Capitals, social classes and intersectionality: Quantitative analyses of multidimensional disparities in the Netherlands

Abstract

In recent years, the debate on social inequality in both academia and politics has focused heavily on differences in income and wealth, the transformation of labor markets, and the nature of meritocracy in advanced capitalist societies. This article looks beyond that, using a framework of four types of resources: economic, cultural, social and person capital (the combination of someone’s health and attractiveness). A dedicated survey was linked to microdata from national registers in the Netherlands, resulting in a dataset with expanded and more refined indicators than in previous work. Latent class analysis identifies seven distinct social classes. The working upper echelon (19.9% of the Dutch adult population) has the most capital, followed by privileged younger people (8.6%), the leisured upper echelon (12.2%), the employed middle echelon (24.9%), low-education pensioners (18.1%), insecure workers (10.0%), and the precariat (6.3%). These class distinctions are to some extent coupled with intersectionality. Multinomial logistic regression suggests that age, ethnic background, and household composition are significant predictors of class membership, while gender has a more limited impact. Addressing these inequalities requires a three-pronged policy strategy, involving investments at key life transitions, institutional complementarity across policy domains, and welfare policies based on targeting within universalism.