Social mobility and the well-being of individuals

Publication type

Journal Article

Author

Publication date

March 15, 2018

Summary:

Several papers published in recent years have revived interest in Sorokin’s dissociative thesis: the view that intergenerational social mobility has detrimental effects on the social relationships and wellbeing of individuals. In this paper, I test the dissociative thesis using
data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society. On a wide range of indicators that measure participation in civic associations, contact with parents, close personal relationships, social support, subjective wellbeing, etc. individuals who have achieved long range upward mobility (i.e. those who move from working class origin to salariat destination) tend to fare better than those who are immobile in the working class. Those who have experienced long-range downward mobility (moving from salariat origin to working class destination) do about as well as second-generation members of the working class. Overall, there is no support for Sorokin’s thesis.

Published in

British Journal of Sociology

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 69 , p.183 -206

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12285

ISSN

71315

Subjects

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