José Manuel de Oliveira Mendes

February, 2006

In this paper I compare the intergenerational mobility patterns and the relative closure of the social structures of four countries, Portugal, Czech Republic, Sweden and Canada, applying Erik Olin Wright's neo-marxist class scheme and theoretical model.
The analysis shows the impossibility of constructing a general model of intergenerational mobility based on the political system or on the socio-economic development level of the countries. There is no convergence between countries associated with a hypothetical homology of positions in the world capitalist system.
Of the three dimensions used to evaluate the degree of democratisation of social opportunities in these countries, skill or cultural capital is the greatest obstacle to the mobility of individuals. I also found that gender is very important in the structuring of inequalities and in the dynamics of social exploitation. And I conclude that the explanation of the differences in the generational class trajectories of women becomes the most important challenge, theoretically and methodologically, for the sociology of social classes and social mobility.

class structures, social mobility, inequalities, gender, comparative analyses, cultural capital