Unicentre CH-1015 Lausanne http://serval.unil.ch Year : 2013 Social mobility in 20th Century. Switzerland Falcon Julie Falcon Julie, 2013, Social mobility in 20th Century. Switzerland Originally published at : Thesis, University of Lausanne Posted at the University of Lausanne Open Archive. http://serval.unil.ch Droits d’auteur L'Université de Lausanne attire expressément l'attention des utilisateurs sur le fait que tous les documents publiés dans l'Archive SERVAL sont protégés par le droit d'auteur, conformément à la loi fédérale sur le droit d'auteur et les droits voisins (LDA). A ce titre, il est indispensable d'obtenir le consentement préalable de l'auteur et/ou de l’éditeur avant toute utilisation d'une oeuvre ou d'une partie d'une oeuvre ne relevant pas d'une utilisation à des fins personnelles au sens de la LDA (art. 19, al. 1 lettre a). A défaut, tout contrevenant s'expose aux sanctions prévues par cette loi. Nous déclinons toute responsabilité en la matière. Copyright The University of Lausanne expressly draws the attention of users to the fact that all documents published in the SERVAL Archive are protected by copyright in accordance with federal law on copyright and similar rights (LDA). Accordingly it is indispensable to obtain prior consent from the author and/or publisher before any use of a work or part of a work for purposes other than personal use within the meaning of LDA (art. 19, para. 1 letter a). Failure to do so will expose offenders to the sanctions laid down by this law. We accept no liability in this respect. Faculté des sciences sociales et politiques (SSP) Institut des Sciences Sociales (ISS) Social mobility in 20th Century Switzerland THÈSE DE DOCTORAT Présentée à la Faculté des sciences sociales et politique de l'Université de Lausanne pour l'obtention du grade de Docteure ès sciences sociales par Julie Falcon Directeur de thèse M. Dominique Joye, Professeur, Université de Lausanne Jury Mme Monica Budowski, Professeure, Université de Fribourg M. Paul de Graaf, Professeur, Université de Tilburg M. Daniel Oesch, Professeur, Université de Lausanne Lausanne Novembre 2013 Summary The study of social mobility enables us to assess the extent to which a given society is “open”. Addressing this issue is particularly crucial in our democratic societies, where it is expected that the place of individuals in society should no longer be determined at birth, but rather by individual quality. The present inquiry investigates this issue in the context of Switzerland, a country characterised by specific institutional settings, notably through the close association its educational system shares with the labour market. Through a detailed empirical analysis based on robust statistical analyses carried out from a unique tailor-made dataset, I demonstrate that Swiss society has not become more open throughout the twentieth century. Although some barriers have lost some salience, Swiss society has overall remained extremely rigid. In particular, because it channels individuals into highly segmented tracks very early on, the Swiss educational system does not attenuate social background differences. Thus, Switzerland is found in a particular configuration where an individual's place in society is highly determined not only by his or her educational attainment, but also by his or her social background. In other words, Switzerland constitutes a sort of “non-meritocratic meritocracy”. Résumé L'étude de la mobilité sociale permet d'évaluer dans quelle mesure une société donnée est « ouverte ». S'intéresser à cette question est particulièrement crucial dans nos sociétés démocratiques, où il est attendu que la place des individus ne soit plus déterminée à la naissance, mais plutôt par les qualités individuelles. La présente étude examine cette question dans le cadre de la Suisse, un pays aux caractéristiques institutionnelles spécifiques, particulièrement de part le lien étroit que son système éducatif entretien avec le marché du travail. A travers une analyse empirique détaillée fondée sur des analyses statistiques robustes menées à partir d'un jeu de données unique construit sur-mesure, je démontre que la société suisse n'est pas devenue plus ouverte au cours du 20ème siècle. Même si certaines barrières ont perdu de l'importance, dans son ensemble, la société suisse est restée extrêmement rigide. En particulier, parce qu’il oriente très tôt les individus dans des filières fortement segmentées, le système éducatif suisse n'atténue pas les différences entre milieux sociaux. Ainsi, la Suisse se trouve dans une configuration particulière où, d'une part, la place d'un individu dans la société est hautement déterminée par son niveau d'étude et, d'autre part, par son origine sociale. En d’autres termes, la Suisse apparaît comme une sorte de « méritocratie non-méritocratique ». “Pessimism is intellectually easy, perhaps even intellectually lazy. It often reflects a simple extrapolation of past experience into the future”. Erik Olin Wright (2013:21) Forewords I have