Ewvpean Sociological Review, Vol. 12 No. 3, 251-269 251 Sibling Resemblance in Educational Attainment, Occupational Prestige, and Wealth in Hungary during the Communist Regime GaborToka andjaap Dronkers In order to test the suggested decline of the family we compare sibling resemblance in the life-chances of five Hungarian cohorts born during the twentieth century. Similar studies in Germany and the Netherlands show less sibling resemblance in younger cohorts. However, one might argue that this trend towards the decline of sibling resemblance cannot be found in societies with a communist regime. A consequence of the communist regime is an increase in the importance of the family as the most important means of improving one's life-chances, because die other non-political institu- tions have been destroyed or are dominated by the party. The most important conclusion in this analysis of sibling resemblance in educational attainment, occupational prestige, and wealth in Hungary during the communist regime is that this resemblance did not decrease in younger birth cohorts, contrary to results from analyses on changes occurring over time in sibling resemblance in Western European societies. The slowly declining effect of father's edu- cational attainment and wealth is less than might be predicted on the basis of theories on modernization or state socialism. Introduction (Insofar as changes in the institution (of the family) can be measured, they seem to reflect a strengthen- Popenoc (1988: 3) opens his book on family change ing of the institutional form'). However, Popenoe and decline in modern societies with a quotation (1988: 8-9) claims that his book documents that the from the sociologist Alex Inkeles: Tew popular institution of the family in advanced societies is ideas arc more widespread than the belief that the weakening in five main ways: importance of the family in human affairs has been 1 family groups are becoming internally deinstitu- weakening, that the family as an institution is under tionalized, that is, their individual members are great strain'. Popenoe continues to remark that the more autonomous and less bound by the group belief in the reality of family decline is by no means and the domestic group as a whole is less cohes- widespread among sociologists of family. He cites as ive; witnesses Alex Inkeles ('one cannot make a convin- 2 the family is weakening in carrying out its tradi- cing case that in modern society the family has tional social functions (socializing children and suffered a substantial decline in its human import- providing care); ance relative to other institutions and relations in 3 the family as an institution is losing power to which individuals invest their emotions, their loyal- other institutional groups in society (eg. the ties, and their times'), Glen Elder ('family decline is a state); fictional image of family change that had managed 4 the family is weakening in the sense that indi- to survive from the 1920V) and Theodore Caplow vidual family groups are decreasing in size and © Oxftnd Lin iv cully Press 1996