Sons of Bartenders Are 36 Times More Likely to Pursue Mixology, Survey Says

We inherit plenty from our parents: looks, quirks, traditions, you name it. And according to data from the General Social Survey, careers are no exception — and that even applies to bartending.

The data, which was shared in the New York Times, was collected over a 20-year period from 1994 to 2016. Sons of working fathers are, on average, 2.7 times as likely than the rest of the population to follow their fathers’ respective careers, and slightly less so at two times as likely to pursue that of their mothers. Meanwhile, daughters are 1.8 times as likely to enter the same profession as their mothers, and 1.7 times as likely to enter that of their fathers. These discrepancies, as well as the specific careers highlighted in the data, can largely be attributed to the smaller scope of career opportunities available for previous generations of women when compared to their daughters.

When it comes to bartending specifically, it seems that life behind the stick can tend to, well, stick. The data indicates that sons who have bartenders for moms are 36 times more likely to become bartenders themselves. This could indicate a few things: for one, bartending is now more accepted as a satisfying career path rather than an in-between gig. And according to the Times, men are unlikely to take jobs that haven’t traditionally been tackled by men, and bartending has historically (and unjustly) been a male-dominated industry — women were once even banned from the profession in some states.

Overall, the survey suggests that the phenomenon of career inheritance is less a matter of following the same academic path or chasing the same salary their parents received, but more about the jobs themselves — an almost passed-down interest in a field, if you will. “Many people said they were inspired by their parents’ love of their jobs,” the article claims. “In interviews, people who followed their parents’ career paths described it as speaking the same language.”

It also comes down to connections in a specific industry as well; it’s often all about who you know, not what you know. Children who pursue the same path as their parents often have a leg up, whether that be due to inheriting a family business or securing an internship in the field.

“If people lack financial capital, they likely lack these other types of capital as well,” Claudia Goldin, an economist at Harvard, told the Times. “For all of these reasons, the world is not a very fair place for some kids.”

It’s worth noting that the survey analysis isn’t entirely conclusive: the survey polled a relatively small sample of families, did not account for age, and also didn’t consider the main career path of a given parent — it only accounted for the parent’s most recent occupation. If someone’s father worked as a shoemaker for 30 years, but then worked as a cashier for the last few years of their career, the survey classified them as a cashier.

Still, for those out there whose parents spend many nights with a jigger and shaker in hand, it might just be in your blood.

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