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Life Course Risks or Cumulative Disadvantage? The Structuring Effect of Social Stratification Determinants and Life Course Events on Poverty Transitions in Europe
Abstract
The aim of this article is to assess the importance of a life event perspective on poverty in relation to the traditional social stratification approach. Lately, poverty has often been seen as a life course risk associated with certain life events and less influenced by characteristics of social position. The empirical part of this article explores the importance of the life course perspective as well as the social stratification framework for the understanding of the poverty risk. The question asked is whether risky life events have the same poverty-triggering effect for all social stratification groups or whether processes of cumulative disadvantage prevail at crucial life transitions. The findings, based on random effects event history analyses of the European Community Household Panel Survey, show that structural and biographical explanations of poverty do not present themselves as opposites, but they rather complement each other and their interactions provide interesting insights. The results show that the most vulnerable social groups are more affected by the poverty-triggering effect of a life stage like childbirth. On the other hand, job loss is a more general poverty trigger, substantially increasing everyone's poverty entry risk. Also partnership dissolution has a poverty triggering effect for people of all educational levels and all social classes. In line with previous research, we found that partnership dissolution affects the poverty entry risk of women more strongly.
Link to Article: https://esr.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/2/246.abstract or http://people.unil.ch/leenvandecasteele/publications/
... Although couples may pool their resources (Bennett, 2013), which can reduce the acute poverty risk for the lower-earning partner, low personal income leaves individuals vulnerable within the household and exposed to social risks (Spini, Bernardi and Oris, 2017). Following separation or divorce, the loss of partner income increases the household poverty risk mainly for women, especially mothers and those with low education (Vandecasteele, 2011;Hogendoorn, Leopold and Bol, 2020). This shows that economic risks are not shared equally between partners, highlighting the need to map nancial vulnerability within couples (DiPrete, 2002). ...
... However, the nuclear family is not a stable source of welfare, and even when couples fully pool their income, economic risks may not be shared. For example, income pooling only protects against poverty risk as long as the partner's income is available, which for women, in particular, can be threatened by divorce PARENTHOOD AND POVERTY RISK WITHIN COUPLES (Vandecasteele, 2011;Hogendoorn, Leopold and Bol, 2020) or widowhood (Fadlon and Nielsen, 2021). Moreover, low personal income makes it harder to leave a relationship, which reinforces power imbalances between partners and is especially dangerous for those who face intimate partner violence (Kim and Gray, 2008). ...
... Overall, childbirth amplies poverty risk mainly in already disadvantaged households with low work intensity, a low-educated household head, and larger families (Vandecasteele, 2011;Mussida and Sciulli, 2023). It represents a social risk particularly in liberal and Mediterranean countries that offer limited state support for families (Barbieri and Bozzon, 2016). ...
This study examines how the presence of children is associated with poverty risk within different-sex couples across welfare state regimes, using no-and full-income pooling scenarios. It focuses on whether partners can achieve an adequate living standard without relying on family ties, and how the costs of children shape poverty risk within these scenarios. Using cross-sectional EU-SILC data (2016-2019) on 30,150 coresidential couples from Austria, France, Spain, and Sweden, I use linear probability models (LPM) to estimate household and individual poverty risks among partners with/out children, by education, gender and country. The results indicate that poverty risks vary by gender, income pooling scenario and country. While partners bear household poverty risks together, there is a pronounced gender gap in individual poverty risk across countries. Men, regardless of their education and fatherhood status, have a relatively low individual poverty risk, with little difference between income pooling scenarios. Conversely, women, especially low-educated mothers, have a higher individual than household poverty risk. Observed crosscountry variations highlight that the relationship between motherhood and poverty risk is context-specic. Although education is often promoted as a shield against poverty, in some countries, such as Austria, highly educated mothers also face a high individual poverty risk.
... Evidence of the impact of partnership dissolution also comes from life-course studies of poverty transitions that consider a wider range of family and life events (Vandecasteele, 2010). A study of 13 countries across Europe found that after job loss, partnership dissolution had the strongest effect on poverty entry followed by childbirth (Vandecasteele, 2011). The triggers for poverty transitions did not operate in the same way for all groups. ...
... The triggers for poverty transitions did not operate in the same way for all groups. For example, childbirth was only a povertytriggering event for those in lower social and educational classes (Vandecasteele, 2011). In contrast, partnership dissolution increased the risk of poverty entry for all education and social class groups (Vandecasteele, 2011). ...
... For example, childbirth was only a povertytriggering event for those in lower social and educational classes (Vandecasteele, 2011). In contrast, partnership dissolution increased the risk of poverty entry for all education and social class groups (Vandecasteele, 2011). ...
... Life course theories differ from lifecycle and linear-age approaches to poverty as they link economic hardship not to certain ages but to risky life events. Leaving the parental home, childbirth, divorce, widowhood, unemployment, and retirement are all events that contribute to the risk of subsequent economic hardship (DiPrete and McManus 2000;Polizzi, Struffolino, and Van Winkle 2022;Vandecasteele 2010Vandecasteele , 2011. ...
... Theories of social stratification emphasize that the risk of hardship is not evenly distributed in the population, but that certain disadvantaged groups, in terms of gender, class and race, are more likely to experience financial hardship. Not only are disadvantaged groups often more likely to experience risky life events such as divorce and unemployment (Pintelon, Cantillon, Van den Bosch, and Whelan 2013), their risk of economic hardship also tends to be higher after experiencing such events (Popova and Navicke 2019;Vandecasteele 2011). ...
... Groups who are at higher risk of poverty in early-and mid-life are simultaneously at higher risk of poverty in old age due to their disadvantaged status (Gabriel, Oris, Studer, and Baeriswyl 2015). Recent studies often combine life-course and social-stratification perspectives, stressing the interactions between socioeconomic status and risky life events (Popova and Navicke 2019;Vandecasteele 2011). Especially theories of cumulative advantage/disadvantage (CAD) emphasize that inequalities tend to grow across the life course and that disadvantages, including financial disadvantage, are part of a lifelong process that may culminate in old age (Crystal et al. 2017;Dannefer 2003). ...
This study investigates whether and when financial hardship during the life course is related to pension income levels in 27 European countries and whether relations between hardship and pension income differ across gender and welfare regimes. Data from the Survey for Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) are used, combining retrospective information on respondents’ experienced financial hardship and their current pension income (N = 38,574). We apply two-part regression models with country-fixed effects to estimate the associations of pension income with hardship that starts in one’s youth (age <20), the transition to adulthood (age 20-29), mid-career (age 30-44) and late career (age >44), as well as with the duration of hardship. The results show that financial hardship during the life course does not always have negative consequences for income in old age. We find positive associations of pension income with financial hardship in youth (among men) and in early adulthood (among women). These results suggest that short spells of financial hardship are often related to crucial life-course transitions that allow subsequent career development and pension accrual. In contrast, financial hardship in late career is negatively associated with pension income, especially among men in Continental and Southern European countries.
... Gaining a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between poverty and paid employment within households is important, as it not only informs policy design but also enhances our comprehension of the broader processes of inequality and social stratification. This is particularly true since adverse socioeconomic conditionswith IWP being no exceptiontend to persist over time and entrap the same individuals, households, and social groups, giving rise to patterns of cumulative disadvantages (Merton 1988;DiPrete and Eirich 2006;Vandecasteele 2010Vandecasteele , 2011Vandecasteele and Giesselmann 2018;Cutuli and Grotti 2020; Barbieri and Gioachin 2022). To design policy measures that can tackle the catalysts of poverty accumulation (Biewen 2009(Biewen , 2014, an understanding of the causal mechanisms of micro-level poverty dynamics and economic disadvantage is indispensable. ...
... Building upon the work of previous studies, this paper analyzes the trends and determinants of IWP across fourteen Western European countries. It examines the dynamics of social stratification of IWP in different institutional contexts following a research tradition that aims to identify mechanisms of cumulative disadvantage as drivers of social inequalities and stratification (Nolan and Whelan 2011;DiPrete and Eirich 2006;Vandecasteele 2010Vandecasteele , 2011. We expected most drivers of IWP-dynamics to operate at the micro-level and characteristics of the macro-institutional context to be more relevant in explaining the differences in aggregate levels of IWP in different national contexts. ...
... The most relevant drivers of IWP were individuals' contractual situations, low pay, and household-level employment patterns. Additionally, occupational social class positions were a powerful indicator of IWP risks (see also Figure A1 in the Appendix) through their relevance for general poverty (Vandecasteele 2011, Gioachin et al. 2023) and income distributions (Albertini et al. 2020). IWP risks were much higher among the working classes (esp. ...
... Unemployment is one of the most important risk factors of income poverty (Fouarge & Layte, 2005;McKernan & Ratcliffe, 2005;Vandecasteele, 2011). As gainful employment contributes substantially to the disposable income of large parts of the working-age population, becoming unemployed significantly decreases household income (Ehlert, 2012) and increases the individual risk of living below the poverty line (Ehlert, 2016;Vandecasteele, 2011). ...
... Unemployment is one of the most important risk factors of income poverty (Fouarge & Layte, 2005;McKernan & Ratcliffe, 2005;Vandecasteele, 2011). As gainful employment contributes substantially to the disposable income of large parts of the working-age population, becoming unemployed significantly decreases household income (Ehlert, 2012) and increases the individual risk of living below the poverty line (Ehlert, 2016;Vandecasteele, 2011). Conversely, quitting unemployment by taking up a job, particularly a stable job, can reduce the individual poverty risk substantially (Fouarge & Layte, 2005;McKernan & Ratcliffe, 2005;Struffolino & van Winkle, 2021). ...
... The present article builds mainly on two strands of research. One is the literature on poverty dynamics, which highlights that poverty is often a transitory state (e.g., Vandecasteele, 2011), notwithstanding that in many countries a certain share of individuals and households live permanently below the poverty line (see Fouarge & Layte, 2005 for an overview on Europe). Transitions into poverty are frequently the result of critical life events, including unemployment, divorce, severe disease, and retirement (Dewilde, 2008;Vandecasteele, 2011). ...
Unemployment is a major risk factor of poverty and employment is regarded key to overcoming it. The present study examines how the income poverty risk of unemployed individuals changes in the short and medium term, when they take up work, and whether the effects differ according to the type of employment. The focus is on permanent and fixed-term job contracts, as the political promotion of fixed-term employment has often been framed as an effort to reduce long-term unemployment and poverty. Drawing on longitudinal data from the German panel study ‘Labour Market and Social Security’ (PASS) 2010–18, we apply a first difference estimator with asymmetric effects to examine the effect of starting a job out of unemployment on income poverty risks in the subsequent four years. Strikingly, starting in a fixed-term and permanent contract have similarly strong and lasting poverty-reducing effects in the short and medium term. Thus, with regard to risks of income poverty, starting a permanent job does not appear more beneficial than starting a fixed-term job for unemployed persons. We discuss the reasons for this finding and also explore how the poverty-reducing effects of transitions from unemployment to fixed-term versus permanent employment vary by household type, occupation, working time and firm size.
