Social mobility facts for kids

This picture from 1916 shows how education was seen as a way to improve your life. It also warned about falling behind during a time of big differences in wealth.

Social mobility is about how people, families, or groups move up or down in society. It's like changing your spot on a ladder that shows different levels of social standing. This movement happens in societies where it's possible to change your position, often based on what you achieve, not just where you were born. People can move up (like getting a better job) or down (like losing a job). Things like education and social class help us understand how much a person or group can move in society.

How We Measure Social Mobility

We often measure social mobility by looking at changes in money, like how much someone earns or how much wealth they have. We also look at jobs people have. Mobility can be:

• Within one generation: This means a person's social standing changes during their own lifetime. For example, someone starting poor and becoming rich. This is less common.
• Between generations: This is when children or grandchildren have better lives than their parents or grandparents. In some countries, like the US, this idea is a big part of the "American Dream."

We can also think about mobility in two ways:

• Absolute mobility: This looks at how much society as a whole improves over time in things like education, health, and jobs. For example, people generally live better today than in the past because of new technology.
• Relative mobility: This compares how much one person moves up or down compared to others around them, or compared to their parents. In richer countries, there's more room for relative mobility because basic living conditions are already good.

Sometimes, people can get "stuck" in their social position. This often happens at the very top and very bottom.

• At the bottom, parents might not have enough money or chances to help their children move up. So, the children might stay at the same level.
• At the top, wealthy parents have many resources to help their children stay at their high level.

Social Standing and Social Groups

How much people can move up or down depends a lot on how society is set up. Different jobs and social positions fit together to form a society's structure. Things like how much money someone has, their reputation, and their power can all affect their social standing. Also, factors like a person's gender, race, or age can affect their chances of social mobility.

Education is one of the best ways to move up in society and get a better social standing, no matter where you start. However, the way society is divided into social classes and how wealth is shared directly affects how many chances people have for good education. This means a family's social and economic status often decides a child's chances for a good education and success.

For example, by age five, children from different income levels already show big differences in their learning skills. The gap between rich and poor students in school has grown a lot over the last 30 years. This difference continues into adulthood. While more poor students are graduating college now, the number of rich students graduating has grown much faster.

The average family income for the poorest children has gone down between 1975 and 2011. The gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing, making it harder for those at the bottom to move up.

• A child born to parents with low income is much more likely to stay in the lowest income group as an adult (43%) than to reach the highest (4%).
• A child born to parents with high income is much more likely to stay in the highest income group (40%) than to fall to the lowest (8%).

This might be because parents with lower incomes often spend less time on certain activities with their young children. They might also be less involved in their children's school life. This is called "accomplishment of natural growth." In contrast, middle and upper-class parents often use a style called "cultural cultivation." They spend more time helping their children develop skills, like reading to them daily and putting them in extra activities. These children often learn to talk to adults and teachers better. Children from lower-income families sometimes go to schools that are not as good and might get less attention from teachers.

A child's chances for social mobility are largely set by the family they are born into. Today, the differences in getting a good education and succeeding in school are even bigger. For example, 75% of new students at top American universities come from the wealthiest families. A family's social class affects how much parents can invest in their children's education from a young age. This leaves low-income students with fewer chances for academic success and social mobility.

Family Life and Social Connections

Different types of "capital" help people move up or down in society. A French sociologist named Pierre Bourdieu talked about three types:

• Economic capital: This is about money, credit, and other things you own.
• Social capital: This is about the connections you have with other people, like friends, family, and groups you belong to. These connections can offer support and influence.
• Cultural capital: This is about advantages you have that give you a higher social standing, like your education, skills, or knowledge.

People with all three types of capital usually have a high social standing. Bourdieu found that people from higher social classes often think in more formal and abstract ways. People from lower social classes often focus more on facts and daily needs. The environment where a person grows up greatly affects the cultural resources they will have.

The cultural resources a person has can really affect how well they do in school. Students raised with the "concerted cultivation" approach often feel more confident to ask teachers questions and be active in class. This can make teachers favor them. This is different from the "natural growth" approach, common in working-class families. These parents might not focus on developing special talents and often give direct instructions. Children raised this way might be less likely to question adults or participate much in class.

In the United States, some studies have linked lower school performance by minority groups to a lack of cultural, social, and economic capital. However, even when these factors are considered, differences can still exist. For example, some studies show that African American and Latino students might still have lower grades and graduation rates in college compared to white and Asian students, even if their test scores and family income are similar.

Another idea, called "human capital," is about the skills, abilities, and knowledge a person has. Parents with more education (more human capital) can invest in their children in ways that help them succeed. This could be by reading to them or understanding the school system better. However, some research suggests that even well-educated Black parents might find it harder to pass on human capital to their children compared to white parents, due to past and ongoing unfair treatment.

What Affects Social Mobility?

Health

The "social gradient" in health means that differences in health are linked to a person's social standing. There are two main ideas about health and social mobility:

• Social causation hypothesis: This idea says that social factors, like your environment and behavior, affect your health.
• Health selection hypothesis: This idea says that your health affects your social standing.

Research often supports the idea that social factors influence health more. For example, your education and income often affect your health. However, in some cases, like in the job market, health can also affect your ability to work and earn money.

Education

Education is a powerful tool that can help people move up in society. However, the way education systems are set up can sometimes make it harder or easier for people to move.

• Schools that focus on helping their best students succeed (elite universities) can make it harder for middle and lower-class students to move up.
• Wealthy families often have the money and resources to send their children to top universities, which helps their children stay in the upper class. This is why the upper class can "reproduce" itself.
• Similarly, high and middle-income parents can send their children to early education programs, which helps them do better in school later on.

Housing

The Great Gatsby Curve shows that countries with more economic inequality often have less social mobility.

"Mixed housing" is when people from different income levels live in the same area. The idea is that this might help lower-income people get resources and connections to move up. It could also lead to better living conditions and safer neighborhoods because wealthier residents might demand better services.

However, research shows that mixed housing doesn't always lead to more social mobility. People from different income levels often don't form close relationships. If this isn't managed, it can sometimes lead to "gentrification," where wealthier people move in, and the original, lower-income residents are forced out because rents become too high.

For low-income people, strong relationships with others are often more important than the type of neighborhood they live in. This is because their income might not cover their monthly bills, and their social connections provide a support system. Sometimes, low-income families might even live together in one home to save money. But even this support often isn't enough to help them move up significantly.

Income

This chart shows that people often have friends from similar income groups. But, having connections with people who earn more can greatly help you earn more too.

Economic mobility (changes in income) and social mobility (changes in social class) are related but different. They are connected by how much a parent's social class and income affect their children's.

The Great Gatsby Curve shows that when there are big differences in income, there is less social mobility. One idea for this is "Economic Despair." This means that when the gap between the poor and middle-income people grows, those at the bottom might lose hope and stop investing in their education or skills. For example, low-income students who struggle in school might drop out to work, because they don't see the value in continuing their education.

Race

A person's race can affect their social mobility. Some studies show that racial inequality mostly affects people who are not already in the upper class. This means if you don't start at the top, your race can make it harder to move up. Other research suggests that minority groups, especially African Americans, still face unfair treatment at work, which can make it harder for them to move up the social ladder.

Gender

Women often experience less social mobility compared to men. This can be due to less access to good education. In some countries, even educated women might not use their education to move up because of cultural traditions. They might be expected to stay home and let men be the main earners. Also, families might invest more in a son's education than a daughter's, believing the son will support them later. When women do work, they often earn less than men, and their pay can also differ based on their race. Organizations like the UN are working to reduce these differences.

Patterns of Mobility

While most people agree that some social mobility is good, there's no clear answer on how much is ideal. We can compare how much social mobility exists in different countries or over time in one area. These comparisons often look at how much children's life chances are affected by their parents' social standing.

Studies show a link between high social inequality and low social mobility. For example, in a study of eight developed countries, the US had both the biggest differences in wealth and the lowest social mobility. This means it's harder for people at the bottom of the ladder in the US to move up.

