The lasting impact of grandfathers : Class , occupational status , and

Most research on social and economic mobility follows a two-generation approach, studying the correlations between the socioeconomic status of, for example, fathers and sons. Much less attention has been given to transmissions of status beyond two generations. This issue is of considerable relevance both for our understanding of societal openness and the stability of class structures. In this paper we look at socio-economic mobility across three generations in Sweden in the period 1813-2010. Using longitudinal micro-level data from the Scanian EconomicDemographic Database, we identify three-generation genealogies (grandfather, father, son) that we are able to observe in their prime working ages. We examine the multigenerational transmission of socio-economic status according to three different dimensions; social class, occupational status, and earnings, through estimated lifetime earnings, the HISCLASS scheme, and the HISCAM scale. We find clear associations between grandparental class and occupational status and grandchildren’s outcomes, when controlling for the associations between fathers and sons. These associations are remarkably stable over time, and do not appear to be contingent upon close interaction between grandfathers and grandchildren. For earnings, on the other hand, we find no association at all between grandfathers and grandsons, regardless if we are looking at grandparental influence on the paternal or maternal side, or both sides combined Paper for the ASSA meeting, Boston, January 3-5 2015 This work is part of the project “Towards the modern family. Socioeconomic stratification, family formation and fertility in a historical perspective”, funded by the Swedish Research Council. Previous versions of the paper have been presented at the Social Science History Association, The University of Copenhagen, Northwestern University, University of DuisburgEssen, Lund University, and at a conference on social mobility at the University of Toulouse. We are grateful to discussants and participants at these meetings and especially Joseph Ferrie and Anders Björklund for helpful comments and suggestions. Introduction Patterns and determinants of social mobility and attainment have been fundamental research topics in sociology, economics and economic history for a long time. A key interest has revolved around the extent to which social mobility regimes differ between countries at different levels of development or with a different institutional structures, and whether these patterns changed during and after industrialization (see, e.g., Bourdieu, Ferrie and Kesztenbaum 2009; Breen 2008; Erikson and Goldthorpe 1992; Ferrie 2005; Ganzeboom, Luijkx and Treiman 1989; Ganzeboom, Treiman and Ultee 1991; Grusky and Hauser 1984; Hout and DiPrete 2006; Lipset and Bendix 1959; Long and Ferrie 2007, 2013; Treiman 1970; Van Leeuwen and Maas 2010). In turn, these questions are also related to issues of social stratification more generally, and the extent to which these patterns are dependent on economic development (see, e.g., Treiman 1976). Most of these studies, as well as similar studies on income mobility, are based on a comparison of socioeconomic status attainment across two generations, typically from father to son (see, e.g., Black and Devereux 2011). More recently, it has become increasingly common to examine to what extent the transmission of status carries over from grandparents to grandchildren, which would imply that a three-generation (or even deeper) perspective is necessary (e.g, Warren and Hauser 1997; see also the discussion in Mare 2011 and Björklund and Jäntti 2012). Moreover a two-generation perspective would likely underestimate the strength of social reproduction, or social class persistence across generations (see Lindahl et al. 2012) Similar to two-generation studies of socioeconomic mobility, existing three-generation studies have failed to produce coherent results. While some studies point to an important grandparental influence, other studies find no effect of grandparents’ status on that of their grandchildren, once the characteristics of the parents are controlled for (see, e.g., the review in Warren and Hauser 1997). Some studies looking at income persistence across generations have found a significant influence from grandparents to grandchildren, net of parental impact, which suggests a direct influence (e.g., Lindahl et al. 2012). Despite the emergence of several stratification and mobility studies going beyond a two-generation approach, there is still need for more knowledge about long-term aspects of socioeconomic attainment and mobility (Mare 2011). The aim of this paper is to study different aspects of socioeconomic status attainment among men from a three-generation perspective. We look separately at social class, occupational attainment, and annual earnings. Besides assessing the grandparental impact along the male line