Abstract

Sociologists and economists have typically focused on different dimensions of socio-economic inequalities. Sociologists have been mainly concerned with occupational and educational indicators, whereas economists have focused on the earnings, income, and wealth distribution. The article integrates sociological and economics’ approaches to the study of socio-economic inequalities, by providing an analysis of the relationship between social class and work-related income, and its distribution, in Europe in the period between 2005 and 2014. Europe as a whole and its eight major countries are studied with the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-Silc) data. Changes in the income hierarchy among classes are discussed in the framework of the occupational upgrading and polarization hypotheses. The results of our analyses suggest that, first, the capacity of the concept of social class to describe and summarize the different distribution of individual market-related income is stable or increasing in Europe. Second, in the 10 years considered there has been a ‘fanning out’ of the class income hierarchy. With reference to upper social class, the increase in the income gap has been stronger for the self-employed and the routine workers. Finally, there is also evidence of a mix of occupational upgrading and polarization. The empirical results, in particular, are consistent with the predictions of the skill-biased technological change hypothesis.

中文翻译：

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2005-2014年欧洲的社会阶层，与工作相关的收入和社会经济两极分化

摘要

社会学家和经济学家通常关注社会经济不平等的不同方面。社会学家主要关注职业和教育指标，而经济学家则专注于收入，收入和财富分配。本文通过分析2005年至2014年期间欧洲的社会阶层和与工作相关的收入之间的关系及其分配，将社会学和经济学方法整合到了社会经济不平等研究中。欧盟及其收入和生活条件统计（EU-Silc）数据对整个及其八个主要国家进行了研究。在职业升级和两极分化假设的框架下，讨论了阶级之间收入等级的变化。我们的分析结果表明，首先，在欧洲，社会阶级概念描述和总结与市场有关的个人收入的不同分配的能力是稳定的或正在增加。其次，在所考虑的10年中，阶级收入等级出现了“扇形散开”。关于上层社会阶层，自营职业者和正规工人的收入差距增加更大。最后，还有证据表明职业升级和两极分化是混合的。经验结果尤其与技能偏向的技术变革假说的预测一致。在所考虑的10年中，阶级收入等级出现了“扇形散开”。关于上层社会阶层，自营职业者和正规工人的收入差距增加更大。最后，还有证据表明职业升级和两极分化混合存在。经验结果尤其与技能偏向的技术变革假说的预测一致。在所考虑的10年中，阶级收入等级出现了“扇形散开”。关于上层社会阶层，自营职业者和正规工人的收入差距增加更大。最后，还有证据表明职业升级和两极分化混合存在。经验结果尤其与技能偏向的技术变革假说的预测一致。