A Schumpeter Hotel? Surname Status Persistence in Sweden 1880-2016
van Dongen, Elien LU
; Eriksson, Björn
LU
and Dribe, Martin
LU
(2022)
Population Association of America Annual Meeting 2022
- Abstract
- Conventional social mobility research misses substantial inequalities of opportunity. To capture intergenerational persistence of family social status we need to move beyond parent-child associations in occupation or income. Models that incorporate surname group belonging show that families do not regress to a population mean at the speed implied by parent-child associations. Their mobility is further constrained by their ancestors’ social status as operationalized through surname group belonging. Failing to include such group-level processes, summary measures such as intergenerational elasticities in occupational status or income will overestimate the relative importance of individual effort and ability on socioeconomic outcomes. We study... (More)
- Conventional social mobility research misses substantial inequalities of opportunity. To capture intergenerational persistence of family social status we need to move beyond parent-child associations in occupation or income. Models that incorporate surname group belonging show that families do not regress to a population mean at the speed implied by parent-child associations. Their mobility is further constrained by their ancestors’ social status as operationalized through surname group belonging. Failing to include such group-level processes, summary measures such as intergenerational elasticities in occupational status or income will overestimate the relative importance of individual effort and ability on socioeconomic outcomes. We study the inheritance of surname status as a group-level process, using full count population data for Sweden between 1880 and 2016. Surname status
persistence is almost as high in the modern Swedish welfare state as it was in preindustrial times. The status structure of surname groups converges only at a slow rate, with differences persisting over at least six generations. Modernization is not associated with lasting increases in surname mobility. As a group, families with an agricultural surname background (patronyms) experience a persistent disadvantage while noble and Roman surnames display a consistent
advantage. Hence, surname status persistence is not only an elite phenomenon, but present in all social classes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/065dd40e-334d-4a20-8cba-241963befc68
- author
- van Dongen, Elien
LU
; Eriksson, Björn
LU
and Dribe, Martin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Inequality of Opportunity, Intergenerational Mobility, Surname Status, Surname Mobility, Sweden
- conference name
- Population Association of America Annual Meeting 2022
- conference location
- Atlanta, United States
- conference dates
- 2022-04-06 - 2022-04-09
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 065dd40e-334d-4a20-8cba-241963befc68
- alternative location
- https://submissions.mirasmart.com/Verify/PAA2022/Submission/Temp/rad3v3kk4vx.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-09 09:43:15
- date last changed
- 2022-06-09 11:46:19
@misc{065dd40e-334d-4a20-8cba-241963befc68,
abstract = {{Conventional social mobility research misses substantial inequalities of opportunity. To capture intergenerational persistence of family social status we need to move beyond parent-child associations in occupation or income. Models that incorporate surname group belonging show that families do not regress to a population mean at the speed implied by parent-child associations. Their mobility is further constrained by their ancestors’ social status as operationalized through surname group belonging. Failing to include such group-level processes, summary measures such as intergenerational elasticities in occupational status or income will overestimate the relative importance of individual effort and ability on socioeconomic outcomes. We study the inheritance of surname status as a group-level process, using full count population data for Sweden between 1880 and 2016. Surname status <br/>persistence is almost as high in the modern Swedish welfare state as it was in preindustrial times. The status structure of surname groups converges only at a slow rate, with differences persisting over at least six generations. Modernization is not associated with lasting increases in surname mobility. As a group, families with an agricultural surname background (patronyms) experience a persistent disadvantage while noble and Roman surnames display a consistent<br/>advantage. Hence, surname status persistence is not only an elite phenomenon, but present in all social classes.}},
author = {{van Dongen, Elien and Eriksson, Björn and Dribe, Martin}},
keywords = {{Inequality of Opportunity; Intergenerational Mobility; Surname Status; Surname Mobility; Sweden}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{A Schumpeter Hotel? Surname Status Persistence in Sweden 1880-2016}},
url = {{https://submissions.mirasmart.com/Verify/PAA2022/Submission/Temp/rad3v3kk4vx.pdf}},
year = {{2022}},
}