This new IZA paper (Matthias Doepke, Fabrizio Zilibotti) offers a fresh perspective on the role of occupational choice in socio-economic classification. (Ken, I think you might be interested).
With a historical backdrop running along the lines that "the British Industrial Revolution triggered a reversal in the social order whereby the landed elite was replaced by industrial capitalists rising from the middle classes as the economically dominant group", the authors note the suggestion of values such as thriftiness and a strong work ethic among the middle class, while the upper class develop a disdain for work. (Veblen's 'Theory of the Leisure Class' springs to mind).
Again, Ken may have some comments to make here, I was thinking of something along the lines of how do we differentiate between values, attitudes and beliefs? I could put a lot of value on the principle of working hard, I could have a positive attitude towards hard work or I could believe that working hard is important. Do all of these things amount to the same result? Is delving deeper into possible differences just nitpicking over semantics?
The authors of the paper propose an economic theory of preference formation in which both "the divergence of attitudes across social classes and the ensuing reversal of economic fortunes are equilibrium outcomes. In our theory, parents shape their children’s preferences in response to economic incentives. If financial markets are imperfect, this results in the stratification of society along occupational lines. Middle-class families in occupations that require effort, skill, and experience develop patience and work ethic, whereas upper-class families relying on rental income cultivate a refined taste for leisure".
I am quite interested in how preferences for occupational choice emerge; indeed it is something I have been talking about a fair bit. So I would be keen to invite these authors over to get a historical perspective on the issue. There are also strong implications for how occupational choice may reveal am individual's preferred trade-off between labour and leisure, which is something that I hadn't considered before. The decision-making process about choosing an occupation is probably more complex, involving multiple trade-offs between (a) desired financial returns
(b) desired staisfaction on the job and (c) desired leisure time.
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