Social Class, Family Background and Intergenerational Mobility

This research examines the various approaches taken by economists and sociologists for analyzing intergenerational mobility. Social mobility models based on social classes arising from an occupational classi.cation scheme are analyzed. A test for the statistical validity of classi.cation schemes is proposed and tested using Danish sample survey data that was .rst collected in 1976 and augmented in 2000. This is referred to as a homogeneity test and is a likelihood ratio test of a set of linear restrictions which define social classes. For Denmark it is shown that this test fails for an Erikson-Goldthorpe classi.cation system, raising doubts about the statistical validity of occupational classication systems in general. We also estimate regression models of occupational earnings, household earnings, and educational attainment using family background variables as covariates controlling for unobservables, measurement error, and simultaneous equation bias. In these models homogeneity tests are also rejected. We conclude from these results that the individual.s family background has a small but signi.cant impact on lifetime chances which is not captured by the Erikson-Goldthorpe classi.cation scheme.