Abstract Previous studies suggest that in more unequal societies, people perceive stronger antagonistic relations between opposing socioeconomic groups. Given that income inequality and social polarization have both been on the rise in most Western democracies, we expand on this body of work by investigating whether changes in macroeconomic fundamentals have triggered changes in perceived socioeconomic conflict. To assess this proposition, we fit hybrid multilevel models using time-series cross-sectional data from 26 countries spanning over three decades (1987–2019). Our evidence shows that rising economic prosperity does not reduce the level of perceived conflict once income inequality is accounted for. In contrast, growing inequality is robustly associated with increased salience of perceived socioeconomic conflict. Findings indicate a sociotropic within effect of income inequality, net of changes in economic prosperity and accounting for contextual confounders and individual-level compositional effects. Our results further suggest that income inequality exacerbates class-based polarization in conflict perceptions: it increases perceived conflict across all groups—except the upper-middle class. Alternative model specifications and extensive robustness checks lend additional support to our argument that the distribution of economic resources has a direct impact on the salience of socioeconomic conflict perceptions.

Abstract After giving birth, higher-educated mothers return to work faster and stay with their pre-birth employer more often than mothers with less education. To facilitate more equitable return patterns, public policy and organizational scholars point to state-subsidized and employer-sponsored childcare as potential solutions. We ask how these two childcare approaches affect mothers’ education-specific return timing and destination (pre-birth employer or new employer). Our paper combines representative German linked employer-employee data (LIAB) with county-level childcare information from 2007 to 2019 to address this question. We demonstrate that better state-subsidized childcare reduces education-specific differences in how quickly mothers return to their pre-birth employer. However, equalizing effects decline at the very bottom of the educational spectrum. The equalizing effect also partially extends to employer-sponsored childcare assistance, especially when state-subsidized care is scarce. Nevertheless, employer assistance cannot fully compensate for a lack of state-subsidized infrastructure or prevent mothers’ turnover to a new company. Thus, state-subsidized childcare plays a central role in understanding mothers’ returns to work. We discuss policy implications and how our findings extend beyond the German context.

Abstract This paper addresses a key yet untested proposition in social cohesion research: ethnic diversity fragments social networks and leads to an overall reduction in network connectivity—that is, a decline in structural cohesion. Homophily might lower structural cohesion especially in contexts where just a few ethnic groups of similar size are present (i.e., at medium diversity levels) and where ethnic boundaries coincide with other demographic differences such as along gender and socioeconomic status, a pattern known as attribute consolidation. However, structural cohesion might be higher again in very diverse contexts, where other network mechanisms, including sociability, may override ethnic homophily. We analyse the structure of friendship networks as they emerge in N = 1,318 German school classrooms to test these claims. Results show that structural cohesion is lowest in classrooms with medium ethnic diversity. Networks there are more fragmented than in both homogeneous and highly diverse classrooms, where they are better connected. However, the correlations are very small, suggesting that network fragmentation in diverse schools is not substantial. Further, attribute consolidation is unrelated to structural cohesion. These findings suggest that even though ethnic homophily shapes adolescents’ friendship formation , it seems to have only a minor influence on the structural cohesion of the emerging friendship networks.

Abstract Research in social stratification has long posited that the direct effects of social origin on destination are diminished for individuals with higher education, positioning educational expansion as a potential equalizing force. However, recent studies have raised doubts about this claim, suggesting that the equalization hypothesis remains unresolved. In this study, we contribute to the ongoing debate by analyzing data from three birth cohorts in Brazil, spanning a period of rapid educational expansion. We investigate class mobility, status attainment, and the likelihood of entering non-manual occupations. Our findings indicate that achieving higher educational levels weakens the association between social origin and destination for both sexes in the older cohort. Conversely, in younger cohorts born after the educational expansion, mobility prospects for the highly educated are not significantly better than for those with lower levels of education. In other words, educational expansion in Brazil has not succeeded in weakening the direct link between origins and destinations for highly educated individuals. We argue that these results reflect the positionality of education, whereby the impact of a given credential diminishes as the educational system expands, thereby weakening the ‘composition effect.’

Abstract This study examines the impact of family income across various developmental stages of early and later childhood on educational achievement in fifth-grade among Israeli students born between 2000 and 2005. Utilizing administrative data, we analyze the effects of family income during distinct childhood segments, with a particular focus on the critical first 1,000 days of life. Our findings reveal that family income during this early period—from the beginning of pregnancy up to the child's second birthday—has a pronounced and lasting effect on educational outcomes, significantly surpassing the effects of family income in subsequent age segments. Notably, these early effects remain large and significant despite later changes in family income. This research highlights the importance of considering specific age segments within early childhood to achieve a comprehensive understanding of educational stratification dynamics. By delineating the critical role of early-life socioeconomic conditions, this research contributes valuable insights into the factors shaping long-term educational achievement.

