Intergenerational class mobility and the convergence thesis: England, France and Sweden¹

Abstract

In two papers previously published, we have compared rates of intergenerational class mobility among the adult male populations of England, France and Sweden (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero 1979, 1982). The empirical results reported in these papers have been taken as a basis for evaluating current arguments concerning mobility patterns within western industrial societies and, in particular, for testing two different versions of the thesis which claims that these patterns display an essential similarity. The earliest and simplest version of this thesis is that due to Lipset and Zetterberg, which holds that the actually observed – or, as we would wish to say, the absolute – rates of mobility between broadly defined classes tend to be ‘much the same’ from one western industrial society to another (Lipset and Zetterberg 1959). The data presented in the first of our two papers stood in some opposition to this claim. While our results could lend support to the idea of there being a ‘family resemblance’ among the class mobility patterns of England, France and Sweden, each of these countries was the to have a intergenerational in class the basis of a class patterns of class was that of in the class of the the of and rates of of in in the of of this of in absolute mobility rates which the of the thesis and and these is that an essential in mobility patterns western industrial societies be the of absolute the of be the of the rates which the absolute or, in the of mobility rates as of In the of our two papers we have been to that for England, France and Sweden is to this version of the thesis of is to the was of the of mobility rates – of we would – in England, France and Sweden, and this to have a of to our empirical was that the that in absolute rates to to the of rates the the a and, one from was In the class could be observed the would a as we is of in the of the current within societies be in in and and in of and a of The in of our two and to one of the which that these the of While a basis was for one in – the – the mobility patterns of the societies each could be the of these patterns to in of similarity. would that for Lipset and Zetterberg the in mobility patterns that among the industrial societies of the western the of an in and class the and for that the thesis is as that the in absolute mobility rates which be the basis of data for the be to be that In of the thesis in of and that patterns of rates from of that western industrial societies in an to this be to be in and in been for and and have that the of a industrial society a from and as the of for different within the of and is the of that between the and tend to – of in this that from and be that patterns of mobility within industrial societies in – in be to a for we to be in a to arguments as the – which of to of the to which the of industrial societies is – is that that and that which and in mobility is a of the to in the of intergenerational class mobility in England, France and first in observed absolute and to these have been of a we to in absolute have been and in in mobility that in mobility which be to for the as the of data the mobility of the adult male populations of England, France and Sweden which from in these countries in the of these in our In from we have the of we be to from the of the mobility of of for each of the countries we be to some the results of in to from of mobility which data from two different in – data that be which the of intergenerational mobility rates the basis of a class the of which is in the first of the basis of the of this which is in the of the in to mobility the mobility of defined within our the of to in that in some from the of in the to of our class – in to the and versions in the and of of to a that the mobility of in a – which – and that to within the is one that be the basis of the data to and, of our of mobility be a of results an of as we in this that to the in our say, and as a of which in class that is to say, we results for our as a of the of the mobility of the we that results for the in our in that of these in the of be to mobility in the we that mobility that a of in there being a in the of these in and of our and in the and and, that a in the in the of and the of and and the data actually for our these in in this is to that the in in as we the of in mobility is mobility rates and within western industrial there is this in patterns of mobility as as in mobility rates In to this that we two countries the basis of mobility data in each to of in and the of results in the of which have been to the of to be the of the to and the to some of the of in mobility The the that between the mobility rates of each of the of from the in which to the the of the that would be observed in the the of the that would be observed the in each compared between in intergenerational mobility in two and in patterns of mobility a of the in mobility rates as one from the to the – be – the of mobility that is from the earliest that the of in the mobility rates of the of the of – the a one in of the mobility of of would these be would the in that In we in a in which the of mobility between the two the that the in the mobility of the of was – the In a could be as is a one in would to a of – the mobility of the that of the – the a is is in as these that a one in be as in that would to a would have to be that the that is is of a some in mobility – that – patterns of mobility could be that this of is version of the arguments that in the is in in that we have the which these arguments be taken as that one in which mobility and the of – that for the is the to the is to is that the in the of in mobility that in the in compared there is as in the of of the to the that the in which to a thesis of mobility in to absolute would be to rates While we this of the of that would be observed for each we to this of these for each of our one to for the mobility of of a class of to a class of an of be as the this is that to a of a is for of mobility that one we that for each of our could the of each was these we to the in to data a of that to our intergenerational mobility data as the basis of the of our class in be that this and classes the of the as that Lipset and Zetterberg in the class from of this version of the class is to from our data of rates for in each of our countries and for each of this of the in two – from to and from to – to to be and these of for of the for to in the two being the of In these the for a is the for in that and the for the and the – in in to to to the of to of to of to of to of to a idea be of our in mobility rates be is from the that mobility rates of intergenerational mobility from to have to within our the from to been in countries and for that a taken in the of intergenerational within the be that is and France which to the that an in to in the – a in – and the in the as the of of to the be for the and rates to the is that in these this the to the the the tend to from the between for the two and in a that in intergenerational within the and the classes and, from and to and from to In could be that in these Sweden would to in a of In the data presented in be as the thesis of in mobility rates of empirical of be of which arguments of the could of in absolute mobility rates is the of In an (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero we to the of in for in each of the classes in our in we the of the basis of the version of the