Gunn Birkelund

University of Oslo, Social Science, Faculty Member

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Bob Jessop

Lancaster University

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

John Sutton

Macquarie University

Steven Klein

King's College London

BINUS University

Qafqaz University

Leuphana University

International Psychoanalytic Berlin

Madhusudan Subedi

Patan academy of health sciences

Carlo Semenza

Università degli Studi di Padova

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Papers by Gunn Birkelund

Book Review: Race, Ethnicity and Welfare States: An American Dilemma?

Acta Sociologica, Apr 5, 2017

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Social Status in Norway

European Sociological Review, May 27, 2010

We estimate a status order for contemporary Norway using register data on married and cohabiting ... more We estimate a status order for contemporary Norway using register data on married and cohabiting couples. By applying multi-dimensional scaling to contingency tables that cross-classify the occupation of spouses and cohabiting partners, we are able to extract a dimension that could reasonably be interpreted as reflecting social status in the classical Weberian sense. The general contour of the Norwegian status order and that of the United Kingdom are remarkably similar, as is the way in which social status relates to education, income and social class in the two countries. But social status is more equitably distributed in Norway than in the United Kingdom. Finally, as a demonstration of the empirical relevance of the class-status distinction, we show that these two dimensions of social stratification underpin different kinds of social attitudes in Norway.

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Norsk Sosiologforenings hederspris 2015 tildeles Gunhild Hagestad

Sosiologisk tidsskrift, May 29, 2015

Adjudication of Ph.D. dissertation: Student Finance in a Welfare State. Effects of reducing Economic Barriers to Higher Education in Norway. By Vibeke Opheim

Restructuring Gender Relations: Women’s Labour Market Participation and Earnings Inequality Among Households

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Mar 31, 2010

In most Western countries, in the decades following World War II, the male breadwinner model was ... more In most Western countries, in the decades following World War II, the male breadwinner model was dominant among married couples: husbands went to work and earned a family income, whereas women stayed at home as housewives and took care of children and housework (Crompton 1999). This traditional division of labour within the households coincided with a period of lower household income inequality than earlier (Aaberge et al. 1997). From the 1960s and onwards, in many countries married women&amp;amp;amp;#x27;s labour market ...

Gender Discrimination in Hiring: Evidence from a Cross-National Harmonized Field Experiment

European Sociological Review, Oct 27, 2021

Gender discrimination is often regarded as an important driver of women's disadvantage in the lab... more Gender discrimination is often regarded as an important driver of women's disadvantage in the labour market, yet earlier studies show mixed results. However, because different studies employ different research designs, the estimates of discrimination cannot be compared across countries. By utilizing data from the first harmonized comparative field experiment on gender discrimination in hiring in six countries, we can directly compare employers' callbacks to fictitious male and female applicants. The countries included vary in a number of key institutional, economic, and cultural dimensions, yet we found no sign of discrimination against women. This cross-national finding constitutes an important and robust piece of evidence. Second, we found discrimination against men in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, and no discrimination against men in Norway and the United States. However, in the pooled data the gender gradient hardly differs across countries. Our findings suggest that although employers operate in quite different institutional contexts, they regard female applicants as more suitable for jobs in female-dominated occupations, ceteris paribus, while we find no evidence that they regard male applicants as more suitable anywhere.

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The Impact of Immigrant Classmates on Educational Outcomes

Social Forces, May 28, 2015

ABSTRACT Despite a growing empirical literature on the relationship between immigrant concentrati... more ABSTRACT Despite a growing empirical literature on the relationship between immigrant concentration in schools and student achievement, few studies address longer-run outcomes. Using Norwegian registry data, this study addresses the causal impact of immigrant classmates on educational attainment in young adulthood, as well as academic track enrollment and educational achievement in school, within six entire student cohorts in their final 10th grade of compulsory education (310,742 students, 751 schools). Controlling for school fixed effects, native peer characteristics and observed characteristics of students and their families, we find that students in cohorts with more immigrant peers within the same school have slightly higher propensities to complete upper secondary education by their early twenties. These effects are substantively stronger among students from immigrant families compared to students with native-born parents and they are also robust to adjustment for average grade achievement. We find similar effects on enrollment in academic upper-secondary tracks, but not for educational achievement at the end of compulsory education. Overall, our results suggest a modest positive influence of exposure to immigrant classmates on minority students’ educational attainment several years later. We speculate that these effects operate through behavioral changes related to school motivation and educational decision making.

Norsk sosiologforenings hederspris 2009

Sosiologisk tidsskrift, Jul 6, 2009

Norsk sosiologforenings hederspris skal gå til personer som på en fortjenestefull måte har preget... more

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Class and Stratification Analysis

Comparative social research, 2013

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Nordic studies on alcohol and drugs, Aug 1, 2015

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Escaping one’s disadvantage? Neighbourhoods, socioeconomic origin and children’s adult life outcomes

European Sociological Review, Dec 28, 2022

This study investigates if neighbourhoods can alter the strong relationship between parental back... more This study investigates if neighbourhoods can alter the strong relationship between parental background and children's adult outcomes. In particular, we examine if neighbourhood effects are heterogeneous in such a way that they are particularly important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and if school quality has a mediating effect in this equation. Using register data and individualized neighbourhoods, we follow five full birth cohorts of individuals born from 1983 to 1987. We examine the interaction between social background and neighbourhoods in shaping (i) the risk of children relying on social welfare when they are aged 30, and (ii) the probability of belonging to the highest income decile at age 30-34. Growing up in a resource-rich neighbourhood is associated with better life outcomes. Contrary to what several neighbourhood theories predict, we find that neighbourhood effects operate similarly regardless of social background. Differences in peer composition of schools does not explain these local neighbourhood effects, whereas own school results attenuate neighbourhood effects substantially. Our findings are in contrast to results from the United States studies but are in line with historical Swedish studies; and contribute to further disentangling the various mechanisms through which the neighbourhood operates.

