Pathways to Social Marginalization in a Scandinavian Welfare State

This paper analyses different pathways to social marginalization in a Scandinavian welfare state. Conceptually, the paper builds on a multi-faceted life course approach which recognizes that, first, marginalization involves economic, social, and cultural deprivation and, second, routes to marginalization are complex. Empirically, the project draws on longitudinal data from Danish administrative registers which covers the population of cohorts born between 1983 and 1988 over an extended period of time from 1999 to 2013. We follow each cohort in a 9 year period from the age of 16 to 25 years-old. This period is crucial phase in the individuals’ life course as they make their transition from adolescence into adulthood. We tie data from many different registers, thereby providing longitudinal data with comprehensive indicators on different dimensions of social marginalization.  We link data on psychiatric disorders, drug and alcohol use, homelessness, crime, and demographic and socioeconomic information. Methodologically, we apply latent transition analysis (LTA) to categorise the individuals into different typologies of life trajectories. LTA is a type of longitudinal analysis that explores change in latent classes of individuals over time. Results reveal six distinctive types of pathways to social marginalization. Adjusting for a wide range of socioeconomic factors and individual vulnerabilities family background is still a significant predictor for social marginalization.