... Sociologically more relevant, however, is the study of the underlying structure (Goldthorpe, 2009) of social and economic inequality. Social class influences individual life chances, prospects and exposure to socioeconomic risk (Erikson et al., 1992;Vandecasteele, 2011;Whelan and Maître, 2010). ...
... As a global trend of (post)modernity, these signs should be observable in all contexts. However, in stark contrast to this view, the literature has documented hierarchical exposure to socioeconomic risks across social classes (Vandecasteele, 2011(Vandecasteele, , 2015Whelan and Maître, 2010;Whelan et al., 2016), with the highest risk for low and unskilled manual occupations and nearly intangible risk for managerial and professional occupations. Despite predictable international differences in average poverty-with Nordic countries least exposed, Southern European countries most exposed, and Continental and Liberal countries somewhere in between-stratification patterns remain similar across national contexts. ...
... Life episodes like childbirth (Barbieri and Bozzon, 2016), single parenthood (Horemans and Marx, 2018;Nieuwenhuis and Maldonado, 2018) and other changes in household composition may severely destabilise financial security (Polizzi et al., 2020). Recent empirical evidence has shown that social class interacts with such adverse life events (Pintelon et al., 2013;Vandecasteele, 2011Vandecasteele, , 2015Whelan and Maître, 2008). ...
Social class structures life chances and exposure to socioeconomic risk, but the extent to which this is still the case is subject to debate. While some assert a relevant middle-class squeeze and consequent polarisation, others argue for the disappearance of social class and a 'democratisation' of social and economic risk for all segments of postmodern society. We focused on relative poverty to interrogate the extent to which occupational class still matters and whether traditionally 'safe' middle-class occupations have lost their capacity for sheltering people from socioeconomic risk. The class-based stratification of poverty risk suggests pronounced structural inequalities between social groups, given its consequences in terms of deprived living standards and the reproduction of disadvantage. We used the longitudinal component of EU-SILC data (2004-2015) to analyse four European countries: Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. We developed logistic models of poverty risk and compared class-specific average marginal effects obtained under a seemingly unrelated estimation framework. We documented persistence of class-based stratification of poverty risk with some indication of polarisation. Over time, upper-class occupations preserved their secure position, middle-class occupations showed a slight increase in poverty risk and working-classes showed the greatest increase in poverty risk. Contextual heterogeneity exists mainly in the levels while patterns are relatively similar. The particularly high-risk exposure of less advantaged classes in Southern Europe can be attributed to the prevalence of single earner households.
... Besides the recurrence and persistence of poverty spells, another important element is formed by the typical life-course events associated with poverty entry or exit. Life-course events such as divorce, the birth of a child, or the loss of a job, can influence the chances of poverty entry (Fouarge & Layte, 2005;Giesselmann & Goebel, 2013;Kohler et al., 2012;Vandecasteele, 2011Vandecasteele, , 2012Vandecasteele, , 2015Whelan, Layte, & Maitre, 2003). They thereby can form turning points or critical points in the life course. ...
... Firstly, the experience of certain risky life events or risk factors may be more common to already disadvantaged groups (Brady, Finnigan, & Huebgen, 2017). Furthermore, some life events more strongly affect the associated poverty risk of people with a disadvantaged socio-demographic profile, such as a low education level, a lower social class or being female (Vandecasteele, 2010(Vandecasteele, , 2011. For instance, while childbirth isn't a particular poverty trigger for most socio-demographic groups, people from lower social classes and lower educational levels see their poverty risk increase when a child is born in the family (Vandecasteele, 2011). ...
... Furthermore, some life events more strongly affect the associated poverty risk of people with a disadvantaged socio-demographic profile, such as a low education level, a lower social class or being female (Vandecasteele, 2010(Vandecasteele, , 2011. For instance, while childbirth isn't a particular poverty trigger for most socio-demographic groups, people from lower social classes and lower educational levels see their poverty risk increase when a child is born in the family (Vandecasteele, 2011). Also the poverty penalty associated with divorce is particularly gendered, with women seeing substantial rises in their poverty risk and persistent poverty risk, when the sharing of resources of the male partner is reduced (Andress, Borgloh, Bröckel, Giesselmann, & Hummelsheim, 2006;Vandecasteele, 2010Vandecasteele, , 2011. ...
This chapter adopts a life course perspective to study poverty and economic insecurity. First, it explains the advantages of a life course perspective for the study of poverty and gives a historical overview of the field. Next, we discuss two specific life course perspectives that may illuminate the longitudinal patterns and experiences of poverty: the mechanism of cumulative advantage and disadvantage and the resources and stress framework. Third, we discuss the multidimensional aspects of poverty in the life course, conceptualising social exclusion as a multidimensional longitudinal phenomenon. We introduce the idea of spill-over (across the life course, the experience of poverty can spill over to other life domains) and show how the relationship between objective poverty and subjective perceptions of scarcity influences people’s life conditions.
... This literature has placed poverty in a life-course context and has highlighted the crucial role of key life and labour market events in influencing the transition into and out of poverty (Vandecasteele, 2010(Vandecasteele, , 2011. Partnership breakdown, increases in the number of children and leaving the family home have all been identified as risk factors for entering poverty, while labour market transitions such as unemployment, re-employment and retirement are important precursors to poverty transitions (Fouarge and Layte 2005). ...
... Partnership breakdown, increases in the number of children and leaving the family home have all been identified as risk factors for entering poverty, while labour market transitions such as unemployment, re-employment and retirement are important precursors to poverty transitions (Fouarge and Layte 2005). In her study of 13 countries across Europe, Vandecasteele (2011) found that job loss has the strongest effect on poverty entry followed by partnership dissolution and childbirth. ...
... The triggers for poverty transitions do not necessarily operate in the same way for all groups. For example, the negative income effects of partnership breakdown are particularly acute for women and children (Duncan and Brooks-Gunn, 2000;DiPrete and McManus, 2000) and childbirth was only a poverty-triggering event for those in lower social and educational classes (Vandecasteele, 2011). In contrast, job loss and partnership dissolution increased the risk of poverty entry for all education and social class groups (Vandercasteele, 2011), though class and education remained strong predictors for entry into poverty. ...
This study profiles the duration of exposure to poverty during childhood and identifies the families most at risk of persistent poverty. It also examines the factors that trigger moves into and out of poverty and explores the consequences of poverty for children across a wide range of domains. The study draws on data from both cohorts of the Growing Up in Ireland study, covering children and young people’s lives from 9 months to 17 years. We apply a multi-dimensional measure of poverty using latent class analysis.
Relationship breakdown and father's or mother's job loss are key triggers of entry into economic vulnerability. Parents entry into full-time work or increasing hours from part-time to full-time work is associated with exits from economic vulnerability. Entry to part-time work is not associated with such exits.
... However, this may depend on the outcome that is measured rather than mobility per se. Alternatively, the life course perspective posits that inequalities emerge where social risks are encountered as part of the lifecycle, but differentially experienced depending on individual characteristics (Vandecasteele, 2011;Whelan and Maître, 2008). Research on social mobility suggests that the influence of social class may be most crucial at key transition points (Vandecasteele, 2011), for example, following the birth of a child, post-school transitions, or labour market entry. ...
... Alternatively, the life course perspective posits that inequalities emerge where social risks are encountered as part of the lifecycle, but differentially experienced depending on individual characteristics (Vandecasteele, 2011;Whelan and Maître, 2008). Research on social mobility suggests that the influence of social class may be most crucial at key transition points (Vandecasteele, 2011), for example, following the birth of a child, post-school transitions, or labour market entry. ...
... The nature of the association with poverty in the life course perspective is a transient one. The risk of becoming poor is temporarily increased after these so called biographical breaks (Elder 1995;Popova and Navicke 2019;Vandecasteele 2010a). More recent research has shown that combining the two perspectives can be a fruitful research strategy, as neither the risk of certain life course events nor the magnitude and duration of the consequences appear to be randomly distributed across individuals or social groups (Härkönen and Dronkers 2006;Oris et al. 2017;Vandecasteele 2010a;Whelan and Maître 2008). ...
... The risk of becoming poor is temporarily increased after these so called biographical breaks (Elder 1995;Popova and Navicke 2019;Vandecasteele 2010a). More recent research has shown that combining the two perspectives can be a fruitful research strategy, as neither the risk of certain life course events nor the magnitude and duration of the consequences appear to be randomly distributed across individuals or social groups (Härkönen and Dronkers 2006;Oris et al. 2017;Vandecasteele 2010a;Whelan and Maître 2008). ...
The divorce literature has consistently found that—especially women—are negatively affected by relationship dissolution in terms of material wellbeing. There is, however, considerable debate on whether these effects are persistent or temporary. We use fixed effects models and control for the socioeconomic status of individuals who separated between 2011 and 2018 in seven countries for which large scale longitudinal data has recently been harmonized in the Comparative Panel File. We find that the transitory nature of the effect of relationship dissolution on poverty risks for women is similar across countries, but also for some men. We further focus on the role of children in the immediate changes in poverty risks after separation, and again find significant differences between countries. We discuss these findings in light of social policies adopted by these countries, more specifically child and spousal support schemes. We find no distinguishable differences in these support schemes that adequately explain the observed dissimilarities. The implications of this study for the future study of the association between relationship dissolution and poverty are discussed and future pathways are suggested.
... This finding has been interpreted as evidence for a social stratification framework, meaning that it is, above all, a person's position in the economic structure-whereas people's job can be considered a proxy for the latterthat determines a wide range of living conditions, and in our case the financial situation in old age. Moreover, the occurrence of critical life events, which for the whole of the EU have been proven to have a poverty-triggering effect (Vandecasteele 2011) have not been found to play a significant role in the Swiss context . ...
... An important explanatory factor for this situation is that longitudinal and individual-level data remain exceedingly scarce. Instead, research seems to have gone back to more general poverty studies which does often feature old age as one area of interest, but more often place their main focus on the life course and life events as triggering mechanisms (Sandoval et al. 2009;Vandecasteele 2010;Vandecasteele 2011). ...
