The Role of Intergenerational Social Mobility in Subjective Social Status: Comparing Immigrant and Native Families

Louise Caron, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Mathieu Ichou , Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Understanding how individuals assess their own position in society is crucial to the study of social stratification. Yet, while the consequences of subjective social status have been extensively researched, its determinants are little known – in particular for immigrant populations. This article analyzes the role of intergenerational social mobility in subjective social status. Using diagonal reference models on the recent French Trajectories and Origins 2 survey (2019-2020), we assess the effects of educational and occupational mobility on subjective social status, and whether they differ between natives’ and immigrants’ children. Overall, downward mobility proves to have a stronger effect than upward mobility on subjective social status. This effect varies strongly by gender and ethnicity. Downward social mobility exerts a significant negative effect on the subjective social status of sons of natives, but not sons of immigrants. By contrast, downward mobility negatively affects the subjective positioning of immigrants’ daughters, especially from North Africa and Middle East, but not that of natives’ daughters. We discuss the role of parental expectations and racial discrimination as potential mechanisms underpinning these empirical patterns. By shedding new light on the distinct role of intergenerational mobility for immigrant and native families, this article contributes to a growing literature on the links between social stratification and international migration.

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 Presented in Session 63. Family and Social Ties of Migrants