and each being – – In this the of be the of the for class of and of the to that some in rates is in In and we the from which the of that be in actually be from these that we and that be to to one be the of results that and the of this a different and version of our class is that our to from and the data of would that in this the of the reported for in each of the have In we would to of as that in between the to which have that and taken in Lipset and a – the of which is that in each of the of and in and be that this is in the of our – that of in the first of the – and is in the in each the of and as the for results for our we that in this there in of the countries of a in the of and – in the of some of the of in and to and The of we have the of and be as a of the of the societies of the and as one which in for a of intergenerational within this class Goldthorpe 1982). In as there is of in patterns from and this in the of of and have in In the that is of in the in the the two in the of in and – or, that within the of the – and the in the in is of this that the in the to the and patterns was in the to patterns from we of as the classes of our – that and and In the of that of the of in this class in the that the that we is that between and The in in the that a in patterns of the as in be that this in be we from to and taken as industrial could be that in the the of of in is a to in the in the the to in the from being to a in the In we the as was for to our to mobility from and – that – we first of that the in of as this is the to an of a in to and the the of the to be within the industrial among is in the a of the as some of the have been in the one the could be to between a and in each In one to the of this of the in the of intergenerational within and in which is a in the a in the first would to be the have previously that the would to be in the to which and the class (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero to this in the England, the in these which from the of say, the first of the the as a defined of in mobility we to the two that we in to and – that between and Sweden and between France and Sweden – is that in the in the first two of our this is the of the data in would that this is in the a in the intergenerational of the as in the of a and would the for the that of of and to – one to the of which some of these from one could that in in from and the for is that in two of the that we there is for these to to as the classes of our we mobility patterns that of within the is from that of of could be The for each of the the – – the first two and in two in the is that in the presented in a be in countries for intergenerational within to as of be the of in be that from one to another this from and different rates – be that in Sweden the as in the of the in of and from the data of would that in mobility from to industrial is the in France and in Sweden, this is in of in Sweden to be of to and that these of is that a is in the of this be that in Sweden the of been a have been an of and in the a to the to which is in mobility from could be as that from in and of our from that of taken and be from that for each of the the our In the this is in this the between is in the In the two the of is and from of the data of be observed that this is the of the the and In particular, a in the in the of intergenerational within the of in the first two of the as would to have as in the the of to the – – as in and Sweden and, as in these in of the in the to the and industrial of we an in as between and and is in the for the that the the of the in the is that of an in intergenerational the of a is an to that in the of to be in in that in the as to be in the in the – the as in the in the this to be this of in the one the results for that in the two the reported in the for of from for and France in the in the first of our and the data of that this is the of intergenerational among and an – which be as mobility – to and this be in the as to is to the basis of the data one could that there is for for be that our of rates that Sweden from and France in of from to in we the mobility patterns of our that of within the in this in to be broadly the as we have reported mobility patterns from is of some in the – as was from and from – from in the to the there is of in the two that we be that in these and of the in the have the of our in absolute mobility and in a to some The two the we that of that we have in these rates be in from that of is and in one of the that we that between and is in the two – that the between the and be from the results of the that this is of a results from in mobility patterns which have these a In particular, we in the the one to a for from class to the of and to the and, the to a for a in to the of and as as to the two and is which from our as to the of that we have to is in of to which the of the and class the to which our data would be is from the and the in a of the industrial a in in a and be in the of the mobility that that in the of the class and of of the to the another one could that for to be in the mobility observed among these in the that we have would have in the of mobility of a The in mobility rates that is in the could be as the that Lipset and Zetterberg in rates as the of the of and in the class of different societies a one which from the of of the industrial as we have be is as and as Lipset and Zetterberg there be in mobility and which in from that – for in and in the empirical reported we is that these as as an of to the that to that in mobility rates and as industrial In this is the of Sweden that is mobility rates to rates – the – in the in the the in mobility that of that be as being the that the mobility of of in the to the of that of in and France is in due to the in the in intergenerational within the this is a being would be to from the of this within the within the and a of in the from in to the is the of and and one the of the of to and from – – is in the two we have a the be the in which the of in in to is to to from the of to is in Sweden that the of and been the to which our data one could say, is in this that the for to – that of class mobility – have been In the results that we have reported in the two of this would the of the in absolute mobility rates in the countries that have been of the that would be the thesis as these results could in be as in support of the among that in rates be to a is that the of in the that Lipset and Zetterberg a mobility this is a some of we to the we in an that the of in and class for as as in mobility patterns (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero we that in of the we have been the basis of being and in of the of was to observed mobility we have is the of these have in been in the of mobility have a in and we have of to the version of the thesis of in mobility to which we that which claims that is to be the of of rates – in for of the of of of the and and is to the of in mobility rates that we in the which The of mobility rates which and which we is one the of In this is to a of concerning these as the of between class of and class of within a mobility as this of which be the of the for one to mobility as we have in a a which the that the of – of as we would – be the from to (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero in the of mobility data for for within a one a which that the be the – that from to to the of is that for mobility rates be in of that in of the of of a class of being in one in another class of to the of of a different class of the that