(Re)discovering the lost middle: intergenerational inheritances and economic inequality in urban and regional research

ABSTRACT

This paper calls for deepening understandings of inequality and the reproduction of inequality across the income distribution. In particular, it brings intergenerational transmissions and place effects, their interaction and progression over time into greater focus. The objective is to understand the implications of increasing inequality for those in the large and under-researched ‘middle group’. The paper makes the case for urban and regional research that uses extensive longitudinal data, both qualitative and quantitative, to reveal the totality of the processes impacting the middle group, from those who are just managing to those who are advancing and flourishing.

KEYWORDS:

• economic inequality
• intergenerational inheritances
• social class
• social mobility
• life-course experiences
• longitudinal analysis

JEL:

• D31
• D63
• I32
• J62

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank section editor John Harrison and the two anonymous reviewers who provided detailed and constructive comments on the argument presented here.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Julie MacLeavy http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8158-0665

David Manley http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1864-5141

Notes

1. A recent report by Hick and Lanau (2017) identified the multiple causes and consequences of in-work poverty as far more problematic for families than the long-run period of worklessness that is often cited as critical in popular discourse.

2. For a stylized typology of the North–South divide, see Dorling (2010).

3. NEET is a UK government term referring to individuals ‘not in employment, education or training’. Whilst is it a problematic label covering a diverse set of people and outcomes, it is nevertheless useful as a marker within this conversation.

4. In 2016, the British Prime Minister Theresa May referred to a core group of the electorate as ‘just about managing’, a group that quickly became known as the ‘JAMs’. It is important to acknowledge this term here, although we avoid direct usage (Butler & Syal, 2016).

5. Whilst there are those who argue that insecurity does not appear to be expanding (Gregg & Gardiner, 2015), others suggest that structural inequality has increased and is a threat to social cohesion and stability (Musterd, Marcińczak, van Ham, & Tammaru, 2016).

Additional information

Funding

Julie MacLeavy acknowledges the support of the University of Bristol in the form of a University Research Fellowship.