- Define social mobility
- Explain absolute vs relative mobility
- Evaluate education’s role
Social Mobility
Every society claims the talented can rise. Sociologists ask: how often does it actually happen — and for whom?
Social mobility is movement between social classes — upward or downward, within a lifetime (intragenerational) or between generations (intergenerational). Absolute mobility = the whole structure shifting; relative mobility = changing position within it.
Key points
- Absolute mobility rose with industrialisation — more middle-class jobs for everyone’s children.
- Relative mobility (your chances vs someone else’s) has barely budged in many countries.
- Education helps individuals but credentials inflate: degrees are worth less as more people hold them.
- The ‘glass floor’: affluent children rarely fall far, whatever their grades.
Countries with higher inequality have lower mobility — the rungs are further apart and harder to climb. Scandinavia is mobile; the US and UK less so than they believe.
Practice
Absolute: more people moving up because the class structure itself expanded. Relative: individuals changing rank within an unchanged structure.
Degrees devalue as they spread, and affluent families buy advantages (tutoring, networks, unpaid internships) that qualifications alone can’t offset.
- Mobility = movement between classes, up or down.
- Absolute mobility grew; relative mobility is sticky.
- Education aids individuals but hasn’t equalised chances.
- Inequality and mobility are linked (the Gatsby curve).