A study identified evidence suggesting the existence of caste discrimination and harassment (of the type covered by the Equality Act 2010) in relation to: work (bullying, recruitment, promotion, task allocation); provision of services; and education (pupil-on-pupil bullying). It also identified evidence suggesting caste discrimination and harassment that might fall outside the Act in relation to voluntary work, demeaning behaviour, and violence. Caste awareness in Britain was concentrated among people with roots in the Indian sub-continent.
Source: Hilary Metcalf and Heather Rolfe, Caste Discrimination and Harassment in Great Britain, Government Equalities Office
Date: 2010-Dec
An article (in the 27th British Social Attitudes report) examined trends in people's perceptions of social mobility, factors that were important for 'getting ahead', and actual/ideal pay levels. Generally people believed that wages across the scale were unfair. Those at the bottom of the pay scale were seen to earn less than they should, while those at the top were seen to earn too much. People thought that a chairman of a large company should earn only 6 times more than an unskilled factory worker – compared with the multiple of 15 in reality.
Source: Anthony Heath, Nan Dirk de Graaf and Yaojun Li, 'How fair is the route to the top? Perceptions of social mobility', in Alison Park and Elizabeth Clery (eds.), British Social Attitudes: The 27th Report, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary | NatCen press release
Date: 2010-Dec
The government announced a 'radical new approach' to equalities that rejected 'political correctness' and 'social engineering'. It would tackle inequality by treating people as individuals rather than labelling them in groups, and ending the 'top-down' approach that saw Whitehall trying to impose equality from above. It announced that the 'socio-economic duty' under the 2010 Equality Act – requiring public bodies in England and Wales to have regard to the impact of their policies on social and economic inequalities – would be scrapped. A measure in the Freedom Bill would allow people who were prosecuted for having consensual gay sex at a time when this was illegal to apply to have their convictions deleted from criminal records.
Source: Speech by Theresa May MP (Minister for Women and Equality), 17 November 2010
Links: Text of speech | GEO press release | Conservative Party press release | Labour Party press release | Hansard | BHA press release | CPAG press release | LGF press release | Community Care report | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Nov
A paper examined the relationship between children's cognitive abilities and their parents' socio-economic position.
Source: Claire Crawford, Alissa Goodman and Robert Joyce, Explaining the Socio-Economic Gradient in Child Outcomes: The intergenerational transmission of cognitive skills, Working Paper 10/16, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined the connexion between social class and parenting. It looked at how widening class inequalities had affected family life and parenting practices; and it investigated class perceptions in policy and family support practice.
Source: Martina Klett-Davies (ed.), Is Parenting a Class Issue?, Family and Parenting Institute
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
A paper said that around two-thirds of the socio-economic gap in educational attainment at age 16 could be accounted for by long-run family background characteristics and prior ability. But differences in the attitudes and behaviours of young people and their parents during the teenage years also played a key role in explaining the attainment gap at age 16, and the majority of the small increase in this gap between ages 11 and 16.
Source: Haroon Chowdry, Claire Crawford and Alissa Goodman, The Role of Attitudes and Behaviours in Explaining Socio-Economic Differences in Attainment at Age 16, Working Paper 10/15, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Date: 2010-Sep
Researchers estimated the intergenerational correlation of over 60 outcomes targeted under the government's 'Every Child Matters' agenda. There were very strong correlations between parents and children in their educational aspirations and expectations, specifically their desire to gain education over and above the legal requirement. There were also some patterns of correlations in health outcomes. This suggested that if policy could alter parents' attitudes towards education, good behaviour, and decisions to smoke or drink, there might be an impact on the choices of the next generation.
Source: Jo Blanden, Stephen Machin, Richard Murphy and Emma Tominey, Research on the Intergenerational Links in the Every Child Matters Outcomes, CEE Special Report 005, Department for Education
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Sep
A new book examined the relationship between social class and crime. The same factors that helped to determine a person's class level also helped to determine that person's risk of committing criminal acts.
Source: Anthony Walsh, Social Class and Crime: A biosocial approach, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Aug
A trade union report said that one-half of a child's future earning potential was determined at birth. The United Kingdom had the strongest link between individual and parental earnings of all the countries on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development database.
Source: Social Mobility, Trades Union Congress
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Aug
An article used data from the 'Taking Part' survey of England to analyze the relationship between cultural socialization, educational attainment, and intergenerational social mobility.
