Researchers found that young people with unionised fathers are twice as likely to be unionised themselves as those with non-union fathers. This intergenerational correlation of union status has not reduced over time.
Source: Jo Blanden and Stephen Machin, Cross-Generation Correlations of Union Status for Young People in Britain, DP553, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics (020 7955 7673)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Abstract
Date: 2002-Dec
Research found that family background has had a bigger impact on the lives of the generation of Britons born in the late 1950s and 1960s than it did on previous generations.
Source: Jonathan Gershuny, Beating the Odds (1): Intergenerational social mobility from a human capital perspective, Working Paper 2002-17, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087) | Jonathan Gershuny, Beating the Odds (2): A new index of intergenerational social mobility, Working Paper 2002-18, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working Paper 17 (pdf) | Abstract 17 | Working Paper 18 (pdf) | Abstract 18
Date: 2002-Nov
A paper examined the relative importance of the two components of social class, wealth and human capital, through the life course.
Source: Jonathan Gershuny, Wealth: Its use, level, inheritance and change-in relation to human capital, Working Paper 2002-16, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working Paper (pdf) | Abstract
Date: 2002-Nov
Birth weight and social class at birth have a strong influence on cognitive (mental) function in children, said researchers.
Source: Barbara Jefferis, Chris Power and Clyde Hertzman, 'Birth weight, childhood socioeconomic environment, and cognitive development in the 1958 British birth cohort study', British Medical Journal 10.8.02
Links: Article
Date: 2002-Aug
An article examined trends in life expectancy by social class, based on the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study from 1972 to 1999.
Source: Angela Donkin, Peter Goldblatt and Kevin Lynch, 'Inequalities in life expectancy by social class, 1972 1999', Health Statistics Quarterly 15, Autumn 2002, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article (pdf)
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 31/3, Digest 123, paragraph 12.4
Date: 2002-Aug
A study found that family background significantly influences economic well-being and social mobility later in life.
Source: J. Ermisch and M. Francesconi, Intergenerational Social Mobility and Assortative Mating in Britain, Working Paper 2002-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2002-May