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Blir menn utsatt for ansettelsesdiskriminering i kvinnedominerte yrker?

Søkelys på arbeidslivet, Dec 3, 2021

Vi kartlegger alle randomiserte felteksperimenter om kjønnsdiskriminering i ansettelses-prosesser... more Vi kartlegger alle randomiserte felteksperimenter om kjønnsdiskriminering i ansettelses-prosesser som er publisert siden 1996, og hvor det er tilgjengelig nasjonalt spesifikke data om kjønnsfordeling etter yrke. Vi undersøker sammenhengen mellom yrkessegregering etter kjønn og arbeidsgiveres respons (callback) for mannlige og kvinnelige jobbsøkere. Vi finner merkbart lavere callback for mannlige jobbsøkere innen integrerte og kvinnedominerte yrker, mens vi ikke finner tilsvarende diskriminering av kvinnelige jobbsøkere i mannsdominerte yrker.

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Norsk sosiologforenings hederspris 2013 tildeles Knud Knudsen

Sosiologisk tidsskrift, May 27, 2013

Norsk sosiologforenings hederspris skal gå til personer som på en fortjenestefull måte har preget... more

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Culcom – kulturell kompleksitet

Nytt norsk tidsskrift, Dec 5, 2011

Norsk sosiologforenings hederspris 2005 til Nils Christie

Sosiologisk tidsskrift, Feb 14, 2005

Sosiologforeningens hederspris skal gå til personer som på en fortjenestefull måte har preget nor... more

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Skal europeere begynne å snakke om «raser» igjen?

Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning, Feb 3, 2021

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Does School Segregation Lead to Poor Educational Outcomes? : Evidence from Fifteen Cohorts of Swedish Ninth Graders

We examine the impact of ethnic school segregation on the educational outcomes of students, using... more We examine the impact of ethnic school segregation on the educational outcomes of students, using Swedish population register data. Through a school fixed effects, family fixed effects, and a two-way school-and family fixed effects design, we adjust for selection effects related to variation in the student composition across schools. The analyses show that students' grades are relatively unaffected by the proportion of immigrant schoolmates. However, it has a small negative effect on levels of eligibility for upper secondary school. Furthermore, immigrants' educational outcomes are weakly positively affected by the proportion of peers with the same national background as themselves.

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Modernitetens flertydighet - økende individualisme eller stabil strukturell ulikhet?

Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning, 2000

Jeg har lyst til a begynne med a fortelle dere om en opplevelse jeg hadde for ikke sa lenge siden... more Jeg har lyst til a begynne med a fortelle dere om en opplevelse jeg hadde for ikke sa lenge siden. Jeg var invitert til a holde et foredrag pa en av de mange «millennium-konferansene sam har foregatt den senere tid. Til stede var en blanding av politikere og fagfolk. Mitt fore drag fant sted et stykke utpa dagen-etter en filosof. Han var ung, han var vakker og han hadde noe a fortelle. Han snak ket om fremtiden-den nye tidsalder. Det nye samfunnet er drernme samfunnet, sa han. Den nye mennesketypen homo ludensdet lekende menneske. Idette samfunnet er arbeidet en lek. Andre ridsepoker har vxrt preget av ilden, deretter hjulet, sa maskinene og til slutt micro chips. Drommesamfunnet trenger ferst og fremst dromrner og kreativitet, og de go de fortellingene kommer tilbake. Den sam kan fortelle godt, far rnakt, sa han, forneyd, For na hadde han tent et leirbal vi satt rundt aile sammen, og Iyttet til var trollmann. Han svingte tryllestaven over ass-og vi net det. Politikere sa vel sam fagfolk. For hva er vel en kje delig, gra hverdag mot dette? Da han var ferdig-skulle jeg hoppe etter Wirkola. Jeg hadde en del tabeller og figurer. Om ekningen av kvinner i heyere utdanning. Om desegregering i noen utdanningsgrener (sam f.eks. ekende kvinneandel innen medisin), og resegregering pa heyere niva (sam at kvinnelige leger velger kvinnetypiske medisinske spesialiteter, sam gynekologi og barnepsykiatri). Jes hadde en del tall, og jeg hadde noen figurer. Men jeg hadde ingen bla glasskule a kikke i, og jeg tente intet leirbal, Det rneste jeg kunne tilby var noen prognoser fra SSB om frerntidens arbeidsmarked. Sa mine tall og mitt tema ble ikke den store fortel lingen. Politikerne og fagfolkene lyttet heflig, Men leirbalet var sluknet. Og kanskje SOy de.

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