... Zudem handelt es sich sowohl bei den armutsgefährdeten als auch bei den prekär Beschäftigten in Deutschland sehr viel stärker um eine über die Zeit hinweg verfestigte Gruppe. Schließlich kann aber für diese Gruppen festgehalten werden, dass sie im Gegensatz zur zeitdiagnostischen Exklusionsthese immer stärker durch klassische sozialstrukturelle Merkmale beschrieben werden können (Giesselmann und Vandecasteele 2018;Groh-Samberg 2014;Böhnke et al. 2016;Hümberlin und Fritschi 2016;Vandecasteele 2011), insbesondere Bildung als Klassenmerkmal und Geschlecht strukturieren Armut und prekäre Beschäftigung in hohem Maße. Es kann also im Gegensatz zur zeitdiagnostischen Verwendung des Exklusionskonzepts nicht von entgrenzten Risiken der Marginalisierung gesprochen werden. ...
... (Giesselmann und Vandecasteele 2018;Groh-Samberg 2014;Hümberlin und Fritschi 2016;Vandecasteele 2011;Oesch 2013;Preisner und Bertogg 2017).Schneickert et al. (2019) zeigen wiederum auf, dass der Exklusionsempfindung verwandte Phänomene, wie soziale Anerkennung und Geringschätzung, deutlich entlang der Bildungsdimension strukturiert sind. Daher werden wir die Zugehörigkeit zu Bildungsgruppen in unseren empirischen Analysen auch berücksichtigen. ...
Zusammenfassung
Der Begriff der sozialen Exklusion hat in den Sozialwissenschaften eine erstaunliche Karriere erfahren. Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags steht die empirische Untersuchung der zeitdiagnostischen Verwendung des Konzepts. Aus dieser leiten wir vier Thesen ab, die in diesem Beitrag mit dem Fokus auf das Exklusionsempfinden empirisch geprüft werden: Erstens, dass aufgrund der Prozesse des ökonomischen Strukturwandels größere Bevölkerungsgruppen von sozialer Exklusion in mehreren Dimensionen (Arbeitslosigkeit, Armut, soziale Isolation) betroffen sind, die bei diesen in einem subjektiven Exklusionsempfinden kulminieren. Damit wird unterstellt, dass soziale Exklusion zur Hauptspannungslinie der gegenwärtigen Gesellschaft geworden ist. Zweitens wird angenommen, dass soziale Exklusion nicht eindeutig in klassischen sozialstrukturellen Kategorien zu verorten ist, sondern in breite Teile der Gesellschaft diffundiert ist. Drittens wird sozioökonomischer Prekarisierung und sozialer Isolation eine zentrale Rolle für die Entstehung eines subjektiven Exklusionsempfindens zugesprochen. Hier wird allerdings, viertens, vermutet, dass dieses vermittelt über die subjektive Wahrnehmung der objektiven Lage auf das Exklusionsempfinden wirkt. Wir prüfen diese Thesen des Konzepts auf der Basis von Umfragedaten, wobei wir das Exklusionsempfinden als abhängige Variable verwenden. Dabei wird deutlich, dass erstens soziale Exklusion nicht in weite Teile der Gesellschaft diffundiert ist und damit keineswegs als Hauptspannungslinie der Gesellschaft betrachtet werden kann, zweitens sich ein erhöhtes Exklusionsempfinden in unterschiedlichen, aber klar benennbaren sozialen Gruppen feststellen lässt. Darüber hinaus zeigen unsere Analysen, dass das subjektive Exklusionsempfinden sowohl in sozialer Isolation als auch in sozioökonomischer Prekarisierung begründet ist, allerdings deutlich vermittelt über deren subjektive Wahrnehmung.
... Quite surprisingly, few studies have devoted specific attention to the role of childbirth in poverty in Europe, despite childbirth being a potential key event for poverty onset as it threatens both the households' income needs and household time allocation (e.g., Vandecasteele, 2010). For example, childbirth decreases one's disposable equivalent income, unless child-related public transfers are great enough to compensate the loss of equivalent income. ...
... Few studies have devoted specific attention to the role of childbirth in poverty in Europe, despite childbirth being defined as a potential key event that triggers poverty entries and exits since it threatens both household income needs and time allocation (e.g., McKernan and Ratcliffe, 2005;Vandecasteele, 2010). More papers have instead investigated the connection between income conditions and childbirth in developing countries. ...
We use the 2015–2018 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions panel data and a dynamic bivariate probit model to estimate the impact of childbirth on the risk of poverty in 25 European countries. We model both poverty and childbirth mechanisms, identifying genuine state dependence and accounting for feedback effects from past poverty to childbirth. We find that childbirth slightly increases the risk of poverty in Europe, but some heterogeneities emerge at the country level. When disentangling the effects of childbirth conditional on past poverty status, it appears that childbirth determines redistributive effects possibly induced by welfare systems. We find evidence of genuine state dependence and suggests that discouraging factors induced by the experience of poverty itself has increased over time. The risk of poverty is triggered by the presence of dependent members in the household, while education and employment stability are helpful to combat poverty.
... Considering the male cohort in this study, what was unexpected was that no association between divorce/separation and poverty was found. This was puzzling as, whilst we anticipated the effect to be weaker in men, we predicted some negative association as reported in other studies [64][65][66][67][68]. Marital or partnership dissolution generally results in a division of assets and subsequent reduction in financial wealth for each party, even if this is frequently more transient for men [64][65][66][67][68][69]. ...
... Considering the male cohort in this study, what was unexpected was that no association between divorce/separation and poverty was found. This was puzzling as, whilst we anticipated the effect to be weaker in men, we predicted some negative association as reported in other studies [64][65][66][67][68]. Marital or partnership dissolution generally results in a division of assets and subsequent reduction in financial wealth for each party, even if this is frequently more transient for men [64][65][66][67][68][69]. In an older cohort, such as is in this study, it was anticipated that this negative association for men would be even more apparent given the majority of the cohort were retired, had no dependent children, and thus disparities in potential ongoing paid income would not be so relevant. ...
PurposeCompared to men, older women have poorer mental health and are more vulnerable to poverty, especially when living alone. However, few studies have examined how gender, marital status and poverty are inter-related and are associated with mental health. This study examines the gendered associations between relative poverty, marital status and mental health in older Australians.Methods
Drawing on 17 waves of the HILDA Survey, fixed-effects longitudinal regression analysis was utilised to examine the association between: (1) relative poverty (< 50% median household income) and mental health (MHI-5); (2) marital status and poverty, in a cohort of Australians aged 65 + years. We then examined effect modification of the association between relative poverty and mental health by marital status.ResultsWithin-person associations, stratified by gender, showed that women in relative poverty reported poorer mental health than when not in relative poverty, however no association was observed for men. Being divorced/separated was associated with increased odds of relative poverty for women, but not men. Widowhood was strongly associated with relative poverty in women, and also among men, albeit a smaller estimate was observed for men. There was no evidence of effect modification of the relationship between relative poverty and mental health by marital status for either men or women.Conclusion
This study provides evidence that relative poverty is a major determinant of mental health in older Australian women. Addressing gender inequities in lifetime savings, as well as in division of acquired wealth post marital loss, may help reduce these disparities.
... The number of single parents increases in many countries of the Global North (Bernardi et al., 2018;Nieuwenhuis & Maldonado, 2018) and the challenges that single parents are facing differ considerably from those in two-parent households: they, for example, report more work-tofamily conflict than partnered parents (Reimann et al., 2019, pp. 513) and live often at risk of poverty (Kühn, 2018;Hancioglu & Hartmann, 2014;Lietzmann, 2009;Francesconi & Klaauw, 2007;Vandecasteele, 2011). These strains can lead to lower physical and mental health (Butterworth, 2004;Crosier et al., 2007;Wang, 2004) and thus reduced well-being. ...
Overview of the available knowledge about the association between single parenthood and happiness.
... Die eingeschränkte Zumutbarkeit nach § 10 hat womöglich zur Konsequenz, dass Frauen seltener auf Stellensuche gehen (so Brand/Rudolph 2014: 92). Aus dieser Perspektive verstärkt die "passive" Handhabe des Gesetzes nicht nur die Aufrechterhaltung "tradierter Rollenbilder", sondern auch vorhandene mehrdimensionale Benachteiligungen der Mütter im SGB II: Die für Erziehung und Betreuung genutzten Erwerbspausen erschweren einen Wiedereinstieg in den Arbeitsmarkt (Abraham et al. 2019) und erhöhen das Armutsrisiko (Vandecasteele 2011). ...
Zusammenfassung
Erziehende im Bürgergeldbezug können bis zum dritten Lebensjahr des Kindes die Forderungen, arbeiten zu müssen oder sich darauf z. B. durch Maßnahmen vorzubereiten, verneinen. Auf diesen Ausnahmetatbestand von der Pflicht zur Erwerbsarbeit – verankert im § 10 im Zweiten Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB II) – berufen sich fast ausschließlich Mütter. Diese Zeitspanne der ersten drei Lebensjahre des Kindes soll jedoch zukünftig an allen Jobcentern – so untergesetzliche Weisungen seit 2021 – intensiver als bisher dafür genutzt werden, vorhandene „Erwerbspotenziale“ der Mütter zu erkennen und ihre „Arbeitsmarktintegration vorzubereiten“. Im Rahmen dieses Beitrags bin ich der Frage nachgegangen, wie diese Bemühungen um „frühzeitige Aktivierung“ in einer Änderung der administrativen Vorgaben institutionalisiert werden. Wie sollen Mütter kleiner Kinder in der Grundsicherung zukünftig für den Arbeitsmarkt verfügbar gemacht werden und unter welchen Bedingungen kann ihnen Erwerbsarbeit zugemutet werden? Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist eine Analyse dieser arbeitsmarkt- und sozialpolitisch motivierten Änderungen. Diese erfolgt mittels einer historischen Einordnung sowie einer Dokumentenanalyse der Vorgaben – die sich als Prozess der Verfügbarmachung in fünf Dimensionen aufschlüsseln und als ein Rekommodifizierungsversuch einer bisher im Wohlfahrtsstaat geschützten Lebensphase deuten lassen.
... Relatedly, new and 27 Indeed, as Titmuss (1958, p. 44) observes, "as man becomes more individual and more specialized he becomes more socially dependent." stochastic risks complicate traditional actuarial insurance (Esping-Andersen, 2000a;Hacker, 2008;Newman, 2008;Taylor-Gooby, 2004;Vandecasteele, 2011). 28 Finally, concerning how investments should be made, Gough (2000Gough ( , 2001 suggests that there are tradeoffs and constraints involved in welfare state effort and effects, and contends, for example, that programs need to be directed at improving the supply of capital and/or labor rather than merely providing resources to some in need. ...
