Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Not for People Like Us? A Six-Year Panel Study of the Mutual Relationship Between Feelings of Relative Deprivation and Occupational Status Among Young Adults in Flanders

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper we analysed the mutual relationship between occupational status and feelings of relative deprivation, at the start of young adults’ labour market careers. For our analysis we used panel data from young adults for the birth cohort of 1976 who were surveyed three times between the ages of 23 and 29, between 1999 and 2005. These panel data not only provided information about the associations between the occupational status and feelings of relative deprivation, but also allowed us to gain better insight into the causal ordering of the relationship between both. We find effects in both directions, from occupational status to feelings of relative deprivation, and the reverse, although these differ both in strength and timing. The effect of feelings of relative deprivation for the occupational status is significant but rather weak, and only tangible between the age of 23 and 26. The effect of the occupational status on relative deprivation on the other hand is substantially stronger, but manifests itself only between the age of 26 and 29.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrams, D., & Hogg, M. A. (2004). Metatheory: Lessons from social identity research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(2), 98–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agnew, R. (2012). Reflection on "a revised strain theory of delinquency". Social Forces, 91(1), 33–38.

  • Bakker, B., Sieben, I., Nieuwbeerta, P., & Ganzeboom, H. (1997). Maten voor prestige, sociaal-economische status en sociale klasse voor de standaard beroepenclassficiatie 1992. Sociale Wetenschappen, 40(1), 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartley, M. (1999). Unemployment and ill health: Understanding the relationship. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 48(4), 333–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehm, J. K., & Lyobomirsky, S. (2008). Does happiness promote career success? Journal of Career Assessment, 16(1), 101–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonilla-Silva, E. L. A., & Embrick, D. G. (2004). “I did not get that job because a black man…”: The story lines and testimonies of color-blind racism. Sociological Forum, 19(4), 555–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burchell, B. (1993). The effects of labour market position, job insecurity, and unemployment on psychological health. In D. Gallie, C. Marsh, & C. Vogler (Eds.), Social change and the experience of unemployment (pp. 188–212). Oxford: University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burchell, B. (1994). Who is affected by unemployment? Job insecurity and labour market influences on psychological health. In D. Gallie, C. Marsh, & C. Vogler (Eds.), Unemployment and social change. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlesworth, S. J. (1999). A phenomenology of working class experience. Cambridge: University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Ro, J. (2008). Education in Flanders. The Flemish educational landscape in a nutshell. Brussel: Department of Education and Training.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Witte, H. (1993). Gevolgen van langdurige werkloosheid voor het psychisch welzijn: overzicht van de onderzoeksliteratuur. Psychologica Belgica, 33(1), 1–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Witte, H. (1999). Job insecurity and psychological well-being: Review of the literature and exploration of some unresolved issues. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8(2), 155–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Witte, H. (2003). Over de gevolgen van werkloosheid en jobonzekerheid voor het welzijn. Empirische toets op basis van de Europese Waardenstudie. Tijdschrift voor Klinische Psychologie, 33(1), 7–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Witte, H., & Vets, C. (2009). Antecedenten en gevolgen van baanonzekerheid in Vlaanderen tussen 1996 en 2007. Analyse van risicogroepen in functie van de economische conjunctuur. In J. Pickery (Ed.), Vlaanderen Gepeild 2009 (pp. 64–87). Brussel: Studiedienst van de Vlaamse Regering.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demanet, J., & Van Houtte, M. (2011). Social-ethnic school composition and school misconduct: does sense of futility clarify the picture. Sociological Spectrum, 31(2), 224–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Derks, A. (2006). Populism and the ambivalence of egalitarianism. How do the underprivileged reconcile a right wing party preference with their socio-economic attitudes? World Political Science Review, 2(3), 175–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drobnic, S., Beham, B., & Präg, P. (2010). Good job, good life? Working conditions and quality of life in Europe. Social Indicators Research, 99(2), 205–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elchardus, M. (2011). Classical republicanism and the contemporary voter: An empirical cultural sociology of the relationship between the private realm and the public sphere. Poetics, 39(5), 407–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elchardus, M., Glorieux, I., Derks, A., & Pelleriaux, K. (1996). Voorspelbaar ongeluk. Over letsels die werkloosheid nalaat bij mannen en hun kinderen. Brussel: VUBpress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elchardus, M., & Spruyt, B. (2012). The contemporary contradictions of egalitarianism: an empirical analysis of the relationship between the old and new left/right alignmnents. European Political Science Review, 4(2), 217–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faragher, E. B., Cass, M., & Cooper, C. L. (2005). The relationship between job characteristics and health: a meta-analysis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(2), 105–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feather, N., & O’Brien, G. (1986). A longitudinal analysis of the effects of different patterns of employment and unemployment on school leavers. British Journal of Pyschology, 77(4), 459–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkel, S. (1995). Causal analysis with panel data. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J. (2006). Structural equation modeling with the SEM package. Structural Equation Modeling, 13(3), 465–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funk, C. L. (2000). The dual influence of self-interest and societal interest in public opinion. Political Research Quarterly, 53(1), 37–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D., Marsh, C., & Vogler, C. (1993). Social change and the experience of unemployment. Oxford: University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganzeboom, H. B. G., De Graaf, P. M., & Treiman, D. J. (1992). A standard international socio-economic index of occupational status. Social Science Research, 21(1), 1–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glavin, P. (2013). The impact of job insecurity and job degradation on the sense of personal control. Work and Occupations, 40(2), 115–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glorieux, I. (1995). Arbeid als zingever. Een onderzoek naar de betekenis van arbeid in het leven van mannen en vrouwen. Brussel: VUBpress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graetz, B. (1993). Health consequences of employment and unemployment: Longitudinal evidence for young men and women. Social Science and Medicine, 36(6), 715–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, P. R., & Brown, R. (1995). From ethnocentrism to collective protest: Responses to relative deprivation and threats to social identity. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58(3), 195–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, M. A. (2000). Subjective uncertainty reduction through self-categorization. A motivational theory of social identity processes. European Review of Social Psychology, 11(1), 223–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, M. A., Hohmann, Z. P., & Rivera, J. E. (2008). Why do people join groups? Three Motivational accounts from social psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3), 1269–1280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, M. A., Meehan, C., & Farquharson, J. (2010). The solace of radicalism: self-uncertainty and group identification in the face of threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 1061–1066.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houtman, D. (2003). Class and politics in contemporary social science: “Marxism-lite” and its blind spot for culture. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, L. A., Sullivan, L. A., Harnish, R., & Hodge, C. N. (1996). Achieving positive social identity: social mobility, social creativity, and permeability of group boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(2), 241–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jahoda, M. (1982). Employment and unemployment. A social-psychological analysis. Cambridge: University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janlert, U., & Hammarström, A. (2009). Which theory is Best? Explanatory models of the relationship between unemployment and health. BMC Public Health, 9, 235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Thoresen, C. J., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job statisfaction-job performance relationship: a qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., & Watanabe, S. (1993). Another look at the job satisfaction—life satisfaction relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(6), 939–948.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karsten, I. P., & Batanic, B. (2010). The need for work: Jahoda’s latent functions of employment in a representative sample of the German population. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(1), 45–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karsten, I. P., & Klaus, M. (2009). Unemployment impairs mental health: Meta-analyses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(3), 264–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khattab, N., & Fenton, S. (2009). What makes young adults happy? Employment and non-work as determinants of life. Sociology, 43(1), 11–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Labriola, M., Feveila, H., Christensen, K. B., Bültmann, U., & Lund, T. (2009). The impact of job satisfaction on the risk of disability pension. A 15-year prospective study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 37(7), 778–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks, G. N., & Fleming, N. (1999). Influences and consequences of well-being among Australian young people: 1980-1995. Social Indicators Research, 46(3), 301–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzer, B. N., & Musolf, G. R. (2002). Resentment and ressentiment. Sociological Inquiry, 72(2), 240–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, J. C., Dill, J., & Kalleberg, A. L. (2013). The quality of healthcare jobs: Can intrinsic rewards compensate for low extrinsic rewards? Work, Employment & Society, 27(5), 802–822.

