & Marco Francesconi, 2001. "Family Matters: Impacts of Family Background on Educational Attainments," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 137-156, May.
    7. Gary Marks, 2011. "Issues in the Conceptualisation and Measurement of Socioeconomic Background: Do Different Measures Generate Different Conclusions?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 225-251, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marks, Gary N., 2022. "Cognitive ability has powerful, widespread and robust effects on social stratification: Evidence from the 1979 and 1997 US National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Barbara Zimmermann & Simon Seiler, 2019. "The Relationship between Educational Pathways and Occupational Outcomes at the Intersection of Gender and Social Origin," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 79-94.
    3. Wangshu Sun & Xu Sun, 2023. "Construction and Validation of a Social Stratification Scale: Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification (CAMSIS) Scale for China in the 21st Century," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brown, Sarah & Ortiz-Nuñez, Aurora & Taylor, Karl, 2011. "What will I be when I grow up? An analysis of childhood expectations and career outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 493-506, June.
    2. Jenkins, Stephen P. & Schluter, Christian, 2002. "The Effect of Family Income During Childhood on Later-Life Attainment: Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 604, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Winkelmann, Rainer, 2003. "Parental Separation and Well-Being of Youths," IZA Discussion Papers 894, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Robert A. HartBy & Mirko Moro & J. Elizabeth Roberts, 2017. "Who gained from the introduction of free universal secondary education in England and Wales?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 707-733.
    5. Ehlert, Martin & Finger, Claudia & Rusconi, Alessandra & Solga, Heike, 2017. "Applying to college: Do information deficits lower the likelihood of college-eligible students from less-privileged families to pursue their college intentions?: Evidence from a field experiment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 67, pages 193-212.
    6. A. Davia, Maria, 2004. "Tackling multiple choices: a joint determination of transitions out of education and into the labour market across the European Union," ISER Working Paper Series 2004-22, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Wölfel, Oliver & Heineck, Guido, 2012. "Parental risk attitudes and children's secondary school track choice," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 727-743.
    8. Massimiliano Bratti & Alfonso Miranda, 2010. "Non‐pecuniary returns to higher education: the effect on smoking intensity in the UK," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(8), pages 906-920, August.
    9. Helbig, Marcel & Sendzik, Norbert, 2022. "What Drives Regional Disparities in Educational Expansion: School Reform, Modernization, or Social Structure?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(3), pages 1-1.
    10. Ben-Halima, B. & Chusseau, N. & Hellier, J., 2014. "Skill premia and intergenerational education mobility: The French case," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 50-64.
    11. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl, 2007. "Religion and education: Evidence from the National Child Development Study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 439-460, July.
    12. Miaari, Sami H. & Khattab, Nabil & Kraus, Vered & Yonay, Yuval P., 2021. "Ethnic Capital and Class Reproduction: Comparing the Impact of Socio-Economic Status on Children's Educational Attainment across Ethno-Religious Groups in Israel," IZA Discussion Papers 14053, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Raaum Oddbjørn & Bratsberg Bernt & Røed Knut & Österbacka Eva & Eriksson Tor & Jäntti Markus & Naylor Robin A, 2008. "Marital Sorting, Household Labor Supply, and Intergenerational Earnings Mobility across Countries," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-49, January.
    14. Elena Arias Ortiz & Catherine Dehon, 2008. "What are the Factors of Success at University? A Case Study in Belgium," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(2), pages 121-148.
    15. Gabin Langevin & David Masclet & Fabien Moizeau & Emmanuel Peterle, 2017. "Ethnic gaps in educational attainment and labor-market outcomes: evidence from France," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 84-111, January.
    16. Melanie Fischer-Browne, 2022. "Pushing Higher or Lower? Divergent Parental Expectations and Compromises in Occupational Choice," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 240-251.
    17. Cyrenne, Philippe & Chan, Alan, 2012. "High school grades and university performance: A case study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 524-542.
    18. Winkelmann, Rainer, 2006. "Parental separation and well-being of youths: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 197-208, April.
    19. B. Ben Halima & N. Chusseau & J. Hellier, 2013. "Skill Premia and Intergenerational Skill Transmission: The French Case," Working Papers 285, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    20. Edwin S. Wong, 2013. "Gender preference and transfers from parents to children: an inter-regional comparison," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 61-80, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:53:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11135-018-0818-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.