Persistent calls for social investment-oriented social policy suggest that existing social policies are unsustainable and need radical rethinking. Instead, this paper argues that we need to better understand how long-standing policies have enabled society’s adaptation to socioeconomic changes and forestalled experiences of marginalization, poverty, and acute vulnerability. Inspired by the historical success of Nordic-style social policies, I reconsider the relation between development studies and welfare state studies, synthesize ideas from both, elaborate on the inclusive strand of welfare developmentalism, and introduce a conceptual framework for explaining why existing social policies may be simultaneously protective and productive. Applying social developmentalist ideas from the Global South to the traditional welfare state literature of the Global North, this paper advances a theoretical explanation for why what I term “developmental welfare state policies” defy standard economic assumptions through preventive investments that inhere in existing policy variants. It cautions against promoting separate social investment policies or characterizing policies as exclusively passive or activating.
... This study considers the risk of unemployment after completing an apprenticeship and, in the case of an unsuccessful direct transition into the labour market, the duration of the first unemployment of a specific group of apprenticeship graduates, namely, those living in households that receive unemployment benefits. Young people from households that receive benefits are usually considered a vulnerable social group that is disadvantaged in terms of their employment opportunities and poverty risk, as their parents' socioeconomic background is assumed to influence their employment outcomes and school-to-work transition due to processes of intergenerational transmission and cumulative disadvantage (Vandecasteele 2011;Schels 2018;Achatz et al. 2022). Unfavourable living conditions such as long-term benefit receipt, parental unemployment and low levels of parental education limit families' ability to support their children's educational and professional advancement (Kallio et al. 2016;Vauhkonen et al. 2017;Achatz et al. 2022). ...
A smooth transition from apprenticeship to standard employment is a key step in the professional biographies of apprenticeship graduates. In this study, the transition of apprenticeship graduates from households that receive unemployment benefits are considered. These graduates are thought to be disadvantaged because their parents’ socioeconomic background is assumed to influence their employment outcomes through processes of intergenerational transmission and cumulative disadvantage. Based on administrative data from the Sample of Integrated Welfare Benefit Biographies (SIG) provided by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), this analysis offers deeper insights into parental socioeconomic background and the individual factors that affect the risk of unemployment following the completion of an apprenticeship. In the case of an unsuccessful direct transition to standard employment, the factors influencing the duration of the first unemployment are also assessed. The results show that, as with individual characteristics, parents’ education level has a significant effect on the graduates’ risk of unemployment. The duration of the household’s benefit receipt, on the other hand, significantly influences the duration of the first unemployment in the case of an unsuccessful transition following an apprenticeship.
... Indeed, longitudinal studies in "dynamic sociological poverty research" have promoted a more optimistic picture in that relative poverty in Euro-American societies is mostly transient in nature (e.g. Leisering and Leibfried 1999;Vandecasteele 2010Vandecasteele , 2011. Especially 'risky live events' (Vandecasteele 2010), such as becoming unemployed, periods of sickness and household composition changes in the form of marital dissolution or additions to the family constitute temporary poverty-inducing events, which can be actively overcome by many of those inflicted by it (Bane and Ellwood 1986;Jenkins 1999;DiPrete and McManus 2008). ...
Like a Phoenix from the Ashes: Being (sustainably) happy after overcoming a spell of poverty
... Thus, unemployment often causes financial distress, insecurities, and increased poverty risks (Gallie 2013). The risk of poverty following unemployment has been shown independently of context (Gallie 2004) and social class (Vandecasteele 2011). The reduction of disposable income (Kunze and Suppa 2017;Schöb 2013) can lead to difficulties maintaining one's previous standard of living, forcing individuals to move to more affordable places of residence (Pohlan 2019) and reduce cultural activities and social events (Pohlan 2019;Kunze and Suppa 2017). ...
Relations to family and friends are a key dimension of an individual’s social integration and, by extension, are crucial for the social cohesion of societies. Based on that principle, this study explores the effects of unemployment on close personal relations and asks whether negative effects of unemployment are primarily explicable as financial losses or social aspects of identity. This analytical approach goes beyond analysing the direct effects of unemployment through differentiating effects by gender, household composition, and individual work and family values. In doing so, it examines the channels through which unemployment has the potential to erode social relations.
Individual fixed effects models based on German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data from 1990 to 2017 reveal that financial strain fails to explain the effects of unemployment on social relations. However, the results suggest that social identity is influential in shaping unemployment effects. Although men see a reduction in their personal relations when experiencing unemployment, women’s unemployment experiences do not affect the frequency of their social interactions. Moreover, the fact that unemployment leads to a reduction of men’s social contacts, particularly among those living with children, points to potential difficulties in performing the social role of the family provider. Finally, placing high importance on having children, partnership and caring for others mitigates negative unemployment effects for men.
... Poverty research routinely focuses on the social risks of low education, unemployment and single parenthood as predictors of poverty (Brady et al. 2017;Hübgen 2020;Vandecasteele 2011). In recent years, in-work poverty has increased notably across Europe, that is, the share of individuals living in households below the poverty line despite being gainfully employed (Andress/Lohmann 2008;Brülle et al. 2019;Filandri/Struffolino 2019;Lohmann/Marx 2018). ...
Households are prime locations of risk pooling and redistribution. Household constellations in terms of the number of earners and their occupations define households’ capacity to cushion crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or rising inflation. The occupational structure and the sociodemographic composition of households continue to vary widely between the former East and West German regions. Against the background of rising levels of in-work poverty in recent years, we extend the prevalence and penalties framework as used in poverty research to two occupational risks that gained significance in post-COVID-19 labour markets. Our study addresses two questions: 1) How prevalent were household constellations in which the sole earner or both earners worked in an occupation that was both non-teleworkable and non-essential (NTNE) in East and West Germany in 2019? 2) Did the poverty penalty associated with the sole or both earners working in NTNE occupations differ in East and West Germany in 2019? The most recent available data from the German Microcensus (2019, N=179,755 households) is linked to new data collected on the teleworkability of occupations and occupations’ classification as essential by German federal state decrees in the spring of 2020. Descriptive statistics and regression models show that the prevalence of household constellations where the sole earner or both earners worked in NTNE occupations was relatively similar across East and West Germany. In contrast to overall similar prevalence, in East Germany the poverty penalty associated with the sole or both earners working in NTNE occupations was substantially elevated. Controlling for known occupational disadvantages, including low education, fixed-term contracts, shift work and the lack of leadership responsibilities narrowed but did not eliminate the sizeable gap in poverty penalties associated with NTNE occupations between East and West Germany.
... However, if there are many conditions, experiences, continuities or accumulations we could project on the future, we cannot assume that the processes, specifically the chains of risks or stress proliferation, will remain the same. Some researchers have suggested that in the "society of risk" (Giddens 1991;Beck 1992), life accidents are more frequent but as a consequence tend to become more normal, less disruptive (see Vandecasteele 2011). The future is living with us, for sure, but the future is not (completely) written. ...
In this contribution, we will mobilize the interdisciplinary life course paradigm to consider the processes through which individual heterogeneity in health and wealth is constructed all along life, from the cradle to old age. Considering altogether historical, family and individual times, the life course perspective has been developed in sociology, (lifespan) psychology and epidemiology, and has framed many important studies during the last four decades. The theory of cumulative disadvantage is for sure the most popular in social sciences, explaining how little inter-individual differences early in life expand all along life to reach maximal amplitude among the “young old” (before the selection by differential mortality at very old age). In lifespan psychology, the theory of cognitive reserve (educational level being a proxy) and its continuation, the theory of use or disuse (of cognition during adult life) have more or less the same explanatory power, cognition being a decisive precondition for active ageing and quality of life in old age. However, in spite of the success of those theoretical bodies, a prominent figure in the field, Glen Elder, recently observed that there is surprisingly little evidence for cumulative processes and that a wide variety of model specifications remain completely untested. This finding makes even more important a critical review of the literature which summarize several robust evidences, but also discuss contradictory results and suggest promising research tracks. This exercise considers the life course construction of inequalities in the distribution of objective resources older adults have (or not) “to live the life they own value” (to quote A. Sen 2001). But it is also crucial to consider the subjective component that is inherent to the understanding of well-being.
... A set of independent variables is included based on the existing literature on poverty (Brady and Bostic 2015;David, Finnigan, and Hübgen 2017;Lee and Smeeding 2003;Vandecasteele 2011). These covariates include indicators for HHs with leads 25-34 years old and HHs with leads over 54 (reference = lead 35-53), single female/no child HHs, single male/no child HHs (reference = two-parent family), multi-earner HHs (reference = one HH member employed), and high education HHs (reference = high school or some college). ...
Poverty is unevenly distributed within the United States – – a fact demonstrated by a rich literature on inequality in the US. By ignoring such variation, research runs the risk of overlooking the geographical distribution of poverty and risks that increase the likelihood of poverty. In this article, I address this by: (1) building on the prevalence and penalties framework, developed in cross-national scholarship, and applying it to the U.S. case given state autonomy in poverty policy; and (2) conducting longitudinal analyses using high-quality data derived from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS-ASEC). Through these analyses, I examine the extent of interstate variation in poverty and in the prevalence of risks and the penalties associated with those risks. Results confirm interstate variation in poverty similar to that seen across rich democracies – the focus of much cross-national comparative work – and demonstrate sizable differences in risks and their associated penalties that have grown rapidly since the welfare reforms of the 1990s. These findings have substantial implications for scholars and policymakers interested in understanding poverty and vulnerability in the United States.
... There was no evidence of such interactions contrary to our expectations. Although somewhat surprising, this finding is in line with research by Vandecasteele (2011;using cross-national European data) indicating that union dissolution among younger cohorts of respondents had a poverty-triggering effect across all educational levels and social classes compared to other family-life transitions (e.g. childbirth). ...
Objectives: Widowhood and adverse childhood socioeconomic circumstances (CSC) have both been linked to increased levels of depressive symptoms in old age. Beyond their independent impact on depressive symptoms, experiencing adverse CSC may also trigger a cascade of cumulative adversity and secondary stressors across the life course that shapes how individuals weather stressful life events later on.
Method: We examine whether exposure to adverse CSC moderates the relationship between later-life widowhood and depressive symptoms using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004-2017).
Results: Mixed-effects models revealed that both widowhood and adverse CSC were associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms among men and women. Associations between widowhood and depressive symptoms, however, were not moderated by CSC for both genders.
Conclusion: Persisting differences in the levels of mental health in response to later-life widowhood did not further widen in the presence of disparities experienced early in the life course. This may reflect the life-altering impact of this age-normative, yet stressful life event across the social strata.
... Poverty and lower family income may have a substantial negative impact on a child's well-being. Additionally, the timing of poor or worsening living conditions has also been shown to be important, with the most negative effects being observed during a child's preschool and early school years [25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. The negative impacts of poverty can be observed in educational outcomes [32]. ...
