social mobility
the possibility of moving up and/or down the social ladder through either hard work, generated wealth, skill and parentage
intergenerational social mobility
how parents social class, status, education and wealth can impact the individuals social class, karl marx calls this “the division of labour and durkheim suggests that this is part of an “organic society”
differential achievement
- differential achievement is used to describe when two groups of individuals achieve different results even though they are completing the same task
- in education, gender is a complex issue related to differential achievement
up and down the generational income ladder in britain
- blanden and machin
- 2004-2008
- aimed to identify the extent of intergenerational social mobility in the uk, with specific reference to income rather than occupation
- this allowed them to compare over time and across different countries
- data was collected in 7 other countries
- the earnings of those born in 1970 strongly correlate with that of their parents
- there was less upward mobility for those born in 1970 to those born in 1958
- intergenerational mobility have decreased in britain
- however, in the usa, upward mobility has increased
by 2008, the decline in mobility had flattened out for children born more recently - while the decline may have slowed, it has failed to lead to an overall improvement in mobility
pygmalion in the classroom
- rosenthal and jacobson
- 1968
- randomly selected 20% of children in a school in california and told the teachers that they would be “late bloomers”
- they tested all children with an IQ test at the beginning of the experiment and one year after
- pupils in the experimental group showed greater gains than the control group
- younger children were easier to influence but they lost their expectancy advantage if they switched teachers
- speculated that it was the teachers expectations which caused the IQ gains
- 80% of children were disadvantaged by teachers spending more time with the potential bloomers
marxism
- aware that individual movement between two classes was possible but rare
- claims that apparent absolute mobility is just a change in the development of capitalism within a country
- believe that the capitalists will create an illusion of social mobility and meritocracy
strengths and weaknesses of marxism
strengths
- draws attention to importance of conflict as the “motor of history”
- emphasises the importance of economic ownership
- draws attention to the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie
weaknesses
- focuses too much on economy
- fundamentally all classes are made up of individuals and marx often forgets this
- functionalists would suggest that society is not based on conflict at all
weberianism
- used different concepts from both theories to create his own system
- examined how many members of the aristocracy lacked economic wealth yet had strong political power
- stratification was based on more than relationship to capital
strengths and weaknesses of weber
strengths
- gives good account of how class operates in a modern environment
- explains how white collar work will grow and increase in diversification
- combines a structural and action approach to class
weaknesses
- unclear about relationship between class status and party
- feminists not happy
- underestimates importance of economic class divisions in society
oxford mobility study goldthorpe 1972
- survey based on 10,000 men
- found that there was greater social mobility suggesting meritocracy
- countered by finding that relative mobility had changed little in a hundred years, this continued social closure
strengths and weaknesses of oxford
strengths
- first major study since glass
- challenged many of the conventional views on social mobility
- found that the service class was not so closed and self recruiting as previously thought
weaknesses
- criticised for ignoring existence of elites at the top of the class structure
- underestimated the impact of self recruitment and continued social closure
- criticised by feminists as based study wholly on men
behavioural sink john b. calhoun
- derived from a series of over population experiments
- many rats were unable to carry pregnancy, due to behaviour disturbances such as sexual deviation to cannabilism
- animals would crowd together in greatest number possible
- saw the fate of mice as metaphor for potential fate of humankind
strengths of sink
- explains overpopulation
- clear understanding
- metaphor linking
