OCCUPATIONAL HOMOGAMY WITHIN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: A LOG‐LINEAR ANALYSIS

Abstract

Social mobility has long been viewed as an integrative mechanism for societies. For example, whereas earlier American researchers saw opportunities for social mobility as a vital factor in promoting political stability and the maximisation of equality of opportunity, more recent British sociologists have noted the role of social mobility in legitimising inequalities and impeding class formation and class action. Despite this stress on the importance of social mobility for societal stability, however, there has been little sustained empirical study of the influence of marital homogany either in terms of societal integration or the reproduction of class relations. Yet, as Jones (1987) notes, this neglect of the issue is somewhat puzzling. Not only have earlier studies of class phenomena such as Sorokin (1927) and Schumpeter (1951) paid considerable attention to marriage and the family in relation to social stability, class formation and class cohesion, but, marital patterns, in terms of the economic and social resources of parents, are consistently emphasised as one vital factor in accounting for the subsequent occupational achievements of children (Hayes and Miller, 1991; Miller and Hayes, 1990; Abbott and Sapsford, 1987; Boyd, 1985; Dale et.al., 1985; Cooney et.al., 1982; Marini, 1980) and the political attitudes of households in general (Leiulfsrud and Woodward, 1988, 1987; Abbott, 1987; Britten, 1984).

Citation

Hayes, B.C. (1993), "OCCUPATIONAL HOMOGAMY WITHIN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: A LOG‐LINEAR ANALYSIS", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 13 No. 1/2, pp. 99-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013169