The Social Stratification of Choice in the Transition to Adulthood

F.C. Billari; N. Hiekel; A.C. Liefbroer

doi:10.1093/esr/jcz025

The Social Stratification of Choice in the Transition to Adulthood

F.C. Billari, N. Hiekel, A.C. Liefbroer

Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The occurrence and timing of major demographic decisions in the transition to adulthood is strongly stratified, with young adults with a high socio-economic status (SES) background usually experiencing many of these events later than young adults with a low SES background. To explain this social stratification, we outline a theoretical framework in which social stratification affects choice in the transition to adulthood through three, potentially reinforcing, pathways: stratified socialization, stratified agency, and stratified opportunity. We test our framework against longitudinal data from two waves of the Generations and Gender Surveys for Austria, Bulgaria, and France. We find evidence for the importance of all three pathways. Furthermore, processes differ little by gender, age and country context.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	599–615
Journal	European Sociological Review
Volume	35
Issue number	5
Early online date	01 Jun 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz025
Publication status	Published - Oct 2019

Keywords

social stratification
adulthood

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10.1093/esr/jcz025Licence: CC BY

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The Social Stratification of Choice in the Transition to Adulthood

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Keywords

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