department of social policy and intervention
TRANSCRIPT
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL POLICY AND INTERVENTION
Macro-sociological models of intergenerational social mobility, inequality attitudes and health-related outcomes
Alexi Gugushvili Postdoctoral Research Fellow Departmental Colloquia – MT November 3, 2016
November 3, 2016 Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
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Structure of this presentation
Research experience and interests Social mobility and stratification
1. Macro-sociological models of intergenerational social mobility
2. Intergenerational social mobility and inequality-related attitudes
3. Intergenerational transmission of health-related behaviours
Future work
Research interests and experience
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); poverty
Local and regional development strategies
Welfare state reforms; welfare mix
Public Financial Management (PFM) [World Bank]
Migration: mass emigration, emigration intentions
Citizenship studies - EUDO
Social mobility and stratification
Inequalities in health
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Methodology
Quantitative methods
Survey design (ISSP, Caucasus Barometer)
Causal inference
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
(1) Macro-sociological models of intergenerational social mobility
If life chances primarily depend on ascribed factors rather than achieved ones, they cannot be considered as earned or chosen, and therefore are inherently unfair
In macro-sociological models, intergenerational status reproduction is assumed to be a societal characteristic and other contextual variables are employed to account for its variation
These models can identify social and public policies that could affect intergenerational social mobility
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Hypotheses to test
Economic liberalization
Political democracy
Conventional explanations of differences in mobility
Economic development
Income inequality
Migration
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Economic Liberalization and Intergenerational Mobility in Occupational Status [2015. Comparative Sociology, 14(6), 790–820]
Economic liberalization income inequality [Great Gatsby curve]
Widening income earning opportunities
Quality and equality of access to human capital investment for children and youth
Increased salience of private resources in education and healthcare
“Meritocracy as functional imperative”; “incentive approach”
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Research design
European Values Studies (EVS) data for 21 countries
Mobility defined in terms of International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI)
Economic liberalization – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Linear multilevel models with cross-level interaction coefficients
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Political Democracy, Economic Liberalization, and Macro-Sociological Models of Intergenerational Mobility [Under review]
How does democracy affect social mobility? (De Tocqueville (1835) Pitirim Sorokin (1927)]
Social mobility can facilitate social moderation, stability of the regime
Civil liberties and human rights, a higher degree of religious tolerance, etc
Pluralistic and free electronic and printed media, free and fair elections
Political capital is less likely to affect social mobility
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
(2) Intergenerational social mobility and inequality-related attitudes
Social mobility should be informed as much by an explanatory as a normative interest
More than individuals’ own levels of satisfaction or normative assessment of the process by social scientists
How do attitudes of people with different mobility experiences vary?
Life chances, inequality, and welfare state
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Intergenerational Social Mobility and Popular Explanations of Poverty: A Comparative Perspective [Under review]
The self-serving bias in causal attribution – people are more likely to attribute failure to factors that are beyond their control and more likely to explain successes by pointing to their own merits
Individuals start with an initial set of attitudes, but
over the years these preferences are amended based on their experience of intergenerational mobility
Upward social mobility = internal attributions
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Moderating macro-level environment
Socialist legacy The prevalence of individualistic explanations of poverty
More fluid societies are more likely to have individualistic worldviews
Equality or solidarity have become more de-legitimated
Economic development
Development provides greater opportunities to succeed in life
Links between development and individualized attitudes
Adam Smith’s (1817), Max Weber (1930), etc.
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Research design
European Values Studies (EVS) – 41 countries and Life in Transition Survey (LITS) – 26 countries
Dependent variable: The main reason why some people are in need are:
Because of laziness
Because they have been unlucky
It is an inevitable part of modern life
Because of injustice in our society
Methods: Multilevel multinomial regression models
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Objective vs. subjective social mobility
Objective mobility: Intergenerational change in ISEI scores:
±5=non-mobile;
6 to 20 and 21 to 72=upward and strongly upward mobile
–6 to –20 and –21 to –72=upward and strongly upward mobile
Subjective mobility: “I have done better in life than my parents:”
Strongly disagree = strongly downward mobile
Disagree = downward mobile
Neither disagree nor agree = non mobile
Agree = upward mobile
Strongly agree = strongly upward mobile
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Intergenerational objective and subjective mobility
and attitudes towards income differences [2016.
