Social mobility and partnering: the salience of mobility homogamy
Esping-Andersen, Gosta
Boertien, Diederik (Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics)
Giorgi, Julien

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Does the experience of social mobility influence one's choice of a partner? If so, are the socially mobile more likely to partner with someone from their origin or destination class? Or, if torn between the familiarity of their origin milieu and their possibly less known destination, do they opt for 'mobility homogamy', i. e. choosing a partner who is likewise mobile? The impact of social mobility on partner choice has received scant scholarly attention and, yet, it is an issue that should enhance our understanding of partnering dynamics. Exploiting the German SOEP panel, we find that the socially mobile are more likely to match with someone from their destination- rather than origin class. This suggests that the influence of destination-class conditions outweighs that of one's social origin. Nonetheless, our principal finding is that once we include also the partner's mobility history, it turns out that the upwardly mobile partner disproportionally with someone who is similarly upwardly mobile. Our analyses provide scant support for the social exchange thesis, according to which a high-status social origin is traded for the socioeconomic promises linked to upward social mobility. Instead, the dynamics we uncover are likely to be primarily driven by social networks, individuals' resources, and a general preference for homogamy.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación CSO2017-85683-P Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2021-124267OB-I00 Ministerio de Educación RYC2019-026510-I European Commission ERC-2020-STG-948557-MINEQ
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Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Published in:	Social Science Research, November (2022) , ISSN 1096-0317

DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102812

Postprint 50 p, 1.3 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Centre for Demographic Studies (CED-CERCA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles