Year: 2026
Type: report
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This paper examines whether high levels of intergenerational class mobility in twentieth-century Sweden eliminated class-origin income inequalities within adult occupationaldestinations, and whether childhood neighborhood exposure moderated these inequalities.Using longitudinal population-register, income, occupation, and geocoded residential data, thestudy follows individuals born between 1922 and 1966 who were observed as children inLandskrona, Sweden, from 1939 to 1967 and followed nationally into adulthood until 2015.Class pay gaps are measured as differences in the probability of reaching the top income quartilewithin one’s adult destination class, birth year, and sex. The analysis shows that extensiveoccupational mobility did not translate into equal economic returns. Individuals from lessadvantaged class origins, especially upwardly mobile men, were less likely than those fromhigher white-collar origins to attain top-quartile income within the same adult class destination.The study also finds that childhood exposure to higher white-collar same-age peers waspositively associated with top-quartile income attainment among men, particularly among thosefrom skilled-worker and lower-skilled-worker backgrounds who later reached higher white-collar occupations. In contrast, exposure to unskilled-worker peers showed no consistentindependent association. These findings suggest that social mobility and equality of opportunityshould not be treated as equivalent. Even in a historically egalitarian welfare-state context,class-origin advantages persisted after occupational mobility occurred. The paper contributesto research on intergenerational mobility, class pay gaps, and neighborhood effects by showinghow childhood social environments may shape the conversion of occupational attainment intoadult economic advantage.
Authors: Brea-Martinez, Gabriel, Hedefalk, Finn
Institution: Lund University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7161220583