The processes of social mobility in comparative perspective between Chile and Spain

The objective of the seminar is to present the analysis of social inequality from the perspective of social mobility, comparing Spain and Chile, countries that share a late industrialization process, even though they represent different contexts in terms of level of development and social model.
In this sense, following the research tradition on social stratification and mobility of the ISA Research Committee 28, a quantitative design is proposed using secondary information sources, with national bases for Chile and Spain. An analysis by cohorts and by sex is carried out. Social class is considered as the analytical axis from the perspective of EGP (Erikson, Golthorpe and Portocarrero, 1979, 1993) and the adjustments proposed by Ganzeboom and Treiman (1996) that support international comparison, using a categorization of 6 classes. Absolute mobility is analyzed by observing the social structure in both countries, as well as relative mobility to study equality of opportunity using log-linear models. As a result, differences by gender and cohort are observed. However, even though the weight of social origin has diminished, it continues to be present in intergenerational class movements. In particular, in the Chilean case, this association is much stronger for both sexes; in the Spanish case, men tend to have a stronger social origin-destination association, but women considerably diminish this association. In both countries, the effect of educational expansion is key to social mobility.