INDUSTRIAL SETTING OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND CLASS MOBILITY

Abstract

Employment in different industries and sectors of the economy influences the socio-economic status, occupational prestige, income and social mobility of individuals irrespective of characteristics such as class, education, gender, social background etc. In order to prove this claim, the paper places social mobility, class structure transformations and socio-economic achievement in their economic context characterised by the industrial and sectoral composition. The consequences of an individual's location in a so defined economic setting constitute the main topic of the analysis. The addition of a structural economic dimension increases our ability to explain these processes. Thus, the economic structure, defined in terms of industries and sectors, has to be interpreted as an additional dimension of social structure.