Wealth and income stratification by social class in five European countries

Gil-Hernández, Carlos J., Salas-Rojo, Pedro ORCID: 0000-0002-8763-8909, Vidal, Guillem and Villani, Davide (2025) Wealth and income stratification by social class in five European countries. Social Indicators Research. ISSN 0303-8300

Text (s11205-025-03532-x) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB)

• Scopus publication

Abstract

Wealth is a central determinant of life chances and intergenerational status persistence in modern societies. Despite increasing attention, sociologists traditionally overlooked its role in class-based economic disparities, while most economists focused on the elites’ accumulation. This article combines sociological and economic perspectives to test whether big occupational classes, the most standardised and operationalisable approach, depict the wealth distribution. Drawing from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (2002–2018) in five European countries, we explore (1) how wealth is distributed and stratified by big occupational classes over time and cross-nationally and (2) to what extent classes account for aggregate wealth inequality trends compared with income. Unlike bold claims on class 'death' or 'decomposition', inequality of outcomes in wealth accumulation is firmly rooted across big occupational classes in contemporary capitalism, potentially harming social mobility in future generations. Still, occupational classes better capture between-group income inequality and stratification than wealth, emphasising the importance of economic resources beyond labour market attachment. Against the backdrop of previous research and our findings, we discuss the role of wealth in contemporary class analysis.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	International Inequalities Institute
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences
Date Deposited:	03 Mar 2025 19:03
Last Modified:	10 Mar 2025 19:25
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/127479

Actions (login required)

View Item