Forschung SOEP: Ungleichheit und Mobilität

Der amerikanische Traum verblasst

Justice, Inequality, and the Joy of Discovery: The Contributions of Guillermina Jasso to Social Justice Research

This essay—based on an interview with Guillermina Jasso, Silver Professor of Arts and Science and Professor of Sociology at New York University and recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Society for Justice Research—offers an in-depth reflection on her influential career in the social sciences. Spanning five decades of scholarship, Jasso’s work has shaped central debates ...

Inequality of Opportunity in Wealth: Levels, Trends and Drivers in Germany

This paper studies inequality of opportunity (IOp) in individual net wealth in Germany from 2002 to 2019 using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Applying the ex-ante IOp framework, we quantify the share of wealth inequality attributable to immutable circumstances and benchmark it against IOp in gross labour earnings. Relative IOp in net wealth is high—slightly above one half of total wealth inequality—and ...

Social Origin, the Class Ceiling in Earnings, and Job Task Segregation: Evidence from Germany

Social class origin is closely linked to individuals' labor market outcomes. This study examines the class ceiling—the earnings disadvantage that those from lower-class origins experience within higher-class occupations. We propose that job task segregation, i.e., the non-random selection into different task profiles within granular occupations, contributes to the class ceiling. We study these dynamics ...

Mehr Fordern fördern? Einschätzungen von Jobcenter-Beschäftigten zu Kernelementen des Bürgergeldes

Während die öffentliche Diskussion über das Bürgergeld seit der Einführung kontrovers verlaufen ist, wurde die Perspektive der Jobcenter-Beschäftigten bislang vernachlässigt – obwohl sie als „street-level bureaucrats“ zentral für die Umsetzung der Reform sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund beleuchtet der Beitrag auf Basis von Daten einer bundesweiten standardisierten Online-Erhebung unter Jobcenter-Beschäftigten, ...

The Intergenerational Association between Migration and Early Childhood Development in Germany: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study of Forced and Voluntary Migrant Families (2004–2021)

Background: Family migration shapes early childhood development (ECD), but the link between parental voluntary versus forced migration experiences and ECD remains underexplored. Germany, with its diverse migration streams, offers an opportunity to investigate this interrelation. Objective: This study examines the link between parental migration status and ECD of children aged 2–4 and investigates ...

Das Bedingungslose Grundeinkommen sowie verschlungene Pfade einer schleichenden sozialstaatlichen Transformation in Deutschland

Der Beitrag präsentiert eine Differenzierung von drei alten (wiederkehrenden) und einem neuen Narrativ eines BGEs. Das erste Narrativ ist in erster Linie von ökonomischer Natur, beruht auf dem technologischen Wandel der Arbeitswelt und könnte als die älteste Erzählung zur Überwindung der Angst vor Arbeitslosigkeit angesehen werden. Das zweite Narrativ konzentriert sich auf die langfristige Entwicklung ...

Intragenerational Mobility in Wealth in Germany, Norway, and Britain: Descriptive Evidence

We study intragenerational wealth rank mobility, investigating three dimensions: (i) wealth mobility over the life cycle, (ii) heterogeneity in mobility among subgroups and wealth components, and (iii) commonalities and differences across divergent country contexts. We use data from Germany (SOEP, N= 12,380 individuals), Norway (administrative register data, N=3,460,602), and Britain (BHPS, N=7,910; ...

The Mediating Role of School Absenteeism in the Socioeconomic Achievement Gap

Socioeconomic disparities in children's academic achievement are well established, but the underlying mechanisms are less well understood. We test the hypothesis that socioeconomic disparities in children’s achievement in early primary school are partially mediated via school absences. We used linked data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS, birth cohort 2000/01) and the National Pupil Database (NPD) ...

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