ABSTRACT
At least since the 1950s, social mobility and social stratification research have been involved in the task of drawing systematic comparisons between countries. Improvements in the comparability of class schemas have always been represented as a crucial issue, and indeed one of the major achievements of this research field (Goldthorpe 2005b). ESeC may be defined as the most recent development of these ongoing methodological efforts (see Chapter 13). Its overall purpose is not only to define and operationalize a harmonized classification of socio-economic positions for use in comparative social science research across the EU, but also to provide a detailed assessment of its own validity and reliability. This chapter assesses the validity of the ESeC classification through the study of inequalities of educational opportunity in Italy.
