The Long Path from Periphery to Core: Social Mobility in Southern European Countries

Authors

  • Associate Professor, Ildefonso Marqués-Perales, Ph.D. Department of Sociology. University of Seville, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3145-0480
  • Assistant Professor, Manuel Herrera-Usagre, Ph.D. Department of Sociology. University of Seville, Spain
  • Assistant Professor, Carlos J. Gil-Hernández, Ph.D. Department of Statistics, Computer Science, Applications 'G. Parenti' (DiSIA), University of Florence, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8482-3706

Keywords:

Intergenerational social mobility, Log-linear models, Modernization, Invariance, Southern European countries, Social class

Abstract

This article analyzes absolute and relative social mobility patterns in Southern European Countries (Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal) through three cohorts of men and women who reached occupational maturity from 1969 to 2004, a period of profound economic, political and cultural transformations. Previous research literature on these countries has been scarce. The main objective of this study is to test the two most common hypotheses applied in research on social mobility by using constrained and unconstrained log-linear models: First, the Invariance hypothesis (H1), which postulates that relative social mobility rates undergo no or only insignificant change; secondly, the Industrialism hypothesis (H2), which posits that relative social mobility rates have experienced a profound or moderate but significant change towards a more open society. The results show a small but significant intergenerational improvement in social fluidity, confirming what we have called the Weak Improvement hypothesis (H3). This improvement has been more acute in women than in men, and differences can be found among selected countries, with Italy being the country where social mobility rates have improved the most.

Author Biographies

Associate Professor, Ildefonso Marqués-Perales, Ph.D., Department of Sociology. University of Seville, Spain

PhD in Sociology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca. His main field of study is social stratification and mobility. He has made a stay at the University of Leeds (England) and countries all around Latin-America. His publications include books such as "Génesis de la teoría social de Pierre Bourdieu" (CIS), or "La movilidad social en España" (Catarata). He has also published several articles in journals such as International Sociology, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, British Journal of Sociology or the International Journal of Sociology, among many others.

Assistant Professor, Manuel Herrera-Usagre, Ph.D., Department of Sociology. University of Seville, Spain

Manuel Herrera-Usagre, Ph.D. doctor in Sociology, holds a double Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Sociology and an Official Master's Degree in Social Programmes Management.
He has participated in numerous competitive calls for R&D projects and contracts at the international level (EC-DG SANTE, Horizon 2020, 7th FP), accumulating more than 15 years in R&D project participation and management, and more than 5 years with the European Reference Networks in Rare Diseases as a trainer officer and project manager.
His 10 years of experience in healthcare quality research and his knowledge and experience in policy evaluations of European countries make him deeply understand the policy-making field.
He has contributed to and developed several scientific-technical reports and policy papers and published more than 40 journal articles and other scientific products.

Dr. Herrera-Usagre has also been working on his music, paintings, and illustrations as a commissioned artist since 2006 under the pseudonym of tazzista (tazzista.art). He has produced songs for and collaborated with different awarded artists and collectives such as Collective Red-Whare, contemporary professional dancer and professor Laila Tafur, the composer and performer Raphäel Wildemann, the photographer DDO, and the podcaster and brand strategist Brooke Estin among many others.

Every digital art collection he has published has a leitmotiv and in-depth research on the topic, addressing fundamental human, sociological, and philosophical questions from a combination of artistic and scientific approaches. His pieces have been reviewed by the Museum of Contemporary Digital Art (MoCDA), and selected in numerous exhibitions, galleries, and web3 conferences: NFT Factory Gallery, NFT Paris Conference 2023, NFC Conference in Lisbon 2023, NFT.NYC 2024, etc., along with top artists such as Ali Sabet, Deadfellaz, Farrah Carbonell, Dead Seagull, and Brian Bixby.

Now he is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology of the University of Sevilla (Spain) and an Independent Expert for the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission.

Assistant Professor, Carlos J. Gil-Hernández, Ph.D., Department of Statistics, Computer Science, Applications 'G. Parenti' (DiSIA), University of Florence, Italy

Carlos J. Gil Hernández is currently working as a Social Scientist at the JRC - Centre for Advanced Studies. 

Carlos has a background as a quantitative sociologist, carrying out theoretically-driven empirical research with interdisciplinary interests in social stratification, income inequality, skill formation, and social policy. He defended his PhD thesis on intergenerational educational inequality at the European University Institute (EUI), including a visiting fellowship at the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre within the ERC EFFORT project. Carlos also holds a Master of Research in Sociology and Demography at the Pompeu Fabra University, a Master of Science in Sociology at Tilburg University, and a Master of Research in Political and Social Sciences at the EUI.

Before joining the European Commission, Carlos worked as a research fellow at Trinity College Dublin and the University of Trento in projects on the impact of digital devices on child mental health and the measurement of equality of opportunity. During his postgraduate studies, he worked as a research assistant at Tilburg University (around the European Values ​​Study and an international volume on social mobility), as an external consultant for the EUROFOUND, and research assistant at the EUI on the geography of social mobility in Europe.

The role of institutional factors in the intersection between labour markets, welfare states and families is a central concern in his research. Thus, he is interested in designing and evaluating more effective social policies. Accordingly, he has recently participated in an expert commission on social inequality appointed by the Foresight Unit of the Spanish Government to produce a report (España 2050) requested by the Prime Minister.

Carlos' work has been published in journals and editorials such as Sociology of Education, European Sociological Review, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, American Behavioral Scientist, Demographic Research, and Stanford University Press.

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Published

26-06-2024

How to Cite

Marqués-Perales, I., Herrera-Usagre, M., & Gil-Hernández, C. J. (2024). The Long Path from Periphery to Core: Social Mobility in Southern European Countries. Journal of Social Policy, Social Change and Development, 2(1), 1–18. Retrieved from https://so10.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/journalspsd/article/view/1071

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024): January-June

Section

Research

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