Of people social class and place in the hierarchies of working life depend to a considerable extent on inheritance, i.e. genes inherited from parents.
A researcher from the University of Oslo came to this conclusion Arno Van Hootegem and his colleagues, who looked at the placement of five thousand pairs of Norwegian twins in different social positions.
Research has not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, but can be read on the Socarxiv service.
Gemini were born between 1941 and 1979. The most recent professional information about them is from 2017.
Researchers divided people into social classes in different ways on the basis of profession, professional status, education required by the job and independence of the job.
It turned out, that genes explained about 40 percent of the differences in social status between people. The childhood family environment, on the other hand, explained only ten percent of this variation.
The biggest part, or half of the differences in total, was caused by something other than genes or family environment. This part includes various individual experiences and coincidences that can influence the direction of one’s life.
In the younger age groups born between 1961 and 1979, the importance of genes was smaller and the role of the family environment was greater than in the older generations born between 1941 and 1960. This was revealed in a separate analysis of birth cohorts.
Although the data of the study were twins, the results apply to people in general.
Twins are just a way to separate the effect of genes from the contribution of environmental factors to some outcome, in this case the differences in people’s class status.
Traditionally, social scientists have looked for an explanation of a person’s social position in his or her family.
The idea is that the parents, with their upbringing, attitudes, advice, example and resources, more or less unconsciously lead the child to a certain kind of life career.
In particular, this formula has been used to explain why social status is often passed down from one generation to another.
Norwegian studies according to the authors, social status should no longer be explained solely by social family background. Genes should also be taken into account.
However, the researchers remind us that there are no “middle class”, “white collar” or “high school teacher” genes.
On the other hand, an individual’s traits, which are partly regulated by genes – ranging from cognitive abilities and temperament to mental health and even appearance – can be such that they benefit or hinder him in different ways in his school career and working life.
Heredity can also affect people’s preferences and the different choices they make in life.
Van Hootegem and his colleagues emphasize that, for example, social policy solutions that promote equal opportunities for people will remain powerless if they are based on the incorrect assumption that mainly social family background matters.
At the same time, researchers reject the idea that if heredity once affects social status, inequality would somehow be natural or justified.
According to researchers, some people are born with characteristics that make them particularly suitable for certain professions.
On the other hand, the congenital features of others weaken their opportunities in the labor market.
“This does not mean that such traits should be lavishly rewarded or punished,” the researchers write.
Norwegian study is not the only one in which the family environment of childhood has not been found to be very important to the course of life. Several twin studies have come to the same conclusion.
For example, a professor of economics at Aalto University Pekka Ilmakunnas and his colleagues published the 2019 Finnish twin study, according to which genes explained a considerable amount of income differences between people. Family environment did not explain income differences almost at all.
Also Professor of Sociology at the University of Turku Jani Erola and colleagues found in their publication last year in the study, that genes explain a lot of socioeconomic differences between people. The home environment of childhood does not matter much.
Read more: Heredity affects intelligence and perseverance, and the differences are visible as early as two years old – This is how genes guide our school path
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Read more: The best diamond stories: It’s pointless for a parent to try to shape their child through upbringing, says a world-renowned researcher: In the end, genes shape our lives
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