Social%20Mobility

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Social Mobility

• www.educationforum.co.uk

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What is Social Mobility

• Social mobility is defined as movement from one
  class/status position to another
• There are 2 types
• Intra- generational movement within one
  generation e.g. a person moves from one social
  class to another in the course of their life time
• Inter generational movement between generations
  e.g. a persons father was a Liverpool docker and
  he is a teacher

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Types of Status

• Sociologists talk of two types of status
• Ascribed status is something you cant change. It
  is inherited by virtue of class, gender, ethnic
  group.
• Achieved Status is earned by your individual
  effort.
• In a meritocracy status is supposed to be
  achieved. Meritocratic societies should show high
  degrees of social mobility

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Problems of measuring social mobility

• 1. Using occupation can be a problem e.g. with
  the RG classification social class is determined
  by male head of household often still used
  despite being out of date because of the need to
  compare studies over time
• 2. Mobility studies focus on those in work and
  therefore ignore the very rich and the very poor

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Social Mobility Studies

• There are 3 main social mobility studies you need
  to know about
• The Oxford (Nuffield) Mobility Study (OMS) 1972
• The Scottish Mobility Study (SMS) 1987
• The Essex University Mobility Study 1988

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The Oxford (Nuffield) Mobility Study (OMS) 1972

• Used the Hope Goldthorpe scale to measure social
  class
• Led by Goldthorpe found high rates of absolute
  mobility. (the total numbers going upwards).
• Relative mobility chances remained unchanged
  those born higher up the social scale had better
  chances of achieving higher class positions

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Why Had Absolute Mobility Increased?

1. Economic change change in occupational
   structure growth of service sector with better
   pay and better life chances throughout the 60s
   and 70s whilst traditional working class jobs
   had declined
2. Greater professional opportunities with the
   expansion of state education, health and welfare
3. Free secondary education since the Butler Act
   1944 and made more working class people more
   socially mobile

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The Scottish Mobility Study

• SMS concluded that opportunities for social
  mobility were influenced by age and region
• Social mobility more likely to occur in SE
  England amongst young people. The North and
  Scotland did not enjoy this.
• SMS detected the suggested we were moving
  towards a middle class SE of opportunity with the
  underclass being located in the north and Scotland

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The Essex University Mobility Study

• EUMS by Marshall largely confirmed the trends
  identified by the OMS absolute mobility
  improving, relative mobility unchanging
• Marshall also pointed out that absolute mobility
  was slowing down and that the UK was still a long
  way away from being truly meritocratic

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Theories of Social Mobility

• There are three broad theories you need to know
  about
• Intelligence Theory (New Right)
• Neo-Marxist theory
• Rational Action Theory

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Functionalism and the New Right

• Peter Saunders claims the UK is a meritocratic
  society with lots of opportunities for social
  mobility. He says that the inequality that we see
  is the result of differences in effort and
  intelligence
• Class destinations reflect individual merit much
  more than class background

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Neo Marxist Theory

• Social Mobility is a myth class society is
  reproduced and we stay in either the bourgeoisie
  or the proletariat
• Growth of service sector work isnt upward
  mobility service jobs just as exploitative and
  repetitive as factory work
• Education reform has disproportionately
  benefitted the middle class

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Rational Action Theory (Weberian)

• Goldthorpe argues that people are rational
  actors who calculate the relative costs and
  benefits of social mobility. Rates of absolute
  and relative mobility can be explained by this
• E.g. a working class family may see the
  achievement of a service sector job for their
  children as success whereas a middle class family
  will view it as a failure