On the basis of patterns of intergenerational mobility and class endogamy in Australia and New Zealand, we develop models of exchange between the generations. Data on intergenerational change in terms of social mobility (father-to-son mobility) and class endogamy (the social origins of spouses) reveal considerable stability in patterns of exchange in each country and across age cohorts.
The analysis shows that, while considerable social interchange occurs, it does so at different rates depending on social distance and class background. The barriers that inhibit exchange are grounded in institutions of structured inequality, and they operate selectively within the class structure.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bishop, Y.M.M., Feinberg, S.E. and Holland, P.W. 1975. Discrete Multivariate Analysis: Theory and Practice. Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press.
2.
Blau, P.M. and Duncan, O.D. 1967. The American Occupational Structure. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
3.
Broom, L., Duncan-Jones, P.,Jones, F.L. and McDonnell, P. 1977. Investigating Social Mobility, Departmental Monograph No. 1., Canberra: Department of Sociology, RSSS, Australian National University.
4.
Broom, L., Jones, F.L., McDonnell, P. and Williams, T. 1980. The Inheritance of Inequality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
5.
Cutress, T.W., Hunter, P.B.V., Davis, P.B. and Croxson, L.J. 1979. Adult Oral Health and Attitudes to Dentistry in New Zealand, 1976. Wellington: Medical Research Council.
6.
Erickson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H. and Portocarero, L.1979. `Intergenerational Class Mobility in Three Western European Societies: England, France and Sweden'. British Journal of Sociology30:413-441.
7.
Erickson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H. and Portocarero, L.1982. `Social Fluidity in Industrial Nations'. British Journal of Sociology33:3-34.
8.
Erickson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H. and Portocarero, L.1983. `Intergenerational Class Mobility and the Convergence Thesis: England, France and Sweden'. British Journal of Sociology34:303-343.
9.
Featherman, D.L. and Hauser, R.M. 1978. Opportunity and Change. New York: Academic Press.
10.
Featherman, D.L., Jones, F.L. and Hauser, R.M.1975. `Assumptions of Social Mobility Research in the United States: The Case of Occupational Status'. Social Science Research4:329-360.
11.
Giddens, A. 1973. The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies. London: Hutchinson University Library.
12.
Goldthorpe, J.H., with Llewellyn, C. and Payne, C. 1980. Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
13.
Goldthorpe, J.H. 1984a. Social Mobility and Class Formation: on the Renewal of a Tradition in Sociological Inquiry, Working Paper No. 1, Casmin Project, University of Mannheim.
14.
Goldthorpe, J.H.1984b. `Women and Class Analysis: a Reply to the Replies'. Sociology18:491-499.
15.
Goodman, L.A.1965. `On the Statistical Analysis of Mobility Tables'. American Journal of Sociology70:564-585.
16.
Goodman, L.A.1969. `How to Ransack Social Mobility Tables and Other Kinds of Cross-Classification Tables'. American Journal of Sociology75:1-39.
17.
Goodman, L.A.1979. `Multiplicative Models for the Analysis of Occupational Mobility Tables and Other Kinds of Cross-Classification Tables'. American Journal of Sociology804-819.
18.
Hauser, R.M.1978. `A Structural Model of the Mobility Table'. Social Forces56:919-953.
19.
Hope, K.1982. `Vertical and Nonvertical Class Mobility in Three Countries'. American Sociological Review47:100-113.
20.
Hout, M. 1983. Mobility Tables Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences No. 31. Beverley Hills: Sage.
21.
Jones, F.L.1985a. `Structural and Circulation Mobility are Alive and Well: a Critical Comment on Sobel's Premature Obituary Notice'. Sociology19:139-142.
22.
Jones, F.L.1985b. `Response to Sobel'. Sociology19:442-445.
23.
Jones, F.L. and Davis, P. 1986. Models of Society: Class, Stratification and Gender in Australia and New Zealand. London and Sydney: Croom Helm.
24.
Jones, F.L. and Pittlelkow, Y.1983. `Analysis of Occupational Mobility Tables Using GLIM'. GLIM Newsletter No. 7:34-36.
25.
Jones, F.L., Wilson, S.R. and Pittlelkow, Y. 1985. `Modelling Mobility: the Use of Simulation to Choose Between Near-Equivalent Models', unpublished manuscript.
26.
Kerr, C., Dunlop, J.T., Harbinson, F.H. and Myers, C.A. 1960. Industrialism and Industrial Man. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
27.
Kerckhoff, A.C., Campbell, R.T. and Winfield-Land, I.1985. `Social Mobility in Great Britain and the United States'. American Journal of Sociology91:281-308.
28.
Murphy, R.1981. `The Concept of Class in Closure Theory: Learning from Rather than Falling into Problems Encountered by Neo Marxism'. Sociology20:247-264.
29.
Murphy, R.1986. `Weberian Closure Theory: A Contribution to the Ongoing Assessment'. British Journal of Sociology37:24-41.
30.
Parkin, F. 1974. `Strategies of Social Closure in Class Formation', in Parkin, F. (ed.), The Social Analysis of Class StructureLondon: Tavistock.
31.
Pearson, D. and Thorns, D.C. 1983. Eclipse of Equality, Sydney: George Allen and Unwin.
32.
Schumpeter, J.A. 1951. Imperialism and Social ClassesOxford: Basil Blackwell.
33.
Simmel, G. 1955 [1923, 1922]. Conflict and the Web of Group-AffiliationsNew York: The Free Press.
34.
Sobel, Michael E.1985. `Theory, Description and Quantification: a Note on the Use of the Independence Model in Mobility Research'. Sociology19:437-441.
35.
Wild, R.A. 1978. Social Stratification in Australia. Sydney: George Allen and Unwin.
