Search

At country-level, a host of evidence suggests there is a sizeable direct effect of social origin (DESO) on initial labour market outcomes, net of educational attainment. What is true at country-level is not always true below country-level, however. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey and the German Socio-Economic Panel, we show that variable spatial opportunity structures moderate the size of DESO at labour market entry, such that there are places where DESO disappears. Social origins assume greater importance as local labour market conditions deteriorate: in weak local labour markets, non-graduates are approximately 16 percentage points less likely to find employment if their parents are care workers rather than secondary school teachers, while graduates typically obtain first jobs that are 7–9 ISEI points lower in status. These findings highlight the distinctive geography of social stratification processes at labour market entry and potentially beyond.

A puzzle has emerged amidst rising inequality: why do people profess high levels of belief in meritocracy even as income gains are increasingly concentrated at the top? In light of contradictory theories and evidence, we undertake the first assessment of the relationship between local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs outside the United States, using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. We find that the positive relationship between country-level income inequality and meritocratic beliefs identified in the recent literature does not translate straightforwardly below country level: there is no robust relationship between local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs in England. However, there is a robust—and somewhat paradoxical—positive association between high local income inequality and meritocratic beliefs among those with the lowest incomes. On average, respondents with annual household incomes of £10,000 are five points more likely (on a 100-point scale) to believe their hard work will pay off if they live in the most rather than the least unequal places in England. We also show that this applies beyond the specific case of meritocratic beliefs: low-income respondents in unequal places are also notably more satisfied with their own (low) income than similar respondents in more equal localities. In line with system justification theory, we argue that belief in meritocracy serves as an important tool of psychological resilience for low-income individuals who regularly come into contact with others more economically fortunate than themselves: though it legitimates their current position at the bottom of the status hierarchy, this belief also offers the promise of future advancement. While this reduces concern about the psychological effects of growing local income inequality on the most economically vulnerable, it also suggests that there is little prospect of demand for systemic economic change emerging from what might have been considered the most likely places.

As the first territory and state where women voted in the U.S., and in fact the first place in the world where women exercised full enfranchisement, Wyoming’s past should raise pressing questions about the history of women’s suffrage. However, scholars typically explain the unusual event as a political hoax, a joke, or an effort to increase the population of the fledgling territory. At the heart of the scholarly treatment of Wyoming suffrage lies the controversial figure of Esther Hobart Morris. Upheld as the ‘mother of woman suffrage’ in local lore, and viewed as a false heroine by most historians, Morris embodies the contradictions of western suffrage. In this essay, I reinsert Morris into the history of suffrage in Wyoming and analyze how Wyomingites remember and commemorate the story of Morris from the 1890s to the 1970s. By taking the symbolic role of Esther Morris seriously, I argue that suffrage in Wyoming mattered, not only to the women who exercised the vote but also to the collective ide...

Published: 04 January 2018 Popular explanations of the Brexit vote have centred on the division between cosmopolitan internationalists who voted Remain and geographically rooted individuals who voted Leave. In this article, we conduct the first empirical test of whether residential immobility-the concept underpinning this distinction-was an important variable in the Brexit vote. We find that locally rooted individuals-defined as those living in their county of birth-were 7% more likely to support Leave. However, the impact of immobility was filtered by local circumstances: immobility only mattered for respondents in areas experiencing relative economic decline or increases in migrant populations.

Work experience placements are mandatory in the UK for all young people aged 16–18 in education, and their employability effects and associated wage premia are well noted in the literature. Through Bourdieu’s lens, this article analyses and conceptualises a unique data set of reflective testimonies submitted in response to a YouGov survey of over one thousand young people. Different capitals are detected, their distributions are observed, and correlations with key variables such as social background and school type are reported. Emerging through young people’s perceptions of employer engagement is a complex web of human, social and cultural capital accumulation. Overlaps are frequent, with newly acquired forms of capital often activating others. We argue that because of the cyclical nature of employer engagement gains, benefits accumulate exponentially for some young people while leaving others increasingly detached from the capitals that are most important for labour market success.

Necrotizing fasciitis is an orthopedic emergency. The ability to quickly and accurately diagnose this rapidly spreading disease can save a patient’s life and limb. However, the diagnosis is complex because necrotizing fasciitis usually manifests as a less severe cellulitis or abscess while the majority of the damages rage beneath the surface of the skin. Although the diagnosis is not new, the potential causes and vectors continually change. This article reports a new source of necrotizing fasciitis in an intramuscular injection of “bath salts,” a rapidly emerging street drug that is legal in some states and evades authorities with its innocuous name. The patient presented 2 days after injection of bath salts with extensive cellulitis extending to the mid portion of her upper arm. The cellulitis initially responded to broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics, but rapidly deteriorated 48 hours later, leading to a forequarter amputation with radical mastectomy and chest wall debridement to obtain healthy tissue margins and control the disease. The patient made a full recovery after further minor debridements, negative pressure dressings, directed antibiotic therapy, and skin grafting. The recent emerging popularity of this highly obtainable, injectable substance may lead to an increase in cases of necrotizing fasciitis. Orthopedic surgeons should be vigilant in diagnosing this process early and should perform an extensive debridement.