Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero (Class) Scheme (EGP)

The concept of the Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero (class) scheme describes the class situation of employees. The classes are based on the market and work situation (cf. Brauns et al. 2000: 4). The scheme consists of up to ten categories, but can be summarised further.

Origin/Creator:	John H. Goldthorpe, Robert Erikson, Lucienne Portocarero
Method/Structure:	The EGP was originally developed as part of the CASMIN (Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations) project in the 1980s and implemented in thirteen countries with the help of data sets from the 1970s (cf. Brauns et al. 2000: 3). In detail, the EGP distinguishes the following classes: I Higher Managerial and Professional Workers II Lower Managerial and Professional Workers IIIa Routine Clerical Work IIIb Routine Service and Sales Work IVa Small Self-Employed with Employees IVb Small Self-Employed without Employees V Manual Supervisors VI Skilled Manual Workers VIIa Semi- and Unskilled Manual Workers VIIb Agricultural Labour IVc Self-Employed Farmers (Ganzeboom/Treiman 2003: 172) Another possible classification is as follows: I Higher-grade professionals, administrators, and officials; managers in large industrial establishments; large proprietors II Lower-grade professionals, administrators, and officials; higher-grade technicians; managers in small industrial establishments; supervisors of non-manual employees IIIa Routine non-manual employees, higher grade (in administration and commerce) IIIb Routine non-manual employees, lower grade (sales and service) IVab Small proprietors and artisans with or without employees IVc Farmers and smallholders; other self-employed in primary production V Lower-grade technicians; supervisors of manual workers VI Skilled manual workers VIIa Semi- and unskilled manual workers (not in agriculture) VIIb Agricultural and other workers in primary production (Brauns et al. 2000: 6)
Development/implementation for Germany:	Besides an exact occupational information (e.g., by using the KldB 92), the implementation of the EGP requires also information on the occupational status and, if applicable, on the number of employees. Erikson has developed the model further, which makes it possible to determine the social position of a household and not just of one person with the help of the EGP (cf. Erikson 1984). Furthermore, he proposed to divide the EGP classes into five categories: students, manual workers, non-manual employees, self-employed in urban business and agriculture and professionals and higher managerial staff (cf. Erikson 1984). Further examples of application and references to the EGP are given in Erikson/Goldthorp 2002 and Van der Waal 2007.

Related classifications:

German Classification of Occupations 1992 (KldB 92)

Keywords

socio-economic classification, market situation, labour situation, class situation

Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero (Class) Scheme (EGP)

Fundamental literature: Brauns, Hildegard, Steinmann, Susanne, Haun, Dietmar (2000): Die Konstruktion des Klassenschemas nach Erikson, Goldthorpe und Portocarero (EGP) am Beispiel nationaler Datenquellen aus Deutschland, Großbritannien und Frankreich. ZUMA-Nachrichten, 46, 7-63.

Ganzeboom, Harry B.G., Treiman, Donald J. (2003): Three internationally standardised measures for comparative research on occupational status. Advances in cross-national comparison: A European working book for demographic and socio-economic variables, 159-193.

Further literature: Erikson, Robert (1984): Social class of men, women and families. Sociology, 18(4), 500-514.

Erikson, Robert, Goldthorpe, John H. (2002): Intergenerational inequality: A sociological perspective. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(3), 31-44.

Erikson, Robert, Goldthorpe, Harry J., Portocarero, Lucienne (1979): Intergenerational class mobility in three Western European societies: England, France and Sweden. The British Journal of Sociology, 30(4), 415-441.

Ganzeboom, Harry B.G., Treiman, Donald J. (1996): Internationally comparable measures of occupational status for the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations. Social science research, 25, 201-239.

Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Jürgen H.P., Geis, Alfons J. (2003): Berufsklassifikation und Messung des beruflichen Status/Prestige. ZUMA-Nachrichten, 52(27), 125-138.

Van Der Waal, Jeroen, Achterberg, Peter, Houtman, Dick (2007): Class is not dead—it has been buried alive: class voting and cultural voting in postwar western societies (1956–1990). Politics & Society, 35(3), 403-426.