Cumulative (Dis)Advantage and the Matthew Effect in Life-Course Analysis.

Miia Bask,Mikael Bask,Daniele Marinazzo

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142447

Miia Bask, Mikael Bask + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142447

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Abstract

To foster a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind inequality in society, it is crucial to work with well-defined concepts associated with such mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to define cumulative (dis)advantage and the Matthew effect. We argue that cumulative (dis)advantage is an intra-individual micro-level phenomenon, that the Matthew effect is an inter-individual macro-level phenomenon and that an appropriate measure of the Matthew effect focuses on the mechanism or dynamic process that generates inequality. The Matthew mechanism is, therefore, a better name for the phenomenon, where we provide a novel measure of the mechanism, including a proof-of-principle analysis using disposable personal income data. Finally, because socio-economic theory should be able to explain cumulative (dis)advantage and the Matthew mechanism when they are detected in data, we discuss the types of models that may explain the phenomena. We argue that interactions-based models in the literature traditions of analytical sociology and statistical mechanics serve this purpose.

Highlights

The overall objective of this paper is to promote a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind inequality in society by discussing two concepts associated with such mechanisms: cumulative advantage or disadvantage and the Matthew effect
We argue that cumulative advantage is an intra-individual micro-level phenomenon, that the Matthew effect is an interindividual macro-level phenomenon and that this difference in phenomena has consequences for the modeling of socio-economic processes that may explain cumulativeadvantage and the Matthew effect when they are detected in data
We provide a novel measure of the Matthew effect that focuses on a property of the dynamic process that generates inequality, including a proof-of-principle analysis using disposable personal income data that shows how this measure can be estimated from data

Summary

Introduction

The overall objective of this paper is to promote a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind inequality in society by discussing two concepts associated with such mechanisms: cumulative advantage or disadvantage and the Matthew effect. This difference in phenomena has consequences for the modeling of socio-economic processes that may explain cumulative (dis) advantage and the Matthew mechanism (cf [6] and Coleman’s boat in [7]).

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