Like my father before me:intergenerational occupational status transfer during industrialization (Zeeland, 1811–1915).

This article studies the influence of macro-level developments on intergenerational status transfer in the Dutch province of Zeeland between 1811 and 1915. Hypotheses on the effects of industrialization, educational expansion, mass communication, urbanization, geographical mobility, and mass transport are derived from conflicting theories. The influences of these contextual characteristics on status attainment are tested using hierarchical linear models, incorporating data on some 40,000 fathers and sons in over 100 municipalities. The results show regional as well as temporal differences in the association between a father’s and a son’s occupational status. In contrast to what is supposed by the logic of industrialism thesis, hardly any of the macro-level developments decreased the influence of a father’s occupational status on that of his son. On the contrary, a father’s status became more influential in the more industrialized areas