Source: Simone Scherger and Mike Savage, 'Cultural transmission, educational attainment and social mobility', Sociological Review, Volume 58 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Aug
A think-tank report examined the evidence on social mobility. It highlighted four 'social mobility myths' that distorted debate and policy. Much of what the political class believed (or said they believed) about social mobility was either false or more complicated than they thought.
Source: Peter Saunders, Social Mobility Myths, Civitas
Links: Civitas press release
Date: 2010-Jun
An article examined divergent research findings on income and class mobility. Economists' finding of declining mobility between 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts might stem, in part at least, from the fact that the family income variable for the 1958 cohort provided a less adequate measure of 'permanent income' than that for the 1970 cohort.
Source: Robert Erikson and John Goldthorpe, 'Has social mobility in Britain decreased? Reconciling divergent findings on income and class mobility', British Journal of Sociology, Volume 61 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jun
A new book examined contemporary class structures as produced through combined social, cultural, and economic practices.
Source: Yvette Taylor (ed.), Classed Intersections: Spaces, selves, knowledges, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Apr
A study found that children's levels of achievement were more closely linked to their parents' background in England than in many other developed nations – despite signs of some improvement over the period of the Labour government.
Source: John Ermisch and Emilia Del Bono, Education Mobility in England: The link between the education levels of parents and the educational outcomes of teenagers, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | ISER press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper said that family income was more closely related to sons' earnings for those born in 1970 than for those born in 1958. This was in stark contrast to the finding on the basis of social class: intergenerational mobility for this outcome was found to be unchanged. The paper rejected the view that the divergent results were driven by the poorer measure of permanent family income in the 1958.
Source: Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg and Lindsey Macmillan, Intergenerational Persistence in Income and Social Class: The impact of within-group inequality, Working Paper 10/230, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol
Links: Working paper
Notes: The paper was an updated version of one published in 2008.
Date: 2010-Mar
An article reviewed and extended research on levels of income inequality and intergenerational social mobility. Although there continued to be widespread concern about inequality of incomes, this was declining and focused mostly on higher earners. Recent research on social mobility had been influential and might be one means of focusing attention on the effects of a widening income distribution: nonetheless an egalitarian agenda faced 'considerable challenges'.
Source: Stephen McKay, 'Where do we stand on inequality? Reflections on recent research and its implications', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 18 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Mar
A report said that failing to improve low levels of social mobility would cost the economy up to £140 billion per year by 2050 – equivalent to an additional 4 per cent of national income. It proposed a series of cost-effective policies designed to bring the educational outcomes of children from poorer homes up to the national average.
Source: Boston Consulting Group, The Mobility Manifesto, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Mar
A paper examined the usefulness of the concept of social 'class'. Classes were more mixed and fragmented than sociological theory allowed. Skill mismatches meant that each class included a substantial proportion of poorly paid people who could be in the class below, and highly paid people who could be in the class above. Using the British Household Panel Survey, it was shown that people within the service classes had differing class backgrounds, different class perceptions, and different political views depending on their hourly pay.
Source: Malcolm Brynin, Social Class as a Moving Average, Working Paper 2010-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex
Links: Working paper
Date: 2010-Mar
A study found that education had relatively little impact on social mobility in the United Kingdom compared with other developed countries, as opposed to other factors such as social class. A father's income determined his son's to a greater extent in the UK than in any other OECD nation, with one-half of a high earner's 'economic advantage' being transmitted to their children.
Source: 'A family affair: intergenerational social mobility across OECD countries' Part II Chapter 5 of Going for Growth 2010, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Chapter | OECD press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
A paper examined the magnitude of the intergenerational correlation in worklessness using the two British birth cohorts. The intergenerational correlation in worklessness was large and had increased across time.
Source: Lindsey Macmillan, The Intergenerational Transmission of Worklessness in the UK, Working Paper 10/231, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol
Links: Working paper
Date: 2010-Feb
The government published its response to the final report from the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, saying that it would implement the 'vast majority' of the panel's 88 recommendations. A new Social Mobility Commission would provide expert evidence on trends and policy on social mobility, and produce an annual report on progress made towards a fairer, more socially mobile society.
Source: Unleashing Aspiration: The government response to the final report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, Cm 7755, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills/TSO
Links: Response | Report | Hansard | DBIS press release | Cabinet Office press release | TUC press release | UCU press release | ATL press release | UUK press release | Million+ press release | RIBA press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Personnel Today report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Jan