8.4.1: Three Types of Social Mobility

 8.4.1: Three Types of Social Mobility Janice’s mom, a single mother, sold used cars at a Toyota dealership. Janice worked summers and part-time during the school year, earned her BA, and then her MBA. After graduate school, she worked at IBM, but she missed her home town. When her mom’s boss retired, Janice grabbed the chance to put a down payment on the Toyota dealership. She has since paid the business off and has opened another at a second location. When grown-up children like Janice end up on a different rung of the social class ladder from the one occupied by their parents, it is called intergenerational mobility. 

You can go up or down, of course. Janice experienced upward social mobility.

 If her mother had owned the dealership and Janice had dropped out of college and ended up selling cars, she would have experienced downward social mobility.

 We like to think that individual efforts are the reason people move up the class ladder—and their faults the reason they move down. In this example, we can identify intelligence, hard work, and ambition. Although individual factors, such as these, do underlie social mobility, we must place Janice in the context of structural mobility. This second basic type of mobility refers to changes in society that allow large numbers of people to move up or down the class ladder. The term structural mobility refers to changes in society that push large numbers of people either up or down the social class ladder. A remarkable example was the stock market crash of 1929 when thousands of people suddenly lost their wealth. People who once “had it made” found themselves standing on street corners selling apples or, as depicted here, selling their possessions at fire-sale prices. The crash of 2008 brought similar problems to untold numbers of people. 

Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images Janice grew up during a boom time of easy credit and business expansion. Opportunities were abundant, and colleges were looking for women from working-class backgrounds. It is far different for people who grow up during an economic bust when opportunities are shrinking. As sociologists point out, in analyzing social mobility, we must always look at structural mobility, how changes in society (its structure) make opportunities plentiful or scarce.

The third type of social mobility is exchange mobility. This occurs when large numbers of people move up and down the social class ladder, but, on balance, the proportions of the social classes remain about the same. Suppose that a million or so working-class people are trained in some new technology, and they move up the class ladder. Suppose also that because of a surge in imports, about a million skilled workers have to take lower-status jobs. Although millions of people change their social class, there is, in effect, an exchange among them. The net result more or less balances out, and the class system remains basically untouched. How much social mobility is there? If you are aiming for success, trying to raise your social class, you should find the following Applying Sociology to Your Life to be quite encouraging. Applying Sociology to Your Life “The American Dream”: Social Mobility Today What is “The American Dream”? For most people, this term means achieving a better life. The sociological definition of the American Dream is similar, but it is more specific: It refers to children being able to pass their parents as they climb the social class ladder. So how much upward mobility is there? Vast Changes Contrary to the many dismal reports of social life today, the American Dream remains vibrant. Let’s look at national research that compares today’s adult children with their parents. From Figure 8.9, you can see that whether children start life at the top of the nation’s income or at the bottom, about the same percentage move from their starting point. Of those who start life at the bottom, 43 percent are still there when they grow up, but most, 57 percent, have moved up. 

Four percent even make it to the top fifth of the nation’s income. Now look at those who start life at the top. 

When they grow up, 40 percent are still there, but most, 60 percent, have dropped down.

 Eight percent have dropped all the way to the bottom (Lopoo and DeLeire 2012)

. Figure 8.9 Income of Adult Children 

Compared with That of Their Parents NOTE: To understand this figure, start at the left and read across. The top group is adults whose parents were in the richest fifth of the nation when they were children. 

As adults, 4% of them are in the poorest fifth, 14% in the next to the poorest fifth, and so on.

 Source: Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations, p. 6. © July, 2013 the Pew Charitable Trusts. 

The horizontal axis shows the parents’ family income when the children were growing up and the vertical axis of the graph represents “Percent of adult children in each family income quintile” ranging from 0 to 100 in increments of 10. 

The data presented in the graph is as follows: Poorest Fifth: Percent of adult children whose income is in the top quintile: 4 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the fourth quintile: 9 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the third quintile: 17 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the second quintile: 27 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the bottom quintile: 43 percent. Next to the Poorest Fifth: Percent of adult children whose income is in the top quintile: 14 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the fourth quintile: 20 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the third quintile: 18 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the second quintile: 24 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the bottom quintile: 25 percent. 

Middle Fifth: Percent of adult children whose income is in the top quintile: 19 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the fourth quintile: 24 percent. 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the third quintile: 23 percent. Percent of adult children whose income is in the second quintile: 20 percent.

 Percent of adult children whose income is in the bottom quintile: 14 percent. 

Next to the richest fifth: 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the top quintile: 24 percent. 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the fourth quintile: 24 percent.

 Percent of adult children whose income is in the third quintile: 23 percent.

 Percent of adult children whose income is in the second quintile: 20 percent. 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the bottom quintile: 9 percent.

 Richest Fifth Percent of adult children whose income is in the top quintile: 40 percent.

 Percent of adult children whose income is in the fourth quintile: 23 percent. 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the third quintile: 19 percent. 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the second quintile: 10 percent. 

Percent of adult children whose income is in the bottom quintile: 8 percent.

 Incomes If we look at incomes, even though the income was not enough to move the adult child into a different quintile, we find something impressive: 84 percent of today’s adults have family incomes higher than their parents had at the same age. (The incomes of the parents and their adult child were adjusted for inflation, so the dollars have the same value.) One of the surprises is that the children most likely to surpass their parents were reared at the bottom of the nation’s income ladder. Of the adult children who started life there, 93 percent have incomes higher than their parents did at the same age. What Do These Findings Mean? People have a lot of things they want to prove, and they like to use statistics to make their point. These data allow you to go either way. You can stress that 43 percent of the very poorest kids never get out of the bottom—or you can point to the 57 percent who do. It is the same with the richest kids: You can stress the 40 percent who stay at the top of the nation’s income or the 60 percent who drop down. No matter what your opinion, any way you look at it this is a lot of social mobility. You could get lost in the details, but don’t lose sight of the broader principle: Children of high-income parents enjoy benefits that tend to keep them afloat, while children of low-income parents confront obstacles that tend to weigh them down. Yet, as you can see, the benefits don’t keep most of the children up, nor do the obstacles keep most of the children down. The main avenue to upward social mobility is education. Credit: Hill Street Studios/Blend Images/Alamy Stock Photo 

For Your Consideration → If you are in a higher class, what can you do to help make sure that you stay there—or even rise higher? If you are in a lower class, what can you do to help make sure that you achieve a higher class?