2017 Work - Friedman and Macmillan, London

Question 1

when was the study published?

Answer 1

2017

Question 2

what did the study use data from?

Answer 2

from Understanding Society (US), supported by the Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Question 3

what was the point of the study?

Answer 3

we examine how rates of absolute and relative intergenerational occupational mobility vary across 19 regions of England, Scotland and Wales.

Question 4

what did they find in relation to upward mobility and downward mobility?

Answer 4

those currently living in Inner London have experienced the lowest regional rate of absolute upward mobility, the highest regional rate of downward mobility, and a comparatively low rate of relative upward mobility into professional and managerial occupations. This stands in stark contrast to Merseyside and particularly Tyne and Wear where rates of both absolute and relative upward mobility are high, and downward mobility is low.

Question 5

what did the government pledge £75 million towards in 2017?

Answer 5

The strategy specifically targeted twelve local

areas identified as social mobility ‘coldspots’ – to ‘transform’ each into ‘opportunity areas’.

Question 6

what was this pledge based on?

Answer 6

piece of research carried out for the Social Mobility Commission (SMC), which ranked English local authorities in terms of a ‘Social Mobility Index’

Question 7

what did the Social Mobility Commission find? (2)

Answer 7

London Boroughs occupied nearly all the top positions on the Index, conversely, the Index found that coastal areas and old industrial towns are becoming “entrenched” areas of social disadvantage and immobility

Question 8

how can the SMC’s study be criticised?

Answer 8

doesn’t contain any measures of intragenerational occupational social mobility

Question 9

in sociology, what is the dominant way in which mobility measured?

Answer 9

nationally

Question 10

how can the dominant way of measuring mobility be problematised?

Answer 10

hides the regional labour markets in which competition for jobs and social mobility takes place. For example, if one region has a much smaller set of middle-class jobs to move into than another, this will profoundly affect the possibilities of upward social mobility for anyone living there.

Question 11

what is the ‘London Effect’?

Answer 11

pupils from disadvantaged origins perform better in London schools than any other part of the UK

Question 12

why is it problematic to link the London Effect to the labour market?

Answer 12

it is still too early to know whether these cohorts of disadvantaged children will translate higher educational attainment into labour market progression.

Question 13

what is the glass floor effect?

Answer 13

those from advantaged backgrounds are protected from downward mobility through their middle class socialisation

Question 14

what is absolute mobility?

Answer 14

measures the percentage of individuals whose class destinations are different from their class origin

Question 15

what is relative mobility?

Answer 15

measures the relative chances of individuals of different class origins arriving at different class destinations, based on odds ratios

Question 16

what are domestic migrants?

Answer 16

those who report a different British region of destination to region of origin

Question 17

what are international migrants?

Answer 17

those who report a non-UK country of origin

Question 18

how can upward mobility patterns be seen across the UK?

Answer 18

over 40 per cent of those living in Merseyside, West Midlands Met County and Tyne and Wear have experienced some upward mobility, in Inner London,9 Wales and the South West this figure is closer to one in three.

Question 19

which areas have low rates of downward mobility?

Answer 19

Tyne and Wear and to a slightly lesser extent Merseyside and Met West Midlands

Question 20

which areas have high rates of downward mobility?

Answer 20

Wales, the South West and Inner London

Question 21

what is the reproduction of privilege like in inner London?

Answer 21

comparatively high: those from professional/managerial backgrounds are 2.6 times more likely to end up in professional/managerial employment than those from other backgrounds

Question 22

what is the reproduction of privilege like in Tyne and Wear?

Answer 22

lowest

Question 23

what is a possible reason for these differences in mobility?

Answer 23

that patterns of occupational structural change in the capital have simply foreclosed possibilities for mobility in ways not experienced in other parts of the country

Question 24

how can patterns in occupational structural change be seen in Merseyside?

Answer 24

there has been a very significant expansion of professional and managerial jobs to move upwards into, which explains the high absolute levels of upward mobility

Question 25

however, how can the occupational structural change explanation be criticised?

Answer 25

However, many other regions have faced significant expansion at the top and yet exhibit very low rates of absolute upward mobility. For example, in the South West, East Anglia, Wales and Inner London

Question 26

what is another identifiable explanation for these differences in mobility?

Answer 26

Population changes and the importance of migration

Question 27

where is this apparent?

Answer 27

Inner London

Question 28

what is the trend in population?

Answer 28

nearly all regions have experienced decline in their total share of population

Question 29

why is this trend not continued within London?

Answer 29

London, on the other hand, has clearly been the recipient of these domestic migration flows – with Inner London’s share of the national population increasing significantly

Question 30

what percentage of respondents in the sample currently living in Inner London are international migrants?

Answer 30

46%

Question 31

what else is therefore important for patterns of mobility in London?

Answer 31

not just the degree of regional migration but also the class composition of migrants themselves

Question 32

what percentage of domestic migrants to Inner London are from professional and managerial backgrounds?

Answer 32

56%

Question 33

what percentage of domestic migrants across Britain are from professional and managerial backgrounds?

Answer 33

36%

Question 34

why do those class 1 backgrounds distort the upward mobility findings?

Answer 34

they cannot move upward and therefore this significantly lowers the proportion of London residents able to be upwardly mobile.

Question 35

how can upward social mobility be linked to international migrants in London?

Answer 35

foreign-born residents from nearly all class backgrounds experience strikingly less upward mobility than those from similar origins elsewhere in London or the rest of the country

Question 36

why must we be careful when considering the class origins of international migrants?

Answer 36

there are likely to be important differences between the occupational structure, and class coding of individual occupations, in the UK and other national contexts.

Question 37

how can high downward mobility rates in the capital be explained?

Answer 37

trajectories of international migrants, who – apart from those from very privileged NS-SEC backgrounds – experience comparatively high downward mobility