Social Mobility: Issues, Trends, and Critique

Abstract

In chapter 1, I discussed some key ideas pertinent to the way social stratification has been theorized, in particular by some social theorists (e.g., Marx, Weber, and Parsons). I argued that these ideas have largely shaped our understanding of social inequalities and differential arrangements within capitalist societies. This is notably evident in the field of social mobility as I discuss in this chapter. Specifically, I argue that social mobility currently functions as the matrix of structural socioeconomic inequalities within modern societies, which explains the political and media attention it has been increasingly attracting in Britain and elsewhere.

Social mobility represents one of the most studied and least understood areas of sociological inquiry. (Dahrendorf, in Mach and Wesolowski, 1986, p. 11)