Search

This article provides a theoretical discussion on the possibilities of conjunction of gender analysis and class analysis for the sociological study of mobility and social reproduction. Reviewing a tradition that has resulted in the separation of those fields and the lack of consideration of gender as a relevant factor in classical studies of social mobility, it presents the possibilities for a conceptual net capable of supporting empirical studies that articulate gender and social origin as explanatory sources of social inequality. That, moreover, has been fuelled by the proliferation in recent decades in Europe and Latin America of researches on mobility that, when including both men and women, convey that conclusions about social reproduction become more complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes critically the most recent scientific bibliography on the causes of the growth of mortality and morbidity in the white working class of the United States. The methodology used in these studies, and also the insufficient conceptualization of the variables used (such as social class), limits the understanding of the increment of the "diseases of despair" in that sector of the population. This article emphasizes the need to analyze the evolution of the social classes in the United States, and the political determinants that have changed not only the character and composition of that class, but also the power differentials between this class and other classes in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of micro, small and medium size enterprises in the growth of per capita gross domestic product at European Union level between 2005 and 2010. Using a panel of data from 25 Member States the results show a positive connection between the prevalence of SME in terms of created value added and GDP per capita growth. When investigating the aforementioned relationship at enterprise size class level the results differ considerably. While microenterprises prevalence in terms of created value added does not appear to cause more growth in per capita income at EU level, small and medium sized enterprises are some of the main drivers of the annual per capita GDP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the relationship between social cohesion and social inequalities in Europe. The analysis is built around two main research questions: Does economic vulnerability exert an impact on the level of social cohesion? Does social class mediate between economic vulnerability and social cohesion? The comparative analysis is based on the welfare regimes perspective. In my opinion, welfare state is relevant because it influences not only the relationship between social class and economic vulnerability, but also the link between social cohesion and economic vulnerability. The empirical analysis, based on data from the "European Quality of Life Survey" collected by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in 2003, shows that economic vulnerability does influence social cohesion and that social class and welfare regime are partially able to attenuate this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A classic topic in the sociology of inequality lies in the subjective consequences of people's stratification position. Many studies have shown that education and occupational class have significant effects on attitudes, but little is known about how the magnitude of these effects depends on the societal context. There has been debate in the scholarly literature, with some authors arguing that effects of class and education are less important when societies are more developed, whereas other authors argue that effects are either stable (for class) or increasing (for education). We use a meta-analytical design to address this debate. More specifically we examine the effects of class and education for a broad range of attitudes (21 scales) in 22 European countries using data from the 1999 wave of the European Values Study. We pool summary-measures of association (Eta-values) into a new dataset and analyse these Eta-values (N = 453) applying multilevel models with characteristics of countries and characteristics of attitudes as the independent variables. Our results show that there is no evidence that the effects of class on attitudes are lower when countries are more modern, but we do find larger effects of education in more modern countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we seek to establish if earlier findings relating to the relationship between income poverty persistence and deprivation persistence could be due to a failure to take measurement error into account. To address this question, we apply a model of dynamics incorporating structural and error components. Our analysis shows a general similarity between latent poverty and deprivation dynamics. In both cases we substantially over-estimate the probability of exiting from poverty or deprivation. We observe a striking similarity across dimensions for both observed and latent outcomes. In both cases levels of poverty and deprivation persistence are higher for the latent case. However, there is no evidence that earlier results relating to the differences in the determinants of poverty and deprivation persistence are a consequence of differential patterns of reliability. Taking measurement error into account seems more likely to accentuate rather than diminish the contrasts highlighted by earlier research. Since longitudinal differences relating to poverty and deprivation cannot be accounted for by measurement error, it seems that we must accept that we are confronted with issues relating to validity rather than reliability. Even where we measure these dimensions over reasonable periods of time and allow for measurement error, they continue to tap relatively distinct phenomenon. Thus, if measures of persistent poverty are to constitute an important component of EU social indicators, a strong case can be made for including parallel measures of deprivation persistence and continuing to explore the relationship between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we have sought to combine regional and social exclusion perspectives on economic exclusion in the enlarged European Community. Our analysis, based on the European Quality of Life Survey, confirms that while the economically vulnerable, identified through latent class analysis, constitute substantially larger groups in the poorer economic clusters, they are much more sharply differentiated from others in the richer clusters. While the economically vulnerable are also disadvantaged in relation to measures of multidimensional deprivation and social cohesion, between economic clusters differences on these dimensions cannot be accounted for by corresponding variations in levels and intensity of economic vulnerability. In fact, the impact of such vulnerability on social cohesion is greater in the more affluent clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]