International Seminar on
Demographic Processes and Socioeconomic Reproduction in the Long Run
Paris, France, 27-28 August 2020 (Postponed)
Organized by the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Historical Demography, in collaboration with the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED).
Organizing Committee: Hao Dong (Peking University); Martin Dribe (Lund University); Lionel Kesztenbaum (Institut national d'études démographiques - INED).
CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline for submission of abstracts extended to 15 April 2020
Download Call for Papers in PDF 
In recent years, there has been an upsurge across the social sciences in research on inequality and social mobility. This has contributed to the emergence of new topics and research questions, such as multigenerational (i.e. more than two generations) mobility or the role of extended kinship in mobility, and to the development of innovative methods to analyze it. While most of the focus has been on intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status (income, wealth, occupation, etc.), our knowledge on the mechanisms of socioeconomic reproduction remains limited. In particular, much of the current work does not discuss the role of demographic processes, and the huge changes they underwent in the last centuries, in socioeconomic reproduction. Research of this kind – connecting demographic and socioeconomic processes from a longitudinal, comparative perspective – will improve our understanding of the driving forces of socioeconomic inequality and how they have changed in the long run.
This seminar aims to bring together research examining how demographic behaviours and the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status interact to shape patterns of inequality over time. The workshop will discuss how families circulate between socioeconomic strata longitudinally, looking at various indicators of socioeconomic position, for instance not only occupation or income but also education or land ownership. In particular, we welcome papers that investigate how socioeconomic differentials in demographic behaviours modify the intergenerational transmission of social and economic status and jointly shape observed trends in inequalities. For instance, patterns of socioeconomic differentials in demographic outcomes may contribute to persistence by reducing the dilution of family resources across generations if, as often hypothesized, there is a ‘quantity-quality’ trade-off in which high-status families have fewer children in which they invest more resources. Alternatively, socioeconomic differentials in reproduction may also increase intergenerational mobility if members of high-status families are more likely to marry, have more children, and divide their resources among their children.
We invite submissions on historical or long-term, interdisciplinary, perspectives on social reproduction. The aims of the seminar are to review the state of research on social mobility and to help develop partnerships and future comparative work. In particular, contributions from historians, on non-Western countries, and on early historical periods are welcome.
The seminar will be held at INED on the Campus Condorcet in Paris.
Online Submissions:
The IUSSP Scientific Panel on Historical Demography invites researchers to submit online by 15 April 2020 a short 200-word abstract AND an extended abstract (2 to 4 pages, including tables) or a full unpublished paper for consideration. To submit an abstract please fill out the online submission form on the IUSSP website: ONLINE SUBMISSION FORM.
Abstracts and papers must be submitted in English, which will be the working language of the meeting.
The seminar will be limited to about 20 contributed papers. Submissions should be made by the author who will attend the seminar. If the paper is co-authored, please include the names of your co-authors in your submission form (in the appropriate order).
We expect the meeting to take place as scheduled in late August but given the current COVID-19 pandemic a final decision will be made by mid-May 2020. Applicants will be informed whether their paper is accepted by that date.Authors of accepted papers will have to submit their complete paper by 1 August 2020.
Current funding for the seminar is limited. Efforts are under way to raise additional funds, but the outcome is at this point uncertain. Participants are therefore encouraged to seek their own funding to cover the cost of their participation in the seminar. If available, funding will be restricted to IUSSP members in good standing and will be contingent upon submission of a complete paper of acceptable quality by the deadline for papers.
For further information, please contact seminar organizer Lionel Kesztenbaum.
IUSSP Scientific Panel on Historical Demography:
Chair: Martin Dribe (Lund University, Sweden)
Members: Lisa Dillon (Université de Montréal, Canada), Hao Dong (Peking University, China), J. David Hacker (University of Minnesota, USA), Lionel Kesztenbaum (Institut national d’études démographiques, INED, France), Ana Silvia Volpi Scott (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, UNICAMP, Brazil) and Sarah Walters (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK)