Meritocracy and social mobility

Question 1

What is a meritocracy

Britain accused

Answer 1

status is achieved and occupational positions are allocated on basis of individual ability

Question 2

What do high rates of social mobility suggest

Answer 2

• society is meritocratic

* opportunities are available to everyone regardless of social class origins

Question 3

routes to mobility

Answer 3

• qualifications

* financial windfalls

Question 4

barriers to mobility

Answer 4

gender discrimination

lack of skills/qualifications

Question 5

Goldthorpe mobility study

Answer 5

working class children end up in MC occupations however much less than MC to do so

Question 6

Crompton

Social mobility in decline

Answer 6

linked to changes in occupational structure (growth in professional and managerial jobs has slowed down so less room at top)

Question 7

People in Afro carribean heritage

Answer 7

more likely to be in WC occupations

-consequences for their children’s lives- life chances including educational opportunities

Question 8

inter-generational mobility

Answer 8

movement up or down between the strata of a stratification system as measured between the generations of a family

Question 9

intra-generational

Answer 9

movement of an individual over the course of their life up or down between strata of stratification system