A paper examined the occupational mobility of men in three birth cohorts (1946, 1958, and 1970). Although the the most important effect on mobility chances was that of educational qualifications, the importance of education did not increase across the three cohorts. Class origins also had a significant effect on mobility chances – and one that did not decrease across the cohorts.
Source: Erzsebet Bukodi and John Goldthorpe, Class Origins, Education and Occupational Attainment: Cross-cohort changes among men in Britain, Working Paper 36, Gender Equality Network, c/o Faculty of Social and Political Sciences/University of Cambridge
Links: Paper
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined research into the role of family life in the reproduction of class-related educational inequalities.
Source: Sarah Irwin, 'Locating where the action is: quantitative and qualitative lenses on families, schooling and structures of social inequality', Sociology, Volume 43 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined the extent to which class inequalities in access to advantaged class positions were due to discrimination by employers. The results of a field experiment suggested that job candidates with a name, school type, and interests associated with the social elite were more likely to receive a reply to their application than candidates with the equivalent non-elite characteristics.
Source: Michelle Jackson, 'Disadvantaged through discrimination? The role of employers in social stratification', British Journal of Sociology, Volume 60 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined spatial dimensions of social mobility. Urban development patterns originally concentrated the poorest groups in private rented housing close to industrial areas. This housing was later replaced by social rented housing, which remained behind after de-industrialization and was later allocated by need rather than by ability to pay. Worklessness and deprivation had therefore became co-dependent. However, social mobility was also driven by economic growth, with deprived neighbourhoods in high-growth cities having more mobility or 'churn' than those in low-growth cities and regions.
Source: Dominic Williams, 'Spatial dimensions of social mobility', Local Economy, Volume 24 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
An article drew on media reporting of poverty during the Glasgow East by-election in July 2008 to examine some of the ways in which representations of people experiencing poverty and disadvantaged places continued to be informed by ideas of individual inadequacy, dependency, and disorder.
Source: Gerry Mooney, 'The "broken society" election: class hatred and the politics of poverty and place in Glasgow East', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Oct
A think-tank report said that whereas the goal of social mobility was based on self-interest, egalitarianism was based on social solidarity: they therefore led to 'starkly different' social outcomes. It set out 12 policy proposals for a fairer society, including: additional resourcing for Sure Start children's centres; increasing overall benefit levels for children of low-income families, in and out of work, faster than average earnings; ending charitable status for private schools; and abolishing university tuition fees.
Source: Rebecca Hickman, In Pursuit of Egalitarianism: And why social mobility cannot get us there, Compass (020 7463 0633)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Sep
A study found that the 'social gap' that prevented low-income groups from entering the top professions was becoming more pronounced over time. Doctors who were born in 1958 came from families with incomes 42 per cent greater than the average, compared with only 7 per cent more for scientists and other medical professions: for those born in 1970, this had increased to 63 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.
Source: Lindsey Macmillan, Social Mobility and the Professions, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Paper | Bristol University press release
Date: 2009-Aug
The report of a government-commissioned panel (chaired by Alan Milburn MP) said that elitism in the professions and a lack of focus on careers in schools meant that bright young people from some middle-class as well as lower-income backgrounds were being shut out from professional jobs. It made over 80 recommendations designed to address the 'closed shop' in the professions, and to ensure the supply of up to 7 million more professionals by 2020. The professions should review their recruitment and internship practices, and report to the government by 2010 on improvements. The careers service for young people – 'Connexions' – should be replaced. Parents should have the right of redress against schools that consistently failed their children, and have the right to move children to better schools. People needing training should have their own government-funded budget that individuals would control through a new 'lifelong skill account' worth up to £5,000. The government should create 'fee free' degrees, whereby students who stayed at home would not pay tuition fees or receive financial support.
Source: Unleashing Aspiration: The final report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | DBIS press release | TUC press release | NUS press release | UCU press release | UUK press release | BMA press release | ICG press release | NASUWT press release | Catch 22 press release | Citizenship Foundation press release | FT report | BBC report | Times Higher Education report | Pulse report | Guardian report | People Management report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report examined the role of the professions in society. It concluded that professions were vital to the economy; were at the forefront of the drive for social progress as catalysts for social mobility; and provided, pro bono, essential technical expertise to policy-makers to legislate on complex matters. But they were also 'unclassified, under-studied, and under-valued' in social and political life.
Source: British Professions Today: The state of the sector, Spada (020 7269 1430)
Links: Report | Spada press release
Date: 2009-Jun
An article compared class mobility and deprivation mobility between 1971 and 1991 with health in 1991 in England and Wales. A reduction in inequalities was not a necessary consequence if the health of 'mobile' people fell between that of those they left and those they joined, and this was particularly the case for deprivation mobility.
Source: Paul Boyle, Paul Norman and Frank Popham, 'Social mobility: evidence that it can widen health inequalities', Social Science & Medicine Volume 68 Issue 10
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-May
A report by an official taskforce said that many professions have became more socially exclusive; and that, as a consequence, bright children from average-income families, not just those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, were missing out on a professional career.
Source: Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, Phase 1 Report: An Analysis of the Trends and Issues Relating to Fair Access to the Professions, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527) Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release | ISC press release | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report examined how social mobility related to equality, and how it affected children's and young people's life-chances, aspirations, and personal and social development – focusing on the role of the voluntary and community sector.
Source: Children and Young People's Social Mobility, National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (020 7278 1041)
Links: Report | NCVYS press release | YMCA press release
Date: 2009-Apr
The government published a White Paper on social mobility. The paper focused on key points in people's lives, including early years, education, and the transition into employment. The government would inject £57 million into free childcare places for children aged 2 from disadvantaged families, and all vulnerable pregnant mothers would have access to a family nurse throughout pregnancy and for the first two years. Other proposed measures included full-time volunteering programmes for unemployed people in 33 local authorities, and an employment support programme for young people leaving care. The government also planned extra support for parents and carers, offering them a £500 back-to-work training entitlement. A new Panel on Fair Access to Professions (chaired by Alan Milburn MP) was charged with making recommendations to ensure that everyone had a chance of getting into the main professions (including the law, civil service, military, arts, media, and finance) whatever their background.
Source: New Opportunities: Fair chances for the future, Cm 7533, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: White Paper | Cabinet Office press release (1) | Cabinet Office press release (2) | Downing Street press release | DCSF press release | DCLG press release | TUC press release | BITC press release | NUT press release | Action for Children press release | Daycare Trust press release | 4Children press release | Carers UK press release | PRTC press release | UUK press release | NUS press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Inside Housing report | BBC report | Community Care report | FT report
Date: 2009-Jan
A report on social mobility (commissioned by the Liberal Democrat Party) said that a child's life-chances were 'dependent on the background and earnings of its parents', and that increased education funding had failed to reach those children most in need.
Source: Report from the Independent Commission on Social Mobility, Liberal Democrats (020 7222 7999)
Links: Report |Liberal Democrats> press release |CAP press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Jan