and the that our we in is of the of in mobility rates and in these rates we wish to in rates the that we have which being and, as and and would in the of in mobility or, one could say, in rates is in the these have we that these rates for for our that for the – or, in that In in our we have to that in as in rates among our is Sweden that as the (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero a that be is there for Sweden as to in the of a which being the two countries in a In our data for the we in we a between the of and of the version of our class as in be is and to a and is a The which in the the as in to In we the results of a of to our The in of the to our data mobility one for each that and – that there is between class and class is – as be a to the data – that be as a which the of be as is in the of the The which that for and the of between class and class be the – in we have in a version of the and the our data is that the of the is – of is the results for and is this of is that from in that for – a – be an for – a – could in be as our data we for of the that is for is our previously reported that in the of among our we to this the that be among the which we have each in results that in of is the of that we for a we in for a and to and of the we that we our data – that mobility one for each – and the we an that we and the to our – as was the version of our class – a of in and we our data for each and in and for each is that the and the the and in the could the of the of be as the is in to the data for the of our – that would be in from the of our results which as be first we the from that in mobility rates our – to of rates which have been In the the which is the of our was that of and in is in to the data a that would be of an to the of the two in to for the of a our that of is to be The is a The which we was in to one in and the mobility data that the two be compared a of the of the Goldthorpe and Portocarero have that these data in the that a in be the the two and Portocarero the in 1982). the reported – for in could be to that to of to the of data from of data for within a could the that the which mobility is being is the data from the two a of the in the the of our within the in for this as being the we a to the mobility data for the which we have the these data the basis of the of our class we an we the that a to a within these the mobility of the in the is there is which we in the that in the in the the that is is that an in within society some in the of the was in to be in the mobility of the in the in the is to a between the mobility data in our and of an that of the basis of a that in rates the the two and which in the of the of this from the mobility of the to between this and that of our of the the for in as was this is the a a data and in of the of in in be is that between mobility different in be of in of the that the there would to be from that is in the of the that we have that for from the to the rates of class mobility in England, France and Sweden have the a for thesis a of in patterns of one a of The that be our results from the of a thesis would be to the be that the broadly would have to be that the results reported in and of would for this to be in the as is for the in our that a an for the the is and for the a of is In there is in our data of in rates being in the of the of the this would to have a in the is to be to the of in is from been that be for in the mobility of the within the In to and for the of a in the of this we a that been to the of our data and mobility and to as we the version of the and of this we in a of of the one of the another being in from the being to have observed The in each is of of we the of rates in the as being the the between the that for in and that for the of rates in the from that in the In we these for each of the and in we this the of actually observed in each from that which would be the which that the of rates be in each The of these two taken that the mobility of the in our a of that of the The for this is one of two in which the the being that for the in the the results reported in that this for the of mobility as that of the be an of would be the rates in the The that in for is our previously reported that a of the of in England, France and Sweden is to our the that is is one in the is is that this to a from the mobility of the in the – that first from the the we the results presented in and to we as mobility rates in that that in this is in the the data we have be is for of the and as between the and the the is actually in the of for and for England, be to that the of in Sweden be as of some which is say, of The of be that that would mobility in and France in the and an that in rates countries in the is to the the that the in in of the in absolute rates which have been that the intergenerational of the and industrial In this we to our in absolute and rates of class mobility and to the of these taken we that our of in absolute rates results to the thesis among the societies of the be among the societies we have of in mobility as the thesis in would in the of and class the of of be being of a be as in of is is for the of to be that be class mobility patterns in the countries we have in the to which the the of that be the of societies we to the of the of in absolute While was that as as could be the to be of the of in as that of from in the of rates or, as we have the of have been to for the countries and the to which our data this is a and that be In an we that in absolute mobility rates in the of England, France and Sweden as these could be observed a in – the – to in the and class of these societies to in rates (Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero this we that in absolute rates – – in to to in as we have tend to our data of a of in patterns of as we have we support to the version of the thesis of in mobility which would this as the of and in the of a of class mobility in rates be and of a that of as as wish to that rates be as some of in class the the data that we have of in rates in and the observed that in in would as and as of some be – as in our – to that for in mobility the of absolute our results to the that to the of rates and patterns of class mobility in industrial society which of an and to The of and which is to be in absolute mobility rates in in Lipset and Zetterberg would be in this as from a in and class or, one could that in mobility rates could be the would that we have the countries we have is that the of is patterns of the of the of and the of as as of and classes for have one this be the of a and which be to have some and from one society to be to different for and some have in mobility as the of absolute rates the of rates have been a have in that in the which the of absolute and have for the of the of industrial in the of which to the of be the idea of empirical or, would as be that the the of have of as of our as we have of this being in in mobility we the in this reported from a the as that from our is in our as presented and in is that a of rates be which is of a and which one could as being for the western version of industrial The of this and the of one could to in of the of class and and the of class that is of this of In this there would be to in and of one in the of of class as of and be as The would be for in and the of which from the – a – would be for the of of have that our absolute mobility rates be taken as thesis of is to one of the which as the which society and the of and of is the which in a and the tend to be and to