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The Influences of within-Family Inequalities on Intergenerational Transmission and Social Stratification
Language: English
There is much research on the effects of between-family inequalities in resources and behaviors on intergenerational social reproduction. Yet, studies show that children from the same family can also differ a lot, contributing significantly to the overall societal stratification system. This is not only due to changes in the family structure that age-different siblings experience, but also holds true for twins. The planned session focusses on research facilitating our understanding of within-family inequalities, and how they translate into differences in the intergenerational transmission of (dis-)advantages and contribute to patterns of social mobility.
Possible topics include - but are not limited to - studies of within-family differences in inequality-related outcomes like status, earnings, educational achievements, and skill development. Studies of mechanism producing such within-family differences may comprise the classical family resources, family structure and family development. But the contributions may also focus on factors like stress or differences in parental behavior induced by differential developmental potential of children, as well as differences in parental expectations related to birth order or gender of children. Additionally, contexts outside the family like school- or neighborhood-environments and related opportunity structures and networks are of relevance. We are open for contributions addressing mechanisms related to genetic and other biological factors (i.e., research based on twin designs and studies using molecular genetic or epigenetic information) and their interplay with social forces.