The intergenerational reproduction of self-direction at work: Revisiting Class and Conformity

In his path-breaking monograph, , Melvin Kohn reasoned that parents prepare their children for the same conditions of work that they themselves experience. Kohn and his colleagues' research focused on the influence of parental self-direction at work on parental child-rearing values and practice...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces Vol. 104; no. 1; p. 320
Main Authors: Burger, Kaspar, Mele, Francesca, Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick, Mortimer, Jeylan, Han, Xiaowen
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England 01.09.2025
Subjects:
inequality/social stratification
work/labor process
social psychology
life course
ISSN:0037-7732
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Summary:In his path-breaking monograph, , Melvin Kohn reasoned that parents prepare their children for the same conditions of work that they themselves experience. Kohn and his colleagues' research focused on the influence of parental self-direction at work on parental child-rearing values and practices, as well as the self-directed values of children. The intergenerational transmission of occupational self-direction from parents to the succeeding generation of adult children, strongly implied by Kohn's analysis, has not been empirically tested. Using two-generation longitudinal data from the Youth Development Study (  = 1139), we estimate a structural equation model to assess the intergenerational continuity of occupational self-direction. We find evidence supporting a key inference of Kohn's analysis: that self-direction at work, a primary feature of jobs of higher social class standing, is transmitted across generations via self-directed psychological orientations, operationalized here as intrinsic work values. Intrinsic values also significantly predicted second-generation educational attainment, contributing further to the reproduction of socioeconomic inequality. The findings enhance understanding of the intergenerational transmission of advantage.
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ISSN:0037-7732
DOI:10.1093/sf/soaf016