McIntosh and Munk’s Supposed Test of the Validity of the E-G Class Schema: A Comment
McIntosh and Munk (forthcoming) claim that the class schema developed by Erikson and Goldthorpe lacks validity and should not be taken as a basis for studies of intergenerational social mobility. Their paper is founded on a serious misconception of why the schema is in fact used by sociologists in mobility research and, for this reason, their test of its validity is essentially misdirected. In addition, the test itself is not carried out in an appropriate way, nor, it would seem, with data of adequate quality. Given these shortcomings we suggest it unwise to take seriously any of the results of McIntosh and Munk’s analyses.
Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H.