Family policies and family support measures have been identified as having major implications for child well-being, particularly through their role in influencing parental and family resources, circumstances and behaviour. The official approach to family policies focuses on opportunities for families to balance their work and family duties and care for their children. This paper analyses the type of policies available in Montenegro compared to the European Union. Potentially, Montenegro will become an EU member state, thus it is important to take a look at Montenegrin practice, as children should have equal life chances and protection of their well-being. Having a solid legal framework per se does not necessarily result in significant positive outcomes, and this paper analyses whether children in Montenegro have the same opportunities for development, in the context of family policies, as their counterparts in the rest of Europe. The focus of the paper will be on the criteria that define family rights and obligations, eligibility, availability and use of family policies in Montenegro. Based on the specific measures and datasets examined, the analysis considers the degree to which a period of family policy investment in Montenegro has been accompanied by improvements in child well-being and family resources, and undertakes comparisons in these regards with EU-wide family policy and child well-being trends. The paper uses a welfare state theoretical approach, with the focus on social investment and relevant data on children’s well-being obtained from the Eurostat, the OECD and the official national statistics.
... Concerning the risks, we focused on financial, housing, health, social exclusion, and legal ones (cf. Pintelon et al., 2013;Vandecasteele, 2010). As a third characteristic of social status, Only one episode with a (dubious) number 719 was accessible for the analysis we registered the perceptible life trajectories of participants in terms of three basic dynamics: a potential for future improvement, deterioration, or stability. ...
This chapter analyses social media discourses disparaging the poor in Romania and Hungary, where groups receiving benefits, labelled ‘the assisted’ are regularly shamed for their ‘ways’. The chapter combines quantitative analysis of discursive patterns in comments to social media posts of news organisations with the qualitative analysis of visual content posted. Apart from being disparaged and shamed, ‘the assisted’ are also blamed for various other phenomena, from economic hardships to political processes. Thus, social media discourses use references to ‘the assisted’ as an empty signifier providing a language for expressing a wide range of experiences, grievances and public anxieties.
... Income volatility has thus been mainly analyzed in terms of poverty risk. Through long-term sequence analysis, the traditional approach to poverty has tended to focus on households living in permanent poverty (Vandecasteele, 2010(Vandecasteele, , 2011. A "Beveridgean perspective", whereby problematic situations are identified by reference to a collectively fixed threshold such as the poverty line, has been privileged, distinguishing these approaches from analysis of income drops. ...
Economic instability, social changes, and new social policies place economic insecurity high on the scholarly and political agenda. We contribute to these debates by proposing a new multidimensional, intertemporal measure of economic insecurity that accounts for both its multiplicity and its dynamism. First, we develop three theory-driven, multidimensional measures of economic insecurity. Principal Components Analysis validates the measure. Second, we develop a dynamic approach to insecurity, using longitudinal data and a newly revised headcount method. Third, we then use our new measures to analyze the distribution of insecurity in Europe. Our analysis shows that insecurity is widespread across Europe, even in low-inequality, encompassing welfare states. Moreover, it extends across income groups and occupational classes, reaching into the middle classes.
... En cambio, en los tipos de trayectorias con mayor precariedad (trayectorias de precariedad y de temporalidad contractual) destaca tanto el bajo nivel de estudios de dichos jóvenes como un origen socioeconómico bajo. En cierto modo, se observa una acumulación de desventajas en las trayectorias laborales de estos jóvenes (Vandecasteele, 2011), puesto que a la falta de recursos iniciales que faciliten una buena inserción laboral se añade la incidencia que su falta de empleo tiene sobre su capital social relacional. Esta cuestión se trata a continuación. ...
Las recientes crisis económica y sociosanitaria han puesto de manifiesto las debilidades de un mercado de trabajo que acaba expulsando a los colectivos más débiles. Entre ellos, este documento pone el foco en el colectivo de jóvenes y sus dificultades para desarrollar trayectorias laborales estables. Diferentes estudios muestran los efectos negativos de la escasa conexión con el mercado de trabajo, en forma de empleos con escasa estabilidad y/o continuidad o a causa del desempleo, por parte de determinados perfiles de jóvenes. Esta desconexión puede provocar dinámicas de exclusión o aislamiento laboral, lo que retroalimenta la pérdida de recursos de carácter relacional que pueden ser útiles para la reinserción laboral de estos jóvenes.
Este Working Paper presenta algunos de los hallazgos obtenidos sobre esta problemática a partir del análisis de los datos obtenidos en dos estudios diferentes desarrollados en el seno del Centre d’Estudis Sociològics sobre la Vida Quotidiana i el Treball. El primero ha permitido identificar y analizar distintos tipos de trayectorias juveniles de inestabilidad laboral a partir de los datos obtenidos mediante el uso de entrevistas de carácter híbrido. En el segundo de ellos se ha realizado una aproximación cualitativa y biográfica al estudio de las trayectorias juveniles más precarias, con el objetivo de estudiar el papel que los servicios locales de empleo pueden tener en la aportación de recursos, especialmente de carácter relacional.
... Other household characteristics controlled for in the models are family type, number of household members, health of the household's head, his or her educational level, his or her occupational status and home ownership. Each of these characteristics was found to influence a household's risk of deprivation significantly (Ayala et al., 2011;Barcena-Martin et al., 2014;Barnes et al., 2002;Bedük, 2018;Ervasti and Venetoklis, 2010;Vandecasteele, 2011;Whelan et al., 2004;Whelan et al., 2008;Whelan and Maître, 2012). ...
The development of a common standard of consumption is one goal of the ongoing harmonization of the EU member states’ economies. As a result, the degree to which household deprivation affects people’s economic stress should converge. Based on comparison theory, such convergence could be one indicator for Europe growing together (‘Europeanization’). The association between deprivation and economic stress is tested across and between 28 EU countries with EU-SILC data. Moreover, it is examined whether this association changed between 2007 and 2015, as the great recession starting in 2008 affected European countries differently. The results show that, given a certain level of household deprivation, people judge their situation differently across Europe. Whereas economic stress levels are higher in relatively poor countries, the deprivation-stress link is stronger in rich countries. Across-time comparisons suggest no decline in the extent to which a country’s deprivation level moderated the effect of household deprivation on economic stress. The findings support the persistence of national reference groups against which individuals judge their own economic situation.
... L'approccio seguito, spesso implicitamente, è stato il seguente: in primo luogo, viene fissata l'esistenza di una soglia socialmente accettata, o convenzionale (la soglia di povertà, ad esempio); in secondo luogo, i flussi di reddito sono considerati rilevanti, indipendentemente dalla loro dimensione, solo se e quando portano gli individui al di sotto di tale soglia; terzo, viene condotta un'analisi causale per identificare i fattori che spiegano il cadere sotto questa soglia. L'analisi longitudinale è stata anche in grado di distinguere tra eventi legati all'occupazione ed eventi del corso della vita nel loro contributo esplicativo alla povertà (Vandecasteele 2011). Tuttavia, questo approccio presenta alcune carenze rilevanti per la nostra analisi dell'insicurezza. ...
Il tema dell’insicurezza economica è apparso con grande frequenza nel dibattito scientifico e politico successivo alla Grande Recessione. Pur essendo riconosciuta come un aspetto importante, manca sinora un accordo intorno ad una chiara definizione di insicurezza economica. Questo contributo è, dunque, finalizzato a presentare la discussione scientifica sinora sviluppata, focalizzandosi sulle definizioni proposte e sulle loro correlate misurazioni.
This paper addresses patterns, trends, and “pockets” of old-age poverty in Western Europe and North America since 2000, with a focus on five of the more financially resilient countries: Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States. Despite major public pension retrenchment initiatives in several of these countries, increases in both the breadth and depth of old-age poverty have been limited in most of these countries. Increases in old-age poverty that did occur were largely “collateral damage” from across-the board cutbacks in pension replacement rates and eligibility that were not adequately compensated for by increases in means-tested or minimum pensions. Poor retirees have only rarely been targeted directly for retrenchment in these countries. The most consistent pattern in the case studies is the role of policy drift--the production of different old-age poverty outcomes as the social and fiscal context within which government programs operate change, but policies do not. It is the limited positive power of poor retirees (their inability to get policy changes enacted that favor them) rather than their negative power (inability to block changes that hurt them) that has been more important as a driver of increased old-age poverty where it has occurred.
Tekst porusza temat społecznych nierówności, które objawiają się w dostępie do różnych dóbr przez jednostki, grupy społeczne czy całe społeczeństwa. Nierówności te mogą dotyczyć aspektów ekonomicznych, kulturowych, władzy, edukacji czy prestiżu. Głównym celem badania jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie: czy istnieje statystyczna zależność pomiędzy poziomem nierówności a wzrostem gospodarczym w krajach Bliskiego Wschodu i Afryki Północnej? Autorka podkreśla globalny charakter problemu nierówności społecznych, zwracając uwagę na ich występowanie w różnych obszarach świata, jednak definiuje jako zakres badania kraje Bliskiego Wschodu i Afryki Północnej (MENA). W pracy zastosowano jako główne metody badawcze: krytyczną analizę literatury, analizę danych wtórnych oraz analizę korelacji i regresji. W dalszej części tekstu autorka przedstawia metodologię badania, prezentuje wyniki, które następnie omawia i interpretuje. Podkreślić należy brak jednoznacznych zależności między nierównościami a wzrostem gospodarczym, co może wynikać z interdyscyplinarnego charakteru problemu oraz konieczności uwzględnienia jakościowych metod badawczych. W końcowej części autorka zauważa, że nadmierne skoncentrowanie się na metodach ilościowych w ekonomii może być nieuzasadnione, zwłaszcza w przypadku zagadnień tak skomplikowanych jak społeczne nierówności. Zaleca także większe zastosowanie metod jakościowych oraz podkreśla konieczność uwzględnienia kontekstu społecznego i ekonomicznego w analizie nierówności. Wskazuje, że przezwyciężenie nierówności przy jednoczesnym budowaniu wzrostu gospodarczego jest możliwe, a międzynarodowe agendy, takie jak Cele Zrównoważonego Rozwoju, mogą stanowić inspirację dla działań mających na celu osiągnięcie tego ideału.
