An article examined intergenerational class mobility. There was no evidence that absolute mobility rates were falling: but, for men, the balance of upward and downward movement was becoming less favourable. Relative mobility rates, for both men and women, remained essentially constant, although there were possible indications of a declining propensity for long-range mobility.
Source: John Goldthorpe and Michelle Jackson, 'Intergenerational class mobility in contemporary Britain: political concerns and empirical findings', British Journal of Sociology, Volume 58 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Dec
Researchers found that intergenerational income mobility for children born in the period 1970-2000 had 'stabilized', following the sharp decline that occurred for children born in 1970 compared with those born in 1958. The United Kingdom remained very low on the international rankings of social mobility when compared with other advanced nations. Parental background continued to exert a very powerful influence on the academic progress of children.
Source: Jo Blanden and Stephen Machin, Recent Changes in Intergenerational Mobility in Britain, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report | Summary | LSE press release | Surrey University press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Dec
A new book examined a number of key issues for working-class studies, including: the idea of the 'death' of class; the importance of working-class writing; the significance of place and space for understanding working-class identity; and the centrality of work in working-class lives.
Source: John Kirk, Class, Culture and Social Change: On the trail of the working class, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Sep
Researchers found that emotional well-being was 4-5 times more important as a factor determining social mobility for people born in 1970 compared to those born in 1958. Two linked literature reviews looked at the definition of resilience, what research revealed about the nature of resilience, and the implications for the provision of services to improve outcomes for children and young people.
Source: Julia Margo and Sonia Sodha, Emotional Wellbeing and Social Mobility: A new urgency to the debate, NCH (020 7704 7000)
Links: Briefing | NCH press release | Literature review (1) | Literature review (2)
Date: 2007-Aug
Researchers examined qualitative explanations for apparent trends in social mobility. They concluded that combating worklessness and helping people to progress within work should be key elements of a strategy to promote both intergenerational and intragenerational social mobility.
Source: Alex Nunn, Steve Johnson, Surya Monro, Tim Bickerstaffe and Sarah Kelsey, Factors Influencing Social Mobility, Research Report 450, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined the roles of ability, education, and non-cognitive skills in explaining why intergenerational mobility was low and falling. Educational attainment was becoming increasingly socially graded, with a strengthening of the relationship between family income and children?s achievement. Inequality in access to higher education was a key driver of the decline in intergenerational mobility.
Source: Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg and Lindsey Macmillan, 'Accounting for intergenerational income persistence: non-cognitive skills, ability and education', Economic Journal, Volume 117 Issue 519
Links: Abstract | RES press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A study reportedly found that 53 per cent of the 500 most influential people working in politics, the media, medicine, law, and business had attended fee-paying private schools (compared with just 7 per cent of the general population). The significance of private schooling for career success had declined only slightly during the previous 20 years.
Source: Research by Sutton Trust, reported in The Guardian, 29 June 2007
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that the government's education policy had failed to improve social mobility for the poorest groups. Children born in the 1950s had a better chance of escaping poverty than those born in 1970. The decline in social mobility seen during the 1970s and 1980s had subsequently flattened off.
Source: Stephen Machin and Jo Blanden, Recent Evidence on Changes in Intergenerational Mobility: Interim Findings, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Sutton Trust press release | NUT press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
A collection of essays examined the importance of aspiration as a driving force in ending poverty and increasing social mobility. It considered the way in which forces and circumstances worked together to keep those who were born in poverty in the same situation for the duration of their lives, and which made social exclusion a transgenerational phenomenon.
Source: Simon Griffiths (ed.), The Politics of Aspiration, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Apr
An article examined the effect of mobility between occupationally defined social classes between 1991 and 2001 on health inequality in men and women. Social mobility did not increase the extent of health inequality, but rather served to constrain or dilute it.
Source: Mel Bartley and Ian Plewis, 'Increasing social mobility: an effective policy to reduce health inequalities', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 170 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Apr
A paper examined alternative approaches to devising a vertical occupational scale, and compared the outcomes of different scales on calculations of occupational mobility. The extent of mobility was found to vary by the composition of the individuals' data, particularly in terms of lifecourse stages and gender, the number of categories in the ranking scheme, attrition in the data, flows out of employment over the mobility period, and changes in labour market conditions over time. However, the sizes of these effects were very variable.
Source: Shirley Dex, Kelly Ward and Joanne Lindley, Vertical Occupational Mobility and Its Measurement, Working Paper 24, Gender Equality Network, c/o Faculty of Social and Political Sciences/University of Cambridge (01223 334520)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Mar
A report examined people?s self-described religious, political, and social identities. Class identity was as important to people as it had been in the 1960s, but was no longer related to a distinctive set of values. Religion as a social identity had declined significantly. Fewer people in England said that ?British? was the best way of describing themselves than in the early 1990s.
Source: Anthony Heath, Jean Martin and Gabriella Elgenius, 'Who do we think we are? The decline of traditional social identities', British Social Attitudes: The 23rd Report - Perspectives on a changing society, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Natcen press release
Date: 2007-Jan