Abstract Public investment in education is popular in advanced countries. This paper examines whether such public support prevails when individuals are asked to pay additional income taxes. Focusing on Spain, it draws on one original survey (with parents and young people aged 16–24) featuring a trade-off experiment to gauge individuals’ willingness to accept additional income taxes in exchange for increased education spending. Investigating the moderators of this trade-off, we explore how sociodemographic variables and personal evaluations of education influence attitudes. We find strong support for increased spending, yet this support is notably cost-sensitive in the presence of a fiscal trade-off. Our analysis shows that support diminishes when it affects individuals’ pockets across diverse groups and ideologies. We test whether evaluations of one's own/children’s schooling (egocentric) and assessment of the education system (sociotropic) curb cost sensitivity and find that the positive egocentric evaluations are the only parameter that robustly curbs cost sensitivity.

Abstract Interactional incidents are a common object of survey studies on perceived discrimination and of field experiments on discrimination in social interaction. However, this commonality in object has been obscured by a fundamental difference in operationalization: survey studies measure the discriminatee’s experience, whereas field experiments measure the discriminator’s behaviour. To renew the conceptualization of discrimination as a mechanism of health disparities, the article advances an original analysis of discrimination as a stressor that emphasizes its environmental origin. The heart of the analysis is the concept of stressful discrimination, defined as a group-based difference in treatment that generally causes stress to the target. Stressful discrimination is a mechanism of stress causation that includes but is more encompassing than perceived discrimination (the focus of most research in the area). Relying on a double-randomization design, two interlocking field experiments illustrate this mechanism. Together, the experiments show that women who wear the Islamic headscarf in France are the target of stressful discrimination.

Abstract Studies in the United States have repeatedly found that gay men and older cohorts of lesbian women have higher educational attainment than their heterosexual peers, whereas bisexual individuals and younger cohorts of lesbian women often face educational disadvantages. It remains unclear whether these findings apply to other national contexts and through which mechanisms differences in educational outcomes by sexual identity arise. Using UK longitudinal data from the ‘Millennium Cohort Study’, this study explores, for the first time in a European setting, the link between sexual identity, gender, and educational outcomes during adolescence. By comparing the achievements, subject choices, and educational expectations in a sample of heterosexual and Lesbian Gay and Bisexual students aged 16–18, we find evidence that gay boys outperform heterosexual boys in terms of grades and expectations. Unexpectedly, similar outcomes are also found for bisexual boys. In contrast, as lesbian girls have comparable grades and expectations to heterosexual girls, our findings do not support the idea of a ‘lesbian penalty’ in educational outcomes during high school in the United Kingdom. Overall, no single theory fully explains educational differences by sexual identities, emphasizing the necessity to account for the interplay between sexual identity and gender in evaluating students’ outcomes.

Abstract Telecommuting is often portrayed as a work-life balance measure. Though, in theory, telecommuting can provide workers with more time for leisure and family, due to the boundary blurring between work and life spheres, it can exacerbate gender inequalities by pushing women to carry out more domestic work while increasing men’s time in paid work. Empirically, the evidence is mixed. We extend the debate by exploring how individuals’ gender role attitudes (GRA) moderate the relationship between telecommuting and the division of domestic work. We apply hybrid models to the German Family Panel data. The data covers the timespan from 2008 to 2021, which includes the unique COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that GRA matter. When getting access to telecommuting, egalitarian men increased their contribution to childcare, while traditional men did not. Similarly, telecommuting traditional women increased their childcare contribution. The pattern remained the same during the expansion of telecommuting due to the COVID-19 pandemic: only telecommuting traditional women and telecommuting egalitarian men increased their childcare contribution. The results of this study suggest that telecommuting has the potential to serve as a ‘great equaliser’. However, achieving this requires actively promoting more egalitarian views on gender roles.

Abstract This study examines how childhood emotions, traits, and behaviours influence concerns about gender inequality and racism in young adulthood. Drawing on the social psychology and social science literature, it examines whether childhood behavioural traits measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) influence concerns about discrimination. Using the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal dataset, the study shows that, among native males, internalizing behaviours in childhood (such as loneliness and frequent worry) correlate positively with later concerns about discrimination, while externalizing behaviours (such as strong temperament and impulsivity) show a negative correlation. Finally, native males with stronger prosocial traits are more concerned about racism. However, for females and foreigners—social groups that are typically discriminated against—these associations are not statistically significant. The results suggest that childhood behavioural traits shape political attitudes before political preferences crystallize and underscore the importance of understanding the developmental origins of discrimination concerns.