Abstract

The Erikson Goldthorpe & Portocarero class scheme (EGP) has evolved to the Standard indicator of class positions in international research. Critique with respect to the EGP service class is related to criticism regarding 'The Constant Flux' (Erikson & Goldthorpe 1992). This work is mainly concerned with the classical theme of the shift from agriculture to industry and it neglects the important 'post-industrial' distinction between the industrial and service sector, This criticism particularly applies to the 'service class' as conceptualized by the EGP class scheme. It does not take important institutional changes in post-industrial society into account. Consequently, the life styles and beliefs of the 'service class' show a large amount of variation. We therefore propose to modify the EGP-class scheme by distinguishing the 'social and cultural specialists' within the service class. Using the Dutch Family Survey (1992/93) we show that this adjustment of the EGP-class scheme is an improvement with respect to the explanation of a variety of attitudes and behaviour. The finding that our results hold after controlling for relevant predictors such as education, signifies the importance of our revision of the EGP-class scheme.

How to Cite:

de Graaf, N. & Steijn, B., (1997) “De 'service' klasse in Nederland: een voorstel tot aanpassing van de EGP-klassenindeling”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 18(1-2), 131–154. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86413