Active labour market programmes (ALMPs) should help young adults who collect welfare benefits ‘get back on track’. Despite the recent proliferation of research on ALMPs, only scant attention has been paid to their employment quality effects. Aiming to fill this gap, this article evaluates the long-term effects of German ALMPs on young adults’ employment quality. We measure employment quality with two indicators: one on whether someone has a job with earnings below the low wage threshold and the other on whether they have a job with earnings above the low wage threshold. These measures help us assess whether ALMPs prevent young adults from being at risk of poverty again. In addition, we study whether ALMP effects vary by social origin. We distinguish young adults by whether their families collected benefits when they were adolescents, as a marker for disadvantaged social origin. We analyse in-firm training and one-euro jobs as examples for enabling and workfare programmes, which exist across other welfare states as well. Empirically, we apply an entropy balancing approach to a self-drawn sample from registry data to analyse ALMP treatment effects. Results show that in-firm training enhances young adults’ employment quality in the long run. The effects tend to be lower for those from disadvantaged families though, indicating that disadvantages embedded in social origin remain. The workfare programme harms participants’ employment quality, with those less disadvantaged suffering the greatest damage. Overall, our research provides evidence that in-firm training effectively enables young adults to find a job of higher quality, addressing their risk of social exclusion and proving useful in promoting upward social mobility. Nonetheless, the article also raises urgent issues concerning how the needs of those most vulnerable can be addressed by social policy.
While the poverty risks associated with transitions to and from different forms of non‐standard employment (NSE) have been studied extensively, poverty research on NSE histories remains fuzzy. Therefore, this study focuses on persons with NSE histories whose earnings contribute significantly to the household income, asking to what extent they are exposed to income poverty risks during their main career phase and examining the role of employment, family and sociodemographic characteristics. Employment histories were observed over 10 years using German Socio‐Economic Panel data from 2001 to 2020. A sequence cluster analysis identified four NSE clusters with increased poverty risks, namely, those with increasing and permanent low‐part‐time work, those who were mainly temporary agency‐employed or had long episodes of fixed‐term employment. Multivariate regressions considering employment‐specific, care‐related and sociodemographic characteristics revealed a network of cumulative disadvantages related to gender, occupational position, care obligations and structural disadvantages for those clusters.
This study explores how German consumers who have overcome a poverty spell draw on and integrate their past selves in different ways into their altered post-poverty transition identities and lifestyles. The research identifies two post-poverty archetypal narratives: the "redemptive selves" and the "critically reflexive returnees".
Balancing parenthood and employment can be challenging and distressing, particularly for single mothers. At the same time, transitioning to employment can improve the financial situations of single mothers and provide them with access to social networks, which can have beneficial effects on their health and well-being. Currently, however, it is not well understood whether the overall impact of employment on single mothers is positive or negative, and to what extent it differs from the impact of employment on partnered mothers. Building on the literature on work-family conflict, we investigate the differential effects of employment transitions on the health and well-being of single mothers and partnered mothers. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1992-2016), we apply panel regression techniques that address the potential endogeneity of maternal employment, as well as the dynamic nature of the relationship between employment transitions and maternal health and well-being. We find that employment has a positive impact on single mothers, and that single mothers benefit from employment significantly more than partnered mothers. Surprisingly, income does not appear to be an important driver of these results. Overall, our findings suggest that employment plays a key role in the well-being of single mothers.
This article aims (1) to investigate whether immigrants in the Norwegian population and their descendants differ in their feelings of being socially excluded from society compared with others born in Norway (‘natives’), and (2) to test empirically whether these differences reflect differences in human and economic capital (i.e., education, work, income, and material deprivation) and factors related to minority/majority issues, such as citizenship. The data were drawn from the Norwegian part of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey. The results show that immigrants—especially from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, non‐EU European countries, and descendants of immigrants—feel more socially excluded than natives. For immigrants from Africa, Asia, et al., and Europe other countries, human and economic capital are linked to these differences. Immigrants from Europe other countries did not differ from natives when adjusting for education and work. Differences between natives and immigrants from Africa, Asia, et al. and descendants of immigrants remained even after controlling for various factors. The study indicates that immigrants from outside the Nordic countries with secondary education feel socially excluded to a higher degree than other immigrants. One reason could be that they may have skills not recognised in the Norwegian labour market. The study also finds that immigrants with Norwegian citizenship feel less excluded from society than other immigrants. Length of stay and social recognition are possible explanations for these results.
Purpose
This study is aimed at developing an understanding of the consequences of the pandemic on families' socioeconomic resilience, and the strategies adopted by the families in overcoming social vulnerabilities amid uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The materials for this study consist of semi-structured interviews with 21 families spread across the South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Families in the study represent four different income levels, namely very high, high, middle and low, and who also work in the informal sector. Each family has at least 1 or more members who fall into the vulnerable category (children, the elderly, people with disabilities unemployed or having potential economic vulnerability).
Findings
Two main findings are outlined. Regardless of their socioeconomic status, many of the families analyzed adopted similar strategies to remain resilient. Among the strategies are classifying the urgency of purchasing consumer goods based on financial capacity rather than needs, leveraging digital economic opportunities as alternative sources of income, utilizing more extensive informal networks and going into debt. Another interesting finding shows that the pandemic, to some extent, has saved poor families from social insecurity. This is supported by evidence showing that social distancing measures during the pandemic have reduced the intensity of sociocultural activities, which require invited community members to contribute financially. The reduction of sociocultural activities in the community has provided more potential savings for the poor.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, informants who provided information about their family conditions represent a major segment of the workforce and tend to be technologically savvy and younger, due to the use of Zoom as a platform for conducting interviews. Therefore, there may be a bias in the results. Another limitation is that since the interviewees were recommended by our social network in the fields, there is a risk of a distorted selection of participants.
Originality/value
This study offers insights that are critical in helping to analyze family patterns in developing countries in mitigating the risks and uncertainties caused by COVID-19. In addition, the literature on social policy and development could benefit from further research on COVID-19 as an alternative driver to identify mechanisms that could bring about change that would result in “security.” Critical questions and limitations of this study are presented at the end of the paper to be responded to as future research agenda.
Dieses Papier stellt mit dem Verwirklichungschancenansatz von Amartya Sen einen
umfassenden theoretischen Rahmen für eine multidimensionale Messung von Armut im
Nationalen Bildungspanel (NEPS) vor. Es wird aufgezeigt, wie diese erweiterte Betrachtung
von Armut genutzt werden kann um die Auswirkungen von Armut auf die individuelle Bildung aber auch den Einfluss von Bildung auf Armutslagen im Rahmen eines Multi-Kohorten-Sequenz-Designs zu untersuchen. Neben einem Überblick über den Ansatz sowie einer Aufarbeitung der bildungsbezogenen Forschungen stellt dieses Papier die bereits bestehende Operationalisierung von relevanten Konstrukten im NEPS sowie einen Vorschlag zur Erweiterung der erfassten Dimensionen um die verschiedenen Facetten individueller
Verwirklichungschancen für verschiedene Befragungsgruppen dar. Es erarbeitet somit eine
Grundlage, um erweiterte Aspekte von Armut zukünftig im Rahmen des NEPS besser
abzubilden.
This study investigates whether generous family policies at the transition to parenthood reduce single and partnered mothers’ economic disadvantages later in the life course. Previous research usually focused on the immediate effects of family policies and disregards potential longer-term effects. In this study, we suggest taking a life-course perspective to study the relationships between family policy and mothers’ poverty risks. We empirically investigate how investment in child benefits, childcare services and parental leave measures at the transition to parenthood are associated with poverty outcomes at later life stages and whether these associations hold over time. We draw on pooled EU-SILC data, and an original policy dataset based on OECD expenditure data for child benefits, childcare and parental leave from 1994 to 2015. We find that mothers’ observed increase in poverty over time is slower in countries with high levels of spending for childcare at the transition to parenthood than in lower spending countries. The gap between partnered and single mothers was also diminishing in contexts of high childcare expenditure. For the other two policies, we did not find these links. These results do lend support to the claim that childcare is a prime example of a social investment policy with returns later in the life course and represents a life-course policy that seems to be able to disrupt economic path dependencies. The results for the other two policies suggest, however, a limited potential of family policy spending at transition to parenthood to reduce the poverty gap between partnered and single mothers over the course of life.
Contemporary considerations on social inequalities are more and more often of an interdisciplinary character. Particular interest in the above-mentioned issues becomes noticeable in sociological and economic sciences and is also gradually increasing in geographical disciplines. The aim of this study is to present the problem of social inequalities from an interdisciplinary perspective. The analysis highlights the contribution of research conducted by representatives of sociology, economics, and geography. The methods of classification and identification of factors shaping social inequalities were also discussed.
En este artículo se examina longitudinalmente la presencia del empleo irregular en las trayectorias laborales de la población joven de entre 20 y 34 años en el Área Metropolitana de Barcelona. El objetivo es comprobar cómo se articula este tipo de empleo con otras experiencias en el mercado laboral e identificar las diferencias existentes en función de la categoría socio-económica de origen. Para ello se utilizan datos propios obtenidos mediante una encuesta híbrida que permitió obtener abundante información sobre la presencia de empleos sin contrato, sin remuneración o no declarados en las trayectorias laborales. Estos datos fueron analizados usando la técnica del análisis de secuencias. Los resultados muestran, por un lado, que el empleo irregular está extendido entre todos los perfiles sociales analizados. Por otro lado, desde el punto de vista de su desarrollo longitudinal, se comprueba la existencia de diferencias en función de la categoría socio-económica de origen.
En este artículo ponemos en cuestionamiento las afirmaciones que señalan al embarazo durante la adolescencia como precursor de la pobreza, del abandono escolar y de la incorporación laboral temprana entre la población adolescente involucrada. Para ello, desde una perspectiva que toma en cuenta el género, la desigualdad social y el curso de vida, revisamos los resultados de la investigación existente sobre el tema en México y analizamos el particular caso masculino. Argumentamos que los embarazos en la etapa adolescente son el resultado de una serie de desventajas sociales que los jóvenes varones acumulan en su precoz tránsito a la vida adulta.
The chapter examines the contribution of Reality Television programmes to the social imagination of poverty in Czech society. We collected Czech-made Reality Television in which people with a low total volume of capitals but high life risks regularly appeared and observed how they themselves, their interactions with others, their practices, and their living conditions were performed and what changes their capitals and risks underwent during the programme. The analysis revealed two typical representations: Poverty was performed either as the inevitable mode of existence of social others or as a failure in making it invisible.
Großstädte sind in den letzten Jahrzehnten einem massiven wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Wandel ausgesetzt, der die städtische Sozialstruktur einmal mehr entscheidend veränderte. Basierend auf Erkenntnissen der Stadtsoziologie sowie der Arbeitsmarkt- und Migrationsforschung untersucht der vorliegende Beitrag diese Entwicklung am Beispiel Wiens. Dabei wird insbesondere der These einer zunehmenden sozialen Polarisierung in Städten nachgegangen. Es zeigt sich, dass auch in Wien die Mittelschichten im letzten Vierteljahrhundert geschrumpft sind. Ergebnisse aus multinomialen logistischen Regressionsmodellen und Dekompositionsanalysen weisen zudem darauf hin, dass Veränderungen am Arbeitsmarkt (z. B. zunehmende Verbreitung von Teilzeit) und in der Bevölkerungszusammensetzung (z. B. Herkunft von Zuwanderern) zu diesem Wandel beigetragen haben, während das steigende Bildungsniveau der Stadtbevölkerung ein noch stärkeres Schrumpfen der Mittelschicht verhindert hat.
