Linear trends in the intergenerational transmission of social position in Italy during the 20th century

The paper focuses on the Italian trends in the intergenerational transmission of the social position considering the cohorts born from 1879 until 1990. Social reproduction mechanisms are framed within the theoretical OED relations. Notwithstanding the existing literature on the Italian intergenerational social mobility, clear long-term trends still need to be founds, this is the purpose of this paper. Moreover, few attempts have been made to examine the Italian social reproduction processes through the lenses of both a large number of observation and a broad period of time. Furthermore, the paper investigates whether the patterns were the same within Italian geographical differences, namely north and south. This is a theoretically relevant issue due to the socio-economical differences such as the unemployment rate, the development and the size of the economical sectors, etc. Results are obtained by analysing the harmonized collection of data sets developed in the methodological frame of the ISMF project (Ganzeboom, Treiman, Stephenson) update to 2015. Social positions are measured both as socio-economic index (ISEI) and as relational measure of social status (ICAMS) while education is measured both as year of education and International Standard Level of Education (ISLED).