Navigating to the Top in an Egalitarian Welfare State: Institutional Opportunity Structures of Second-generation Social Mobility

Arnfinn H. Midtbøen,Marjan Nadim

doi:10.1177/01979183211014829

Abstract

A large body of work has demonstrated the substantial intergenerational mobility experienced by children of immigrants, yet the institutional determinants of incorporation are poorly understood. Building on insights from neo-classical assimilation theory, this article analyzes in-depth interviews with 62 high-achieving children of labor immigrants from Pakistan, Turkey, India, and Morocco and investigates how they maneuvered through Norway’s educational system and reached their current positions as medical doctors, lawyers, and business professionals. We show that these children of immigrants from low-income households capitalized on a series of institutional opportunity structures provided by Norway’s egalitarian welfare state, such as a school system with high standardization and low stratification, free higher education, and a cultural and institutional context that supports women’s employment. In line with neo-classical assimilation theory, we argue that the specific institutional structures and cultural beliefs in the Norwegian context shape the strategies and forms of adaptation chosen by ethnic minority groups. However, our analyses suggest the need for careful consideration of how such strategies and adaptations vary across national contexts.

Highlights

A large body of work has demonstrated the substantial intergenerational mobility experienced by children of immigrants, yet the institutional determinants of incorporation are poorly understood
This variation suggests that the lives and opportunities of children of immigrants are deeply influenced by national contexts of incorporation (Crul and Schneider 2010) and begs the question of what role institutional opportunity structures play in shaping mobility patterns among the second generation
Previous quantitative research has suggested that the Norwegian welfare state provides a distinctive opportunity context for upward social mobility for children of immigrants growing up in low-income households (Hermansen 2017), yet there is a lack of qualitative examinations of how this specific institutional context can create opportunity structures that enable second-generation individuals to ascend the ladders into high-status jobs

Summary

Introduction

A large body of work has demonstrated the substantial intergenerational mobility experienced by children of immigrants, yet the institutional determinants of incorporation are poorly understood. This article examines how high-aspiring children of low-income labor immigrants from countries such as Pakistan, Turkey, and Morocco navigated their way to elite occupational positions in Norway — an egalitarian welfare state characterized by redistributive and generous welfare policies, an egalitarian and open education system, and strong cultural and institutional support for mothers’ employment (Esping-Andersen 1999; Leira 2002; Brochmann and Hagelund 2012) How does this particular institutional context provide opportunity structures for social mobility among the second generation, and how do high-achieving second-generation professionals navigate these opportunity structures on their pathways to success? Building on this proposition and contrasting our findings with research on second-generation mobility in the United States and other European countries (e.g., Noam 2014; Alba and Foner 2015; Lee and Zhou 2015), this article explores how key features of the Norwegian welfare state provide institutional opportunity structures for second-generation social mobility

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Discussion

Conclusion