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Geographies of class advantage: The influence of adolescent neighbourhoods in Oslo

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Urban Studies: An International Journal of Research in Urban Studies

Published online on

Abstract

Class analysts are often concerned with intergenerational transmission of advantage, mapping the ways in which parental resources foster favourable life-chances for their offspring. However, whether such class-specific resources are accessible to broader communities has scarcely been researched within a framework of class mobility. By combining methodological insights from neighbourhood research with theoretical concerns of class advantage, this study addresses the ways in which the social class composition of adolescent neighbourhoods affects individual educational achievement and class positions in adult life. Marginal logistic regression analyses, using generalised estimating equations, are utilised to analyse the complete birth cohorts of 1965–1967 who grew up in Oslo. The analyses reveal that upper class presence in adolescent neighbourhoods is independently associated with attainment of higher education, elite credentials, and upper class membership in adulthood, and more so for less privileged teenagers. It is suggested that the linkage of class advantage and geographical anchorage should be maintained in further research as it points to important aspects of urban inequality.