The characteristics of self-employment in Europe have changed profoundly in the last decades. The share of solo self-employment has grown and individuals combine more frequently dependent employment with self-employment at the same time, or more often switch between dependent employment and self-employment. These developments heavily affect the pensions of the self-employed and therefore present a challenge for the old-age security systems of European welfare states. So far, there has been little comparative research on how periods of self-employment in the working career affect pension income in different European welfare states and how this is linked to the institutional design of pension systems. The paper contributes to filling this research gap by investigating the effect of selfemployment in the working career on individuals' pension income in 11 European countries. The findings show that selfemployment has a negative effect on total pensions of men and women. However, country differences are not significant in men, while in women only in the case of Poland and Belgium are there significant but contradictory effects of the share of self-employment in the working career on total pensions. These effects are due to pension regulations concerning the contribution and benefit calculation rules for self-employed persons.
Western welfare states were built during the postwar years, with one key objective: to protect family (male) breadwinners against the consequences of losing their ability to extract an income from the labor market. Structures of social risk, however, have changed dramatically since then, so that current social risks include precarious employment, long-term unemployment, being a working poor, single parenthood, or inability to reconcile work and family life. Changes in structures of social risk have resulted in the adaptation of welfare states only in the Nordic countries but much less in continental and southern Europe. To account for this divergence in social policy trajectories, this article argues that the reorientation of the Nordic welfare state was possible because new social risks emerged before the maturation of the postwar welfare states. The argument is demonstrated through comparative statistical analysis relating the timing of key socioeconomic developments to current levels of spending in relevant policies.
This paper examines the dynamics of poverty. Previous analyses have examined either fluctuations in the male heads' earnings or the frequency of poverty periods over a fixed time frame. Our approach depends on a definition of spells of poverty. Using this methodology we find that the majority of poor persons at any time are in the midst of a rather long spell of poverty. The methodology also allows us to estimate that less than 40 percent of poverty spells begin because of a drop in the heads' earnings, while 60 percent of the spells end when the heads' earnings increase. Thus, researchers must focus on household formation decisions and on the behavior of secondary family members.
In recent years, the perception of poverty has seen a shift from a static to a dynamic perspective. Research has shown that, in industrialised countries, poverty is a temporary experience for most people affected by it. For these people, poverty should be seen as a life phase rather than a persistent state. Additionally, it appears that when the poverty incidence is studied over a longer time-frame, many more people are confronted with poverty than can be seen on the basis of an investigation at a single moment in time.
In view of this dynamic perspective on poverty, this thesis aims to reconsider the effect of social stratification on income poverty. This is necessary because the dynamic view of poverty seems to contradict the traditionally static social stratification structure. When poverty is mostly short-term and large numbers of people are confronted with it, then the question arises whether poverty is still concentrated among certain social groups or is rather more widespread in society. In the latter viewpoint, the poverty experience would be structured by life course phases rather than by traditional social stratification determinants. Apart from this argument, it is often claimed in the wider sociological literature that social stratification has lost its relevance. A certain scepticism with respect to the structuring impact of social stratification has gained ground, and the concept of social class structure especially has received criticism.
The empirical part of the thesis consists of a statistical analysis of the European Community Household Panel survey. The research topic is looked at from different angles, and a variety of research techniques are conducted to answer the research questions. Firstly, the thesis explores how gender, education level and social class are related to different forms of short-term and longer-term poverty. Consequently, the effect of social class mobility on income and poverty mobility is assessed. Furthermore, the relative effect of both life course events and social stratification determinants on poverty entry is investigated.
The results show that the risk of temporary poverty is indeed much more widespread in society than the risk of the more persistent forms of poverty. But this does not mean that social stratification has become irrelevant. The findings show clearly that social stratification determinants generally stay important as predictors of income poverty, even when investigated in a dynamic perspective. Yet, there are some indications that the social stratification determinants under investigation are less important as predictors of short-term poverty compared with longer-term poverty. Furthermore, it is repeatedly shown throughout this thesis that the social class structure only adequately differentiates between the top layers and the bottom of the social class structure; the risk of poverty for the various middle groups is relatively similar.
An important merit of the thesis lies in bridging the gap between two seemingly opposed explanations of poverty inequality; namely ‘hierarchical’ or ‘vertical’ social stratification determinants on the one hand and ‘horizontal’ life course events on the other. Life course events as well as social stratification determinants are found to be important predictors of poverty entry. Moreover, life course events and social stratification determinants play in complex interactions to increase or reduce initial inequalities. An important outlook for further research concerns the investigation of the structural context in which a life course event triggers poverty entry.
Link to Thesis: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/1979/960
The life cycle concept has come to have considerable prominence in Irish social policy debate. However, this has occurred without any systematic effort to link its usage to the broader literature relating to the concept. Nor has there been any detailed consideration of how we should set about operationalising the concept. In this paper we argue the need for “macro” life cycle perspectives that have been influenced by recent challenges to the welfare state to be combined with “micro” perspectives focusing on the dynamic and multidimensional nature of social exclusion. We make use of Irish EU-SILC 2005 data in developing a life cycle schema and considering its relationship to a range of indicators of social exclusion. At the European level renewed interest in the life cycle concept is associated with the increasing emphasis on the distinction between “new” and “old” social risks and the notion that the former are more “individualised”. Inequality and poverty rather than being differentially distributed between social classes are thought to vary between phases in the average work life. Our findings suggest the “death of social class” thesis is greatly overblown. A more accurate appreciation of the importance of new and old social risks requires that we systematically investigate the manner in which factors such as social class and the life cycle interact.
The current context of social policy is one in which many of the old certainties of the past have been eroded. The predominantly inward-looking, domestic preoccupation of social policy has made way for a more integrated, international and outward approach to analysis which looks beyond the boundaries of the state. It is in this context that this Handbook brings together the work of key commentators in the field of comparative analysis in order to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary debates and issues in cross-national social policy research.
Explanations of inequality usually diverge into two camps. The persistent inequality perspective suggests that all blacks and women face discriminatory barriers across their careers, while the cohort explanation contends that younger blacks and women are closer to wage parity with white men than are their older counterparts. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study estimates minority wage gaps (relative to white men) for three cohorts of black men, white women, and black women. Findings show that in early years younger minorities were significantly closer to wage parity with white men than were older cohorts. Yet, none of the cohorts gained ground on white men over their careers, and instead the majority of cohorts suffered significant wage erosion. Moreover, in a decomposition analysis of the average career wage, the majority of the gaps are attributable to unexplained factors (i.e., discrimination), rather than to compositional differences between white men and the other groups. On balance, the findings are more consistent with the persistent inequality perspective.
The poor economic position of single-mother households is a result of three factors: women's generally lower wages, lower economic support from men, and a relatively great need for income. This paper examines the relative importance of the last two of these factors. Data from the Luxembourg Income Study show that single-mother households in West Germany and the United States have high rates of poverty while their situation in Sweden is considerably better. The remainder of the analysis concentrates on the economic risks which would be faced by married parents if they were to separate tomorrow, and on the insurance transfer incomes provide against such risks. It is shown, first, that the costs of breaking one household into two are considerable, and that single-mother households will be worse off economically, unless a substantial increase in family income takes place. Second, that the economic dependence of married mothers places many in a 'high risk' situation, where they will lose a high proportion of their economic resources if the support from a spouse disappears. Finally, the analysis shows that transfer income respresents a poor insurance against the risk resulting from women's economic dependence.
This chapter reviews the relationship of stratification with the life course. The cumulative acquisition of life-course capital is conditioned by life-course risks that are confronted from birth until death. The first life-course risks are attached with social origins—when the unequal provision of physical, social, and economic resources by parents to their children conditions lifelong patterns of inequality. Another source of inequality of parental investment in prenatal, neonatal, and infant care is related, on average, to socioeconomic resources but is most strongly tied to poverty or near poverty and social exclusion from mainstream institutional resources. Postnatal childhood adversity related to poor nutrition or poverty has been found to have serious formative implications for subsequent acquisition of human capital and maintenance of health. Educational attainment appears to be the pivotal life course transition for predicting later well being in adulthood. The cumulative processes of stratification set individuals on different pathways of relative advantage or disadvantage. Early advantage increases access to beneficial opportunity structures, but considerable heterogeneity develops within aging cohorts as encounters with potentially fortunate, derailing, or deflecting life course risks emerge.
The reward and communication systems of science are considered.
Since the demise of modernization theory, social scientists have sought explanations for persisting differences in the stratification of industrialized societies, primarily by studying how educational and labor market institutions shape the life chances of individuals. This approach undervalues two key features of any stratification system: family dynamics and the welfare state. Employment changes, changes in household composition, and changes in the employment situation of a spouse or partner can all trigger large shifts in income and material well-being. The impact of these events is mediated by public tax and transfer mechanisms and by private actions taken by household members. This comparative analysis of household income dynamics in the United States and Germany shows that variations in welfare state policy produce distinct societal patterns of income mobility, and furthermore, shows that the relative importance of labor market events, family change, and welfare state policies for income dynamics depends on gender. The strong interrelationship between individual incentives and the structure of opportunity produces an asymmetry in the long-term impact of events. The negative effects of events that reduce income generally decay over time, while the effects of positive events generally persist.
Explanations of inequality usually diverge into two camps. The persistent inequality perspective suggests that all blacks and women face discriminatory barriers across their careers, while the cohort explanation contends that younger blacks and women are closer to wage parity with white men than are their older counterparts. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study estimates minority wage gaps (relative to white men) for three cohorts of black men, white women, and black women. Findings show that in early years younger minorities were significantly closer to wage parity with white men than were older cohorts. Yet, none of the cohorts gained ground on white men over their careers, and instead the majority of cohorts suffered significant wage erosion. Moreover, in a decomposition analysis of the average career wage, the majority of the gaps are attributable to unexplained factors (i.e., discrimination), rather than to compositional differences between white men and the other groups. On balance, the findings are more consistent with the persistent inequality perspective.
In this paper sample survey data are used to compare the degree of status consistency for males in nine societies. Relationships
among education, occupation, and income are examined as well as the relationship between industrialization and the degree
of status consistency. The data show that there are substantial dissociations between the major hierarchies of inequality
in these nine societies. Furthermore, the results suggest that level of industrialization may be a key determinant of the
degree of status consistency; more specifically there appears to be a positive relationship between per capita energy consumption
and the degree of status consistency.
