Intergenerational Social Mobility in Romania: Changes in the Patterns of Flows and Relationships in the Postcommunist Era

Abstract

This article examines flows (movements between origin and destination positions in the social structure) and relationships (dependencies of the destination positions on positions of origin) in terms of two conceptualizations of indi-viduals' locations in the social structure: social classe (SC) and socioeconomic index (SEI). Using Romanian data for1970 (full-fledged communism), 1988 (late communism), and 2000 (early capitalism) demonstrates that: (1) social mobility increased from 1970 to 2000, mainly in the form of circulation mobility--while structural mobility actually decreased; (2) dependencies between SC of origin and SC of destination appeared to be much stronger in 1970 than in 2000; (3) in terms of the difference between respondents' SEI and that of their fathers, there is very little change between 1988 and 2000; (4) for the same period, 1988-2000, the relationship between respondents' SEI and that of their fathers strengthened considerably, even when controlling for respondents' education. Thus, the results for 1970-2000, expressed in terms of flows and relationships for SC, indicate the increasing openness of Romanian society, while the results for 1988-2000, expressed in terms of flows and relationships for SEI, indicate the opposite--less openness in the postcommunist era. An attempt to solve the problem of these seemingly contradictory results confirms that social class and socioeconomic status pertain to two different dimensions of social inequality, demonstrating the usefulness of the complex approach that includes both these dimensions.