Social class mobility in modern Britain: changing structure, constant process

Abstract

The class structure provides an important context for the study of social mobility. The evolution of the class structure is the all-important factor determining individuals' changing experience of mobility, as expressed in absolute rates. The total mobility rate shows long-term stability; but, because of structural change, trends of rising upward and falling downward mobility in the mid-20th century are now being reversed. Relative mobility rates, comparing the chances of individuals of different class origins arriving at different class destinations, also show long-term stability. All this is evident over a period of more or less continuous educational expansion and reform-thus calling into question the belief that educational policy is key to promoting mobility. Education is best considered as a 'positional' good; and the motivation, and capacity, of parents in more advantaged class positions to help their children maintain their competitive edge in the educational system, and in turn in labour markets, underlies the resistance to change that the mobility regime displays. INTRODUCTION: THE CLASS STRUCTURE AS THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL MOBILTYThis lecture reports on research being undertaken by a group of sociologists, based in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, to which I belong. Our concern is with social mobility in Britain over the period from the end of the Second World War down to the early 21st century. We focus on intergenerational mobility, and we also have a particular interest in the part that is played in such mobility by education. More specifically, we are concerned with the life-histories of men and women in a series of birth cohorts, and with how the social positions that these men and women attained in their lives are related to the positions that were held

Against the odds? – A study of educational attainment and labour market position of the second-generation ethnic minority members in the UK

“…The selection process will be increasingly merit-based, with educational qualifications assuming greater importance for occupational attainment (Arrow B). There may be some exceptional circumstances, as in the case of highly educated people from poor families finding technical jobs (Hout, 1988) indicated by Arrow D or, as in Arrow E (Goldthorpe, 2016), of advantaged families finding good jobs via social contacts for their children who do not do well in education (although Gugushvili et al, 2017, show that the effect is limited). While debates abound, a common feature in these theories is that family origin is the most important influence on educational and occupational attainment.…”

Causal dynamics of poverty reproduction in EU countries

“…Nevertheless, the 2005 data set did not capture the impact of the crisis and the subsequent recession (as well as that of other contemporary societal forces) on mobility outcomes in the EU. The outbreak of the 2008 world economic crisis marked the end of 'the golden age of upward social mobility' (Goldthorpe, 2016). Thus, the prospects of future welfare for younger generations have shrunk compared with the prospects of the older generations (Atkinson, 2015;Eurofound, 2017;OECD, 2015).…”

The Decline and Persistence of the Old Boy: Private Schools and Elite Recruitment 1897 to 2016

“…3 For example, in 1830, around 27 percent of British children were enrolled in a primary school; by the late1960s, this had risen to almost 100 percent (Lindert 2004). However, many scholars have resisted this hypothesis. As noted in the introduction, the consensus view is that extensive educational reform has been remarkably ineffective in improving relative life chances, particularly in the United Kingdom (Boliver and Swift 2011;Goldthorpe 2016). Many argue that elite schools have been particularly adept at adapting and responding to such reform (Domhoff 2006;Levine 1980;Scott 1991;Stanworth and Giddens 1974).…”

“…Yet an extensive body of research now offers a sobering corrective to this lofty ideal. Even though the widespread provision of free schooling has certainly reduced inequalities in educational attainment (Breen and Jonsson 2005), scholars working across a range of national contexts-but particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States-have found that the expansion of public education has largely failed to equalize relative opportunities in the labor market (Goldthorpe 2016;Parman 2011;Pfeffer and Hertel 2015;Rauscher 2016).…”

“…Moreover, alumni of elite schools are often very successful even when they do not pass through other elite institutions, such as Oxford, Cambridge, or private members clubs. Thus while a reduction in elite recruitment from public schools is certainly noteworthy, it is important to situate this decline in the wider contemporary context of the continuing, "unacceptably extreme" (Goldthorpe 2016), relative advantage enjoyed by these old boys.…”