Objective of this paper is to find answers to the following research questions: 1. Do preferences, and to what extent, lead to variation in labour market success between women and men, within the group of women and within the group of men? 2. Can preferences explain the remaining of a pay gap between women and men? Furthermore, it makes the attempt to test the long-term effect of preferences and their proclaimed stability over the life course, try-ing to find answers to the questions: 3. If preferences persist over the life course and remain unaffected by labour market factors? And 4. If preferences at one timepoint influence the labour market success at the next time point?
Inequalities in labour market success between women and men have often been topic of analysis in the social sciences, attributing differences to various factors like involvement in unpaid work, differences in occupation choice, job characteristics or responsibility for children. A new, but controversially discussed approach, is the so-called preference theory proposed by Catherine Hakim, who sees preferences regarding work and family as the mayor determinant of women’s employment choices in the 21st century.
Proceeding from earlier studies, this paper aims at enhancing the current state of research in three ways. First, in contrast to previous research, which relied on general attitudes to measure preferences, the utilised data set here, allows for the usage of items capturing actual prefer-ences measured as the importance of work and family for the respondents’ own life. Secondly, this study does not only focus on women, but also includes men as a target group, an ap-proach which has been rather neglected in previous research. This offers the possibility to not only analyse differing effects of preferences on labour market outcomes within the group of women, but tests the same for men and further offers the possibility to compare women and men with one another, also with respect to the gender pay gap. Thirdly, this study focusses on Germany which, to my knowledge, was not yet object of an in-depth analysis regarding Hakim´s preference theory and its connection to labour market success. .
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Previous Research and Hypotheses
2.1. The theoretical foundations of preference theory
2.2. Testing preference theory
2.3. Preferences in Germany
2.4. Gender pay gap and preference theory
2.5. Hypotheses
3. Data, variables and methods
3.1. Data
3.2 Variables
3.3. Strategy of Analysis
4. Descriptive statistics
5. Results
5.1. Effect of preferences on women
5.2. Effect of preferences on men
5.3. Comparison between women and men
6. Longitudinal Model
7. Discussion
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This Master thesis investigates the applicability of Catherine Hakim’s preference theory to the German labour market. The primary research objective is to determine whether individual work-family preferences influence labour market success for both women and men, and to analyze if these preferences can explain the persistent gender pay gap.
- Application of Hakim’s preference theory to both female and male target groups.
- Analysis of labour market outcomes including income level and occupational status.
- Investigation into the long-term stability of preferences over the life course.
- Examination of the gender pay gap while controlling for individual preferences and structural factors.
- Empirical assessment using the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP).
Excerpt from the Book
2.1. The theoretical foundations of preference theory
Preference theory was first established by Hakim (2000), who claims that due to five mayor societal changes, namely the contraceptive and the equal opportunities revolution, the increased availability of white-collar occupations, the creation of jobs for secondary earners and the generally increased importance of values, attitudes and preferences for life choices, women in the 21st century have genuine choices regarding their family and work life. While in the past, this was only the case for a small minority of women belonging to wealthy families with liberal ideas, today free choices are open to most of the population. All five changes are needed to lead to this new scenario for women, but the contraceptive and equal opportunities revolutions are ”the core” elements (Hakim 2003b, p.54). Having control over one’s own fertility creates autonomy, responsibility and personal freedom, thus functioning as “[…] an essential precondition for the equal opportunities revolution and other changes […] (Hakim 2003b, p.55). The contraceptive revolution comprising both, the development of contraceptive methods women can control themselves and the unrestricted access to them as well as to abortion, have three main effects. It enables women to control the timing of childbirth, avoid unwanted pregnancies, restrict family size and offers them the possibility to actively choose to remain childless.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Introduces the topic of labour market inequalities and presents the research questions regarding preference theory in the German context.
2. Previous Research and Hypotheses: Details the theoretical foundations of Hakim’s preference theory, reviews existing empirical studies, and outlines the specific hypotheses tested in the thesis.
3. Data, variables and methods: Describes the data source (SOEP), the operationalization of preference categories, the dependent variables (income, service class), and the analytical strategy applied.
4. Descriptive statistics: Provides an overview of the sample composition and displays the distribution of women and men across the defined preference types.
5. Results: Presents the findings of the regression analyses regarding the effects of preferences on income and occupational status for women and men, including a comparative analysis.
6. Longitudinal Model: Investigates the long-term effects of preferences on labour market outcomes and tests the stability of preferences over the life course.
7. Discussion: Summarizes the key findings, discusses unexpected results in the context of human capital theory, and suggests starting points for future research.
Keywords
Preference theory, labour market success, gender pay gap, Germany, SOEP, work-family preferences, home-centred, adaptive, work-centred, labour market outcomes, income, occupational status, longitudinal analysis, human capital, social research.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The research evaluates the impact of individual lifestyle preferences on labour market success and examines if Hakim's preference theory effectively explains gender differences in income and career status within Germany.
What are the primary thematic fields covered?
The thesis covers preference theory, labour market sociology, gender studies, the gender pay gap, and the analysis of individual life-course choices.
What is the main research question of this study?
The study primarily asks whether preferences lead to variations in labour market success between women and men, and if these preferences can explain the remaining gender pay gap.
Which scientific methodology is utilized?
The author conducts cross-sectional and longitudinal regression analyses using the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) data, specifically focusing on waves from 2012, 1992, and 2004.
What topics are discussed in the main part of the thesis?
The main part covers the categorization of individuals into preference types, statistical modeling of income and occupational status, and testing the long-term stability of these preferences.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include Preference theory, gender pay gap, labour market outcomes, Germany, and longitudinal analysis.
How does this study differ regarding preference categorization?
Unlike Hakim’s original three-category model, this study introduces a fourth category ("none") for respondents who consider both family and work success as unimportant, based on the empirical finding that these individuals show distinct income patterns.
What conclusion does the author reach regarding the gender pay gap?
The author finds that while preferences have a significant effect, they do not fully eliminate the gender pay gap, leading to the rejection of the hypothesis that preferences are the sole determinants of career paths.
- Citar trabajo
- Annika Frings (Autor), 2018, Individual preferences and labour market outcomes of women and men in Germany, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/507471
