The opposition Conservative Party said that radical policy changes were necessary to boost social mobility. Attempts to promote education, skills, and work had been pushed through 'bureaucratic centralized schemes' that failed to work with the actual fabric of real life – social institutions such as families, communities, schools, and voluntary groups. It proposed an alternative programme based on: early years intervention to tackle social problems in at-risk families; an education recovery programme in primary schools; more tailored educational support in secondary school; enhancing post-school and adult skills development; radical reform to the welfare state, to end the 'culture of long-term benefit dependency' and the disincentives to family life; and a 'whole family intervention programme' to tackle generational worklessness and educational failure.
Source: Through the Glass Ceiling: A Conservative agenda for social mobility, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A government report examined the evidence base on social mobility. Social mobility had remained broadly stable since 1970: but the evidence since 2000 suggested that it might start to rise in future.
Source: Getting On, Getting Ahead: A discussion paper – Analysing the trends and drivers of social mobility, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Report | CO press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | FT report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2008-Nov
An article linked measures of formal and informal forms of social capital to social mobility trajectories, and assessed their impact on social trust. Access to social ties was strongly conditioned by mobility. Among the social groups disadvantaged in terms of bridging social ties were not only those in lower social classes but also women and members of minority ethnic groups.
Source: Yaojun Li, Mike Savage and Alan Warde, 'Social mobility and social capital in contemporary Britain', British Journal of Sociology, Volume 59 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Sep
An article examined intergenerational social class mobility, based on data from representative samples of the British population from 1972 to 2005. Contrary to the prevailing view 'little or no change' in total mobility rates was found over the period covered – in either absolute or relative terms.
Source: John Goldthorpe and Colin Mills, 'Trends in intergenerational class mobility in modern Britain: evidence from national surveys, 1972-2005', National Institute Economic Review Volume 205 Number 1, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
An article said that differences by parents' income group in cognitive and behavioural development emerged by a child's third birthday. An important part of these differences could be accounted for by 'what parents do' in terms of educational activities and parenting style.
Source: John Ermisch, 'Origins of social immobility and inequality: parenting and early child development', National Institute Economic Review Volume 205 Number 1, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
An article examined the influences on social status attainment in early adulthood of parental social status, childhood cognitive ability, school motivation, and education. The number of years spent in full-time education was by far the most important determinant of status attainment, and there were persistent social inequalities in status attainment. The findings confirmed the hypothesis that social background and cognitive ability were partially mediated through school motivation and education.
Source: Ingrid Schoon, 'A transgenerational model of status attainment: the potential mediating role of school motivation and education', National Institute Economic Review Volume 205 Number 1, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
An article examined evidence on trends in intergenerational income for cohorts born after 1970. There was no evidence that the relationship between 'intermediate outcomes' (degree attainment, test scores, and non-cognitive abilities) and parental income had changed for recent cohorts. The decline in intergenerational mobility that occurred between 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts was therefore unlikely to continue for cohorts born between 1970 and 2000.
Source: Jo Blanden and Stephen Machin, 'Up and down the generational income ladder in Britain: past changes and future prospects', National Institute Economic Review Volume 205 Number 1, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (020 7654 1901)
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
A paper used the British Household Panel Survey to estimate the association between occupational prestige of fathers and their daughters ('intergenerational association').
Source: Cheti Nicoletti, Multiple Sample Selection in the Estimation of Intergenerational Occupational Mobility, Working Paper 2008-20, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2008-Jun
Researchers examined the reasons for the fact that sociologists and economists reached quite different conclusions about how intergenerational mobility compared for those growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. The differences were not due to methodological differences or data quality: rather, they were explained by the increased importance of differences in income within social class for sons' earnings in the second cohort. The importance of within-social class differences in income meant that a single measure of income was a better predictor of permanent income status than fathers' social class.
Source: Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg and Lindsey Macmillan, Intergenerational Persistence in Income and Social Class: The impact of increased inequality, Working Paper 08/195, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2008-May
A report summarized the results of fieldwork undertaken with Jobcentre Plus customers for a study of the factors facilitating and inhibiting social mobility. Very few respondents had experienced upward interclass social mobility (movement between social classes). Some sections of the population seemed to have been left behind by changes to the labour market, and might face greater economic insecurity than previous generations in their family.
Source: Alex Nunn et al., Factors Influencing the Inter- and Intra-Class Mobility of Jobcentre Plus Customers: A case study approach, Research Report 472, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-May
A think-tank report said that the economic cost of low social mobility was £1,300 per family. Successive governments had sought to solve the problems of poverty and low social mobility with higher spending on poverty relief and public services. But public services were biased towards the affluent, and means-tested benefits and higher taxes had reduced individuals' incentives to increase their incomes. The unintended consequence had been a 'why bother' economy in which a significant minority did not have the capability or motivation to succeed. The report recommended a new and co-ordinated policy approach across government to empower individuals and increase their ability to invest in themselves.
Source: Nick Bosanquet et al., Shifting the Unequal State: From public apathy to personal capability, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | Reform press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Apr
An article presented a new methodological approach to the study of social mobility. A 'latent class growth analysis framework' was used to identify five qualitatively distinct social class trajectory groups between 1980 and 2000 for male respondents to the 1970 British Cohort Study. The results suggested a combination of meritocratic and ascriptive influences on the probability of membership in the different trajectory groups.
Source: Patrick Sturgis and Louise Sullivan, 'Exploring social mobility with latent trajectory groups', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 171 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2008-Jan
A think-tank report (by a former Labour cabinet minister) examined trends in social mobility, and set out what needed to be done to create a genuinely inclusive society. A socially mobile society would be an inclusive one where working hard, both in education and in employment, would allow a decent standard of living to be achieved and the opportunity of improvement throughout life. There was a serious danger of a small but significant underclass developing.
Source: David Blunkett MP, The Inclusive Society? Social mobility in 21st century Britain, Progress (020 3008 8180)
Links: Report | Progress press release | Guardian report | New Start report
Date: 2008-Jan