realised this PhD thesis during my five years of assistantship at the University of Lausanne. My time in Lausanne has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life so far, therefore I would like to seize the opportunity to thank these people who, being far or close, in Lausanne or elsewhere, have taken part in this wonderful adventure in some respects. First of all, this whole adventure would certainly never have happened without Julien Chevillard who, as a former student of the Master Ingénierie de l'Enquête en Science Sociales of Lille 1 University, advertised the positions opening in Lausanne to other graduates of this Master and was keen enough to answer my questions and send me feedback on my application. I feel very indebted to you, Julien. Along similar lines, I would like to thank Camélia Louacheni and Katia Choppin, who encouraged me to apply, but also Lesley Versprille and Philippa Gitlin, whom I met shortly before I decided to apply for this PhD position in Lausanne and who have been highly inspiring persons at that time. I am obviously extremely grateful to Dominique Joye, my PhD supervisor, who, with colleagues from MISC and FORS, offered me this outstanding opportunity to undertake a PhD thesis as a graduate assistant at the University of Lausanne. After five years of intense research, the main conclusion I can come up with without a shade of a doubt is that having Dominique Joye as a PhD supervisor is indeed a real joy! Not only have I learnt a lot from you, Dominique, but I have really enjoyed our meetings and discussions. In particular, I have really liked the fact that every time I had a question, you never had a straightforward answer – the famous oui et non answer! While such an answer at first sight could look disconcerting, I actually found it extremely stimulating in the end, enabling me to broaden my vision of sociology and methodology. In addition to Dominique, Daniel Oesch has been a extremely inspiring peer for the completion of my PhD thesis. From the moment he was hired during my second year, Daniel's expertise has proven very valuable, for me but also for the whole research team. One of Daniel's multiple qualities indeed stems from the – usually three! – sharp and clever remarks he points out in order to improve one's research. I have really benefited from your many more than three remarks, Daniel, either while I presented at internal meetings, or, more importantly, for the assessment of my PhD 7 thesis. I would similarly like to thank Monica Budowski from the University of Fribourg and Paul De Graaf from the University of Tilburg who kindly agreed to assess my PhD thesis. The feedback you respectively gave me during the colloque was extremely helpful and led me to improve the final version of the manuscript of my thesis. Besides this, I should also underline that the specific PhD-friendly research atmosphere within the big MISC-PAVIE-LINES-LIVES family has clearly constituted one of the key ingredients for the successful completion of this PhD thesis. I would like to thank all those who have taken part to this dynamic throughout the realisation of my PhD, notably Matteo Antonini, Pedro Araujo, Mouna Bakouri, Ana Barbeiro, Pierre Bataille, Isabel Baumann, Robert Baur, André Berchtold, Laura Bernardi, Vanessa Brandalesi, Karen Brändle, Felix Bühlmann, Raul Burgos, Marlène Carvalhosa Barbosa, Sandra Constantin, Nora Dasoki, Véronique Eicher, Guy Elcheroth, Anne Etienne, Delphine Fagot, Nicole Fasel, Rachel Fasel, Farinaz Fassa, Alexis Gabadinho, Laura Galhano, Jacques-Antoine Gauthier, Lavinia Gianettoni, Nadia Girardin, Francesco Giudici, Eva Green, Dinah Gross, Doris Hanappi, Claire Johnston, Hannah Klass, Maïlys Korber, Jean-Marie Le Goff, Frédérique Leresche, Emmanuelle Marendaz Colle, Ignacio Madero Cabib, Christian Maggiori, Davide Morselli, Sandra Penic, Emmanuel Rousseaux, Caroline Roberts, Pierre-Alain Roch, Florence Rossignon, Oriane Sarrasin, Manuela Schicka, Dario Spini, Matthias Studer, Zhivko Taushanov, Nicolas Turtschi, Isabel Valarino, Anna Von Ow and Isabelle Zinn. Moreover, I owe particular thanks to Jakob Eberhard, who has been a truly supportive friend, Francesco Laganà, for being a fantastic colleague to work with for the seminar Stratégie de Recherche en Sciences Sociales, Cédric Jacot from the University of Neuchâtel, for the interesting discussions we had on social mobility, Emily Murphy, for always happily answering my questions on English language issues, Carolina Carvalho Arruda and Gaëlle Aeby, for having been the best office mates I could have ever dreamt of, and Stephanie Glaeser and Andrès Guarin, for just being incredibly joyful and faithful friends. In addition, I appreciate the FORS team whom I was always able to count on for their excellent counsel, in particular Denise Bloch, Michèle Ernst Staehli, Eliane Ferrez, Florence Lebert, Oliver Lipps, François Lorétan, Alexandre Pollien, Jan Rosset, Valérie-Anne Ryser, Marlène Sapin, Flurina Schmid, Robin Tillmann, Marieke Voorpostel and Boris Wernli.