Journal of Inter. and Comp. Social Policy, 32(3), 199-219]
Dependent variable: Respondents are asked to place their views on a 10-point scale:
‘Incomes should be made more equal’ = 1 versus ‘we need larger income differences’ = 10
Independent variables:
Objective social mobility
Subjective social mobility
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Subjective Intergenerational Mobility and Support for Welfare State Programmes
Upward mobility is related to the perception that individual perseverance, skills and talents, are decisive factors for success in life:
Welfare programmes that intend to help individuals realize their full potential should be advocated by upwardly mobile individuals
Developmental welfare state “preparing” rather than “repairing” individuals
Education and healthcare expenditures might be supported by upwardly mobile individuals
Downwardly mobile individuals will prioritise pensions, housing and spending directed to the poor
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Study design
26 countries from LITS 2010
Dependent variable: ‘In your opinion, which of these fields should be the first priority for extra government spending?
Healthcare
Housing
Education
Pensions
Assisting the poor
Independent variables:
Subjective social mobility
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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-0.02
-0.01
0.02
0.03
-0.03
-0.01
0.00
0.01
-0.02
-0.01
-0.02
-0.02
0.02
-0.01
-0.02
-0.06
0.06
0.03
-0.01
-0.02
Strongly downward
Downward
Upward
Strongly upward
-0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10
Education Healthcare Housing Pensions Assisting the poor
Point estimates from linear probability models
Figure 2: Subjective social mobility and preferences on extra government spending on various welfare programmes
Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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(3) Intergenerational transmission of health-
related behaviours
Intergenerational transmission of inequalities is not
limited to social status, wealth, or incomes
Health and health-related behaviours are thought to be related to individuals’ family origins
On the one hand, health/health-related behaviours might be directly transmitted from parents to children
On the other hand, intergenerational social mobility might account for varying health behaviours and outcomes
Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Intergenerational Transmission of Smoking in Belarus and Russia (Under review)
Cross-sectional surveys of individuals
Tobacco use and dependence may be conditioned by a complex web of genetic, biological, social and cultural factors
Genetic epidemiological studies demonstrate heritability of nicotine dependence
Other forms of parental influence, as well as influences from peer groups and the tobacco environment
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Research gap
Studies are almost exclusively concerned with intergenerational transmission of smoking to adolescents
Not adequately accounting for socioeconomic status in each generation, which independently affects tobacco use
Studies in post-socialist countries: only include adolescents, small samples, do not account for social origin effects, and do not consider a wide array of confounding factors in individuals’ life
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Research design (Study protocol published in BMC Public Health)
Demographic cohort study (PrivMort)
A set of 30 and 20 towns in European part of Russia and Belarus
In addition to respondents’ characteristics, data were collected for fathers’ and mothers’ characteristics
Prevalence of smoking comes close to existing national data
Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regressions
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Future work II
Intergenerational social mobility and mortality outcomes
Downward social mobility hypothesis – elevates levels of stress and feelings of insecurity
Upward social mobility hypothesis – sense of control of one’s own life, generating confidence
Accumulation model of health inequalities
Social mobility is likely to constrain, rather than widen,
health inequalities
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Future work II
Intergenerational social mobility and causes of death
Intergenerational vs. intra-generational mobility in mortality outcomes
Intergenerational mobility, health outcomes and welfare regimes
Effect of mass privatization on mortality
Sample selection for studies of alcohol consumption, sub-national variation of negative health-related behaviours
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes
Thank you for your attention
November 3, 2016
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Macro-sociological models of
intergenerational social mobility, inequality
attitudes and health-related outcomes