This study uses growth curve analysis to examine whether disparities in the occupational standing of White men relative to women and minorities grew larger or smaller with advancing age during the 1980s and 1990s. The analyses are based on The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area Follow-Up. Results indicate that disparities in occupational standing stayed constant over the life course across all demographic groups except for African Americans, whose gap in occupational status relative to Whites and Hispanics grew significantly larger with advancing age. Implications of these findings for theories of occupational inequality are discussed.
The paper analyses the economic consequences of partnership dissolution in different institutional settings. Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Sweden are selected as representatives of four prototypical models of family support (market model, extended family model, male breadwinner model, dual earner model). It is assumed that these four types of family support create specific dependencies within the family, which in case of separation or divorce may have negative economic consequences for the weaker partner. The central question is how much economic autonomy is granted to the weaker family members within each of the four models. Following a thorough discussion of the institutional setting in each of the selected countries, it is assumed that economic autonomy is highest in Sweden and lowest in Italy with Belgium, Germany, and Great Britain ranging in between. Using a cross-national data set of separations developed by the authors from national household panels in these five countries, a large number of partnership dissolutions are studied over time. The observation period is long enough to distinguish short- from long-term consequences of partnership dissolution and in doing so to add to previous comparative research. Using multivariate panel data models it is shown that (i) adjusted household income is affected for both genders; however more negatively for women than for men, (ii) the income decline is highest in Italy and lowest in Sweden, and (iii) British and German women recover rather quickly from the negative economic effects of separation. Sweden stands out as the country with the highest gender equalities with respect to post-separation incomes. However, the model does not convince without having a blemish: in the long run both Swedish men and women have to deal with long-lasting financial consequences after separation, which do not appear to the same extent in any of the other countries.
In conditions of increasing economic uncertainty, a body of social stratification researchers claims that significant class inequality in life chances persists (Breen, 19976.
Breen , R . (1997). ‘Risk, Recommodification and Stratification’. Sociology, 31(no. 3): 473–89. View all references; Goldthorpe, 200021.
Goldthorpe JH (2000) ‘Social Class and the Differentation of Employment Contracts’ in J.H. Goldthorpe (ed.) On Sociology: Numbers, Narratives and the Integration of Research and Theory Oxford Oxford University Press pp. 206–29 View all references). Can we find evidence of this, and are developments similar across countries? Differences in education systems, welfare and labour market institutions may have implications for class risks and class theory. Britain and Germany differ significantly in these institutions. Selecting the risk of unemployment as an indicator of class inequality, we investigate how this risk varies by social class in different cohorts in the two countries. Using life course data, we find that in both countries class is a good predictor of the risk of unemployment, though there is less of a difference in class risks in Germany. We find evidence of persisting inequality in both Britain and Germany. We reflect on the interaction between social class and labour market institutions for labour market outcomes, and discuss the implications of our findings for the theory and measurement of class.
In this paper we seek to clarify and examine empirically two related perspectives on poverty processes that have emerged in recent years - those of cumulative disadvantage and of individualisation . The cumulative disadvantage perspective defines the key cleavage as between a comfortable majority and a multiply disadvantaged minority excluded from the mainstream. The individualisation perspective on the other hand views poverty as a relatively transient phenomenon, which is largely independent of traditional stratification factors. Our analyses support neither the over-determination of poverty risk through cumulative disadvantage, nor the under-determination through individualisation. Instead we argue that traditional risk factors are important, but combine in complicated ways to put a larger proportion of the population at risk of poverty rather than impacting solely on a multiply disadvantaged minority. A crucial implication of this paper is that highly targeted policies aimed at multiply deprived groups will be less successful at combating poverty than more generalised responses directed at groups who are not necessarily currently poor, but whose vulnerability to such exposure means that a range of factors may precipitate such an outcome.
Increasing divorce rates and growing concerns on welfare dependency urge the question whether welfare state arrangements moderate the negative economic consequences of divorce. In this study, the question is answered by comparing the short-term economic consequences of divorce for women across 14 Member States of the European Union. Using longitudinal data from the 1994–2000 European Community Household Panel survey, I demonstrate that the Member States differ in the extent to which women suffer economically from divorce. Multivariate analyses show that welfare state arrangements temper the economic consequences of divorce for women. Income-related arrangements reduce the economic strains of divorce most, then employment-related arrangements. These welfare state effects cannot be attributed to country differences in the composition of divorced women.
We examine the determinants of low income transitions using first-order Markov models that control for initial conditions effects (those found to be poor in the base year may be a nonrandom sample) and for attrition (panel retention may also be non-random). Our econometric model is a form of endogeneous switching regression, and is fitted using simulated maximum likelihood methods. The estimates, derived from British panel data for the 1990s, indicate that there is substantial genuine state dependence in poverty. We also provide estimates of low income transition rates and lengths of poverty and non-poverty spells for persons of different types.
The problem of selecting one of a number of models of different dimensions is treated by finding its Bayes solution, and evaluating the leading terms of its asymptotic expansion. These terms are a valid large-sample criterion beyond the Bayesian context, since they do not depend on the a priori distribution.
This paper is about income and poverty dynamics and their socioeconomic correlates. The first half of the paper aims to establish some of the salient facts for Britain, applying the pioneering methods of Bane and Ellwood (1986). Important for poverty dynamics are changes in labour earnings from persons other than the household head, changes in non-labour income (including benefits), and changes in household composition, in addition to changes in the heads' labour earnings. The second half of the paper is a review and critique of the multivariate modelling frameworks which might be used to explain and forecast these salient facts for Britain or elsewhere.
Women have higher poverty rates than men in almost all societies (Casper et al., 1994). In this paper, we compare modern nations on this dimension. We use the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) to compare women's and men's poverty rates in eight Western industrialized countries circa the early 1990s: the United States, Australia, Canada, France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. We define individuals to be in poverty if they live in households with incomes below half the median for their nation. We examine, for each country, the ratio of women's to men's poverty rate. We then use simple demographic simulation methods to estimate how this gender disparity is affected by how prevalent single motherhood is, and by state tax and transfer programs that may particularly help households headed by women.
We examine the mobility of individuals in the United States based on equivalent family income--that is, total income of all family members adjusted for family size according to the equivalence scale implicit in the U.S. poverty line. Our analysis, which tracks movements across quintiles, centers on four questions: How much movement is there across the family income distribution? How has this mobility changed over time? To what extent are the movements attributable to factors related to changes in family composition versus events in the labor markets? In light of major socioeconomic changes occurring in the quarter-century under study, have the determinants of mobility changed over time? Our findings indicate that mobility rates in the 1980s differed little from those in the 1970s. However, individuals in families headed by a young person or a person without a college education were less likely to experience upward mobility in the 1980s than in the 1970s.
This article assesses whether it is possible to reconceptualize the traditional research approaches to the relationship between poverty and the life cycle on the basis of different sociological perspectives on the life course found in the literature. While the family-cycle approach, which was originally formulated by Seebohm Rowntree (1902), is criticized for being static, descriptive, normative and inflexible, dynamic poverty research is mostly confined to the quantitative analysis of income trajectories, and thus offers only a partial solution to our problem. However, the life-course perspective allows us to combine the best elements of these traditional approaches and to reconceptualize them into a general framework for the study of social exclusion and poverty. To this end, three sociological perspectives on the life course are considered: the traditional North-American life-course perspective formulated by Elder (1974), the Continental institutional approach, and a combined approach which we label the 'political economy of the life course'. Drawing from these three perspectives, we propose a general framework of analysis and formulate hypotheses regarding the phenomena of social exclusion and poverty over the life course which can subsequently be empirically validated.
The pattern of bibliographic references indicates the nature of the scientific research front.
Annual income data are typically provided with a time lag. This article reviews several ways of dealing with this time lag in the construction of annual household-based income measures for individual economic well-being. It also proposes an alternative method that yields better estimates for equivalized household income, especially in the case of household composition change. Next, the two most commonly applied income measures are compared to this alternative measure with empirical income data from the European Community Household Panel. This comparison reveals that ignoring the time lag and household changes leads to substantial bias in income and poverty estimates and to erroneous conclusions about the determinants of poverty entry. The evidence in this article will be useful to researchers who want to make a well-informed choice between different annual income measures. Copyright 2008 The Authors.
Link to Article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4991.2007.00260.x/abstract or http://people.unil.ch/leenvandecasteele/publications/
Poverty (low income) dynamics are explored using tax filer data covering the period 1992 to 1996. The distributions of short- and long-term episodes are identified and reveal substantial differences by sex and family type. Entry and exit models explore the relationships between poverty transitions and sex, family status and other personal and situational attributes. Duration effects on exiting and re-entering poverty are found to be important, and models including past poverty experiences point to strong ‘occurrence dependence’ for poverty entry and incidence. Fixed-effect panel data models confirm the above and reveal asymmetries in the impacts of household transitions on poverty. JEL Classification: I3
La dynamique de la pauvreté : résultats empiriques pour le Canada. Les auteurs examinent la dynamique de la pauvreté(bas revenus)à l’aide des données disponibles pour les citoyens qui ont soumis leurs rapports d’impôt entre 1992 et 1996. On identifie les distributions d’épisodes (courts et longs) de pauvreté, et celles-ci révèlent des différences significatives selon le sexe et les attributs familiaux. Les modèles d’entrée et sortie identifient les relations entre le statut de pauvreté, le sexe, le statut familial, et d’autres attributs personnels et situationnels. Il appert que les effets de durée sur les périodes de sortie et de ré-entrée dans un statut de pauvreté sont importants; les modèles qui prennent en compte les épisodes de pauvreté antérieurs montrent qu’il y a une forte corrélation (occurrence dependence) tant pour le passage au statut de pauvreté que pour l’incidence de tels épisodes. Les résultats des études transversales confirment ces résultats et révèlent des asymétries dans les impacts des transitions dans les ménages sur la pauvreté.
The history of the development of statistical hypothesis testing in time series analysis is reviewed briefly and it is pointed out that the hypothesis testing procedure is not adequately defined as the procedure for statistical model identification. The classical maximum likelihood estimation procedure is reviewed and a new estimate minimum information theoretical criterion (AIC) estimate (MAICE) which is designed for the purpose of statistical identification is introduced. When there are several competing models the MAICE is defined by the model and the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters which give the minimum of AIC defined by AIC = (-2)log-(maximum likelihood) + 2(number of independently adjusted parameters within the model). MAICE provides a versatile procedure for statistical model identification which is free from the ambiguities inherent in the application of conventional hypothesis testing procedure. The practical utility of MAICE in time series analysis is demonstrated with some numerical examples.