Countries with less inequality, like Denmark, Norway, and Finland, tend to have more social mobility. This means that in these countries, children are less likely to inherit their parents' high income.

In Britain, studies have looked at how social mobility has changed over time. Some suggest that it has decreased, meaning it's harder for people to move up now than in the past. Even though Americans often believe that hard work alone leads to success, research suggests that American society is actually "stickier," meaning people tend to stay in the social class they were born into.

Some experts, like Thomas Piketty, suggest that in countries with slow economic growth, wealth is becoming more concentrated at the top, similar to how it was in the 1800s. This means a small group lives off their wealth, while most people work just to get by.

Education plays a huge role in social mobility. While some argue that family background directly affects job success regardless of education, other evidence suggests that the right kind of education (like attending a good university or studying a specific field) can fully explain the link between family background and getting top jobs.

There are clear differences in education between inner-city schools and suburban schools. For example, in 2013–14, Detroit Public Schools had a graduation rate of 71%, while a suburban school nearby had 94%. Similar patterns are seen in other major cities, showing that suburban schools often have much higher graduation rates.

Intelligence and Education's Role

How people achieve their social standing and move up or down in adulthood is important to many experts. This is because it affects access to resources, education, healthy environments, and economic growth.

One study looked at people born in Scotland in 1921. They took intelligence tests at age 10-11. Later in life, many of them were part of health studies where researchers collected information about their jobs, education, and family background.

The study found that a person's social standing in mid-life was strongly linked to their father's social class and their own IQ at age 11. This means both where you start and how smart you are as a child can affect your future.

The study also found that people didn't always end up in the same social class as their fathers. About 45% moved up, 14% moved down, and 41% stayed the same. A higher IQ at age 11 was linked to a higher social class later in life. For every increase in IQ score, the chances of moving up in social class increased by 69%. More years of education also increased the chance of moving up. However, a lower IQ made it more likely for someone to fall behind their father's social class.

Another study looked at three generations (fathers, their children, and grandchildren). It found that a family's social class affects how much education their children and grandchildren get. Education was the main way social class was passed down or changed across generations. There was no direct link between social classes across generations, but education always predicted social class.

This research shows that education is very important. It can either keep people in their original social class or help them move up or down. For example, for every increase in education, the chances of moving up in social class were much higher.

Studies have also looked at how different education systems affect social mobility.

• Elitist schools focus on giving the best students the tools to succeed.
• Egalitarian schools aim to give equal opportunities to all students.

Without private education, systems with less elitist public education had the most social mobility. However, when private education is added, some elitist policies can still promote some social mobility, and an egalitarian system is best at creating overall well-being. This suggests that education has many benefits, not just for individuals but for society as a whole.

Education is crucial for a person's future. It's very hard to move up in society without it. The quality of education someone gets often depends on their family's social class. Higher-income families can afford better educational opportunities. This difference in education makes it harder for low-income families to achieve social mobility. Fixing the quality of and access to education could help create more equal opportunities for everyone.

Wealthier families are spending much more on their children's education than lower-income families. For example, high-income families used to spend about $3,500 per year on their children's education, but now it's nearly $9,000. This is seven times more than what low-income families spend. This increased spending has led to more college graduates from high-income families, creating a bigger gap between them and low-income children. Since a college degree is so important for jobs today, these differences mean bigger differences in future success.

A family's income is one of the most important factors for a child's intelligence. As urban schools get worse, high-income families often move to richer suburbs or send their children to private schools to get a better education. Low-income families often don't have this choice and are stuck with lower-quality education. The more money and time parents invest in their child, the more likely the child is to succeed in school. Research shows that places with better schools tend to have higher social mobility.

See also

In Spanish: Movilidad social para niños

• Great Gatsby Curve
• Global Social Mobility Index
• Horizontal mobility
• Levelling up policy of the Boris Johnson government
• Social and Cultural Mobility (book)
• Socio-economic mobility in the United States