Gaps and Glissandos: Inequality, Economic Development, and Social Mobility in 24 Countries (original) (raw)

A summary of what we know about social mobility

Academic research on social mobility from the 1960s until now has made several facts clear. First, and most important, it is better to ask how the conditions and circumstances of early life constrain adult success than to ask who is moving up and who is not. the focus on origins keeps the substantive issues of opportunity and fairness in focus, while the mobility question leads to confusing side issues. Second, mobility is intrinsically symmetrical; each upward move is offset by a downward move in the absence of growth, expansion, or immigration. third, social origins are not a single dimension of inequality that can be paired with the outcome of interest (without significant excluded variable bias); they are a comprehensive set of conditions describing the circumstances of youth. Fourth, the constraints of social origins vary by time, place, and subpopulation. these four "knowns" should inform any attempt to collect new data on mobility.

An “Other” Social Mobility, Viewed from the Standpoint of Exclusion

The purpose of this article is to analyze how social mobility and social inclusion are perceived by a group of professionals from modest backgrounds, who graduated from public universities and whose personal histories reflect levels of exclusion. This qualitative study, which is organized in six dimen-sions of analysis—migration and territorial mobility, education, occupation and income, social capital, vulnerability, and expectations—shows four main findings, which inevitably also raise new working hypotheses. The findings are the following: that social mobility and social inclusion are heterogeneous processes that education remains a means of both mobility and inclusion, that social mobility coexists with inequality, and that mobility and social inclu-sion require broader means of conceptualization because of the difficulty of understanding this process in people with particular characteristics and from particular backgrounds.

Social Mobility from a Comparative Perspective Between Europe and Latin America

2020

This chapter presents a review of the analysis of social mobility in the international sphere (Europe and Latin America), with a particular focus on the partner countries of the INCASI network. To date, few studies have linked nations whose economic and social aspects are so dissimilar.As is usual in the specialized literature, the relationship between social origin and class destination is addressed. This is done by noting the comparisons made across the geographical areas. We review the analyses that have been made of the evolution of social fluidity as well as the distance between social classes within each country and the comparisons made between them.We compare the main theories that have inspired the study of social mobility to date: modernization theory, which predicts an increase in relative mobility rates, and invariance theory, which postulates the constancy of social fluidity. Special attention is devoted to the role played by the family, the state and the market in late ...

Social mobility in globalization circumstances

Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2015

In recent years in Macedonia, there has been an accelerated social stratification. The lower stratum population is constantly increasing. Laeken poverty indicators based on the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (2010) the at-risk-of-poverty-rate for unemployed persons is 50.6%, while the at-risk-of-poverty-rate for employed persons is 9.9%. The pluralism of the '90s began with the ideals for equal opportunities but people are now desperate and they are struggling with their own illusions. Despite the fact that many are experiencing vertical mobility, this is more a result of changes in the employment structure rather than the existence of a high level of equal opportunities. On the other hand, globalization is urging geographical mobility at large, and this makes young generations migrate in larger cities and more developed countries. The inequalities between people are becoming more evident especially the new lifestyle of the rich stratum of the society such as politicians, businesspersons, real estate owners and traders. This paper deals with issues that concern movements of entire generations based on their education level and jobs they perform, in externally highly influenced environments. Women in Macedonia are increasingly enrolling at universities and this makes them competent for many professions. However, statistical indicators show that they are not yet present enough in managerial positions in various different institutions or on the highly paid jobs lists. The salary in Macedonia are low. Blau and Duncan (2005) assert the importance of mobility for understanding modern industrial society, particularly its stratified character Through statistical data, we will attempt to prove the above-mentioned approaches.

Stratification and Social Mobility

The aim of the chapter is to provide a European perspective on stratification and social mobility including converging and diverging trends within the societies in Europe. Empirical information is provided based on statistical sources for as many European nations as possible.