  • Mummendey, A., Kessler, T., Klink, A., & Mielke, R. (1999). Strategies to cope with negative social identity: predictions by social identity theory and relative deprivation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(2), 229–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, G. C., & Athanasou, J. A. (1999). The effect of unemployment on mental health. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72(1), 83–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, J. G., & Hampton, J. (1988). Forgiveness and mercy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mutz, D.C. (2006[1998]). Impersonal Influence. How Perceptions of Mass Collectives Affect Political Attitudes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • O’Brien, G. (1996). Psychology of work and unemployment. Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelleriaux, K. (2001). Demotie en burgerschap. De culturele constructie van ongelijkheid in de kennismaatschappij. Brussel: VUBpress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettigrew, T. F. (2001). Summing up: relative deprivation as a key social psychological concept. In I. Walker & H. Smith (Eds.), Relative deprivation: Specification, development and integration (pp. 351–373). New York: Cambridge University Pres.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pettigrew, T. F., Christ, O., Wagner, U., Meertens, R. W., van Dick, R., & Zick, A. (2008). Relative deprivation and intergroup prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 64(2), 385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B. W., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2003). Work experiences and personality development in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 582–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rode, J. C., & Near, J. P. (2005). Spillover between work attitudes and overall life attitudes: Myth or reality? Social Indicators Research, 70(1), 79–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runciman, R. W. (1966). Relative deprivation and social justice: A study of attitudes to social inequality in twentieth-century England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rydgren, J. (2003). Meso-level reasons for racism and xenophobia. Some converging and diverging effects of radical right populism in France and Sweden. European Journal of Social Theory, 6(1), 45–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuel, R., Bergman, M. M., & Hupka-Brunner, S. (2013). The interplay between educational achievement, occupational success, and well-being. Social Indicators Research, 111(1), 75–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schnabel, P. (2004). Het zestiende Sociaal en Cultureel rapport kijkt zestien jaar vooruit. In SCP (Ed.), In het zicht van de toekomst. Sociaal en cultureel rapport 2004 (pp. 45–90). Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.

  • SCP. (2003). De sociale staat van Nederland 2003. Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, H. J., Pettigrew, T. F., Pippin, G. M., & Bialosiewicz, S. (2012). Relative deprivation: a theoretical and meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16(3), 203–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, H. J., Spears, R., & Oyen, M. (1994). “People like us”: the influence of personal deprivation and group membership salience on justice evaluations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30(3), 277–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spector, P. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes and consequences. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stouffer, S. A., et al. (1949). The American soldier. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, C. (2006). Why? What happens when people give reasons … and why. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uchitelle, L. (2006). The disposable American: Layoffs and their consequences. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Houtte, M., & Stevens, P. A. J. (2008). Sense of futility: the missing link between track position and self-reported school misconduct. Youth and Society, 40(2), 245–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Houtte, M., & Stevens, P. A. J. (2010). The culture of futility and its impact on study culture in technical/vocational schools in Belgium. Oxford Review of Education, 36(1), 23–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanneman, R. D., & Pettigrew, T. F. (1972). Race and relative deprivation in the urban United States. Race and Class, 13(4), 461–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W., De Witte, S., De Witte, H., & Deci, E. L. (2004). The ‘why’ and ‘why not’ of job search behaviour: Their relation to searching, unemployment experience, and well-being. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34(3), 345–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verkleij, H. (1988). Langdurige werkloosheid, werkhervatting en gezondheid. Bevindingen van een 2-jarige follow-up studie. Amsterdam: Swets and Zeitlinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. P., & Tseng, S.-F. (1998). The effects of job characteristics on active effort at work. Work and Occupations, 25(1), 74–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warr, P. (1987). The psychological impact of continuing unemployment: Some longitudinal data and a general model. In D. Schwefel, P. Svensson, & H. Zöllner (Eds.), Unemployment, social vulnerability and health in Europe (pp. 267–280). London: Springer Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, P. E. (1977). Learning to labour: How working class kids get working class jobs. Farnborough: Saxon House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, T. A., & Cropanzano, R. (2000). Psychological well-being and job satisfaction as predictors of job performance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 84–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was financed by the Flemish Government in the framework of its program for Policy Research Centres. Both the data collection (SONAR data) and the analyses were done as part of the program of the Policy Research Centre for Study and School Careers. The Research Council of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel granted additional funds.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group TOR, Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Ilse Laurijssen & Bram Spruyt

Authors
  1. Ilse Laurijssen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bram Spruyt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ilse Laurijssen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Laurijssen, I., Spruyt, B. Not for People Like Us? A Six-Year Panel Study of the Mutual Relationship Between Feelings of Relative Deprivation and Occupational Status Among Young Adults in Flanders. Soc Indic Res 124, 617–635 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0794-4

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0794-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation