scholarly journals Intragenerational Social Mobility and Wellbeing in Great Britain. A Biomarker Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Präg ◽  
Nina-Sophie Fritsch ◽  
Lindsay Richards
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Null Results ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Outright Rejection ◽  
The Uk

Social theory has long predicted that social mobility, in particular downward social mobility, is detrimental to the wellbeing of individuals. Dissociative and ‘falling from grace’ theories suggest that mobility is stressful due to the weakening of social ties, feelings of alienation, and loss of status. In light of these theories, it is a puzzle that the majority of quantitative studies in this area have shown null results. Our approach to resolve the puzzle is twofold. First, we argue for a broader conception of the mobility process than is often used and thus focus on intragenerational occupational class mobility rather than restricting ourselves to the more commonly studied intergenerational mobility. Second, we argue that self-reported measures may be biased by habituation (or ‘entrenched deprivation’). Using nurse-collected health and biomarker data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS, 2010–12, N = 4,123), we derive a measure of allostatic load as an objective gauge of physiological ‘wear and tear,’ and compare patterns of mobility effects with self-reports of health using diagonal reference models. Our findings indicate a strong class gradient in both allostatic load and self-rated health, and that both first and current job matter for current wellbeing outcomes. However, in terms of the effects of mobility itself, we find that intragenerational social mobility is consequential for allostatic load, but not for self-rated health. Downward mobility is detrimental and upward mobility beneficial for wellbeing as assessed by allostatic load. Thus, these findings do not support the idea of generalized stress from dissociation, but they do support the ‘falling from grace’ hypothesis of negative downward mobility effects. Our findings have a further implication, namely that the differences in mobility effects between the objective and subjective outcome infer the presence of entrenched deprivation. Null results in studies of self-rated outcomes may therefore be a methodological artifact, rather than an outright rejection of decades-old social theory.

scholarly journals Social Mobility, Health and Wellbeing in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Zelinska ◽  
Alexi Gugushvili ◽  
Grzegorz Bulczak
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Psychological Wellbeing ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Professional Class ◽  
Sociodemographic Determinants ◽  
Communist Countries

Recently there has been a surge of interest in the consequences of intergenerational social mobility on individuals’ health and wellbeing outcomes. However, studies on the effects of social mobility on health, using high-quality panel survey data, have almost exclusively been conducted in Western welfare democracies. To account for this gap, and using empirical data from one of the largest and most eventful post-communist countries, Poland, in this study we investigate how individuals’ origin and destination socio-economic position and social mobility are linked to self-rated health and reported psychological wellbeing. We use the Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN) data to construct self-rated health and psychological wellbeing measures, origin, destination and occupational class mobility variables, and account for an extensive set of sociodemographic determinants of health. We employ diagonal reference models to distinguish social mobility effects from origin and destination effects, and account for possible health selection mechanisms. Our results suggest that there is an occupational class gradient in health in Poland and that both parental and own occupational class matter for individual health outcomes. We also find a positive reported psychological wellbeing effect for upward social mobility from the working to the professional class.

scholarly journals Intergenerational Social Mobility and Self-Rated Health in Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Präg ◽  
Alexi Gugushvili
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Cross National

Occupational class and health are closely linked, however the health consequences of intergenerational social class mobility have not yet been systematically explored. A long tradition of research on individuals’ class mobility and health reports mixed or no effects, however cross-national differences have rarely been tested comprehensively. Further, recent studies show that intergenerational social class mobility at the societal level is beneficial for population health. Using representative survey data from 30 European countries (N = 159,591), we present the first study to investigate the role that intergenerational class mobility both at the individual and societal level play for self-rated health. We find that, apart from four post-communist countries, neither downward nor upward mobility is significantly and systematically related to poor self-rated health. There is also no association between societal-level social mobility and the prevalence of poor self-rated health across the 30 societies. Results are robust to alternative specifications and suggest that individuals’ own social class and partially their parents’ social class are primary explanations of health rather than their mobility experiences between origins and destinations.

scholarly journals Is Social Mobility Really Declining? Intergenerational Class Mobility in Britain in the 1990s and the 2000s

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 28-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaojun Li ◽  
Fiona Devine
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Time Period ◽  
General Household Survey

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on social mobility in contemporary Britain among economists and sociologists. Using the 1991 British Household Panel Survey and the 2005 General Household Survey, we focus on the mobility trajectories of male and female respondents aged 25-59. In terms of absolute mobility, we find somewhat unfavourable trends in upward mobility for men although long-term mobility from the working class into salariat positions is still in evidence. An increase in downward mobility is clearly evident. In relation to women, we find favourable trends in upward mobility and unchanging downward mobility over the fourteen-year time period. With regard to relative mobility, we find signs of greater fluidity in the overall pattern and declining advantages of the higher salariat origin for both men and women. We consider these findings in relation to the public debate on social mobility and the academic response and we note the different preoccupations of participants in the debate. We conclude by suggesting that the interdisciplinary debate between economists and sociologists has been fruitful although a recognition of similarities, and not simply differences in position, pushes knowledge and understanding forward.

scholarly journals The Health Consequences of Social Mobility in Contemporary China

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 2644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Yan ◽  
Guangye He ◽  
Yunsong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
The Individual

Although numerous studies have shown the importance of an individual’s socioeconomic status on his or her self-rated health status, less well-known is whether self-perceived class mobility, a measure highly correlated with an individual’s de facto social class and past mobility experiences, affects self-rated health. In this paper, we attempt to fill the gap by examining how perception of class mobility is associated with self-rated health. Using eight waves of Chinese General Social Survey data spanning the years 2005 to 2015, we conducted an analysis at the micro (individual) level and the macro (provincial) level. Analyses at both levels yielded consistent results. At the individual level, we employed ordered logistic regression and found that the perception of experiencing downward mobility was associated with significantly lower self-rated health in both rural and urban areas compared with those who consider themselves to be upwardly mobile or immobile. At the provincial level, the findings from static panel analysis further revealed that there is a positive relationship between the self-perceived class mobility and self-rated health level.

scholarly journals Patterns of Absolute and Relative Social Mobility: A Comparative Study of England, Wales and Scotland

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 58-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Paterson ◽  
Cristina Iannelli
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Country Of Birth ◽  
Relative Mobility ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Large Growth ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Comparative Study

We use the British Household Panel Study to analyse change over birth cohorts in patterns of social mobility in England, Scotland and Wales. In several respects, our conclusions are similar to those reached by other authors on the basis of wider comparisons. There has been a large growth in non-manual employment since the middle of the twentieth century. This led first to a rise in upward mobility, but, as parents of younger people have now themselves benefited from that, has more recently forced people downward from their middle-class origins. These changes have largely not been a growth in relative social mobility: it is change induced by the occupational structure. The conclusions apply both to current class and to the class which people entered when they first entered the labour market. The patterns of relative mobility could not be explained statistically by measures of the respondents’ educational attainment. The conclusions were broadly the same for the three countries, but there was some evidence that in the youngest cohort (people born between 1967 and 1976) experience of people from Wales was diverging from that of people from England and Scotland, with rather greater amounts of downward mobility. There were two methodological conclusions. Out-migration from country of birth within the UK did not seem to make any important difference to our results. That is encouraging for analysis of surveys confined to one of the three countries, because it suggests that losing track of out-migrants would not distort the results. The second methodological conclusion is that the comparative study of social mobility can find interesting topics to investigate at social levels lower than that of the state, here the comparison of the three countries which make up Britain.

scholarly journals Is London Really the Engine-Room? Migration, Opportunity Hoarding and Regional Social Mobility in the UK

2017 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. R58-R72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Friedman ◽  
Lindsey Macmillan
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Engine Room ◽  
The Uk ◽  
First Time ◽  
Domestic Migrants

In this paper we explore for the first time regional differences in the patterning of occupational social mobility in the UK. Drawing on data from Understanding Society (US), supported by the Labour Force Survey (LFS), we examine how rates of absolute and relative intergenerational occupational mobility vary across 19 regions of England, Scotland and Wales. Our findings somewhat problematise the dominant policy narrative on regional social mobility, which presents London as the national ‘engine-room’ of social mobility. In contrast, we find that those currently living in Inner London have experienced the lowest regional rate of absolute upward mobility, the highest regional rate of downward mobility, and a comparatively low rate of relative upward mobility into professional and managerial occupations. This stands in stark contrast to Merseyside and particularly Tyne and Wear where rates of both absolute and relative upward mobility are high, and downward mobility is low. We then examine this Inner London effect further, finding that it is driven in part by two dimensions of migration. First, among international migrants, we find strikingly low rates of upward mobility and high rates of downward mobility. Second, among domestic migrants, we find a striking overrepresentation of those from professional and managerial backgrounds. These privileged domestic migrants, our results indicate, are less likely to experience downward mobility than those from similar backgrounds elsewhere in the country. This may be partly explained by higher educational qualifications, but may also be indicative of a glass floor or opportunity hoarding.

scholarly journals Better times to come? Intergenerational class mobility of labour market entrants in Germany and the UK since the 1950s

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nhat An Trinh ◽  
Erzsebet Bukodi
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Relative Mobility ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Social Fluidity

This study examines over-time trends in intergenerational class mobility based on cohorts of labour market entrants in Germany and the UK since the 1950s. We calculate absolute and relative mobility rates, separately for men and women, using the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2016), the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009-2016), and the UK Labour Force Survey (2014-2017). Regarding absolute mobility, we find marked country differences in upward and downward rates. In Germany, downward mobility decreased, while upward mobility rose. In the UK, downward mobility increased, while upward mobility declined. We provide evidence that these differences can be linked to contrasting changes in the distribution of origin and destination classes. Regarding relative mobility, striking country similarities appear. For both countries, we observe increases in social fluidity for respondents entering the labour market during the 1950s and 1960s that cease to continue for cohorts thereafter. Comparisons between adjacent cohorts do not provide evidence that social fluidity follows cyclical developments of the economy or shorter-term volatilities in the labour market.

Cutting Through

Uneven Odds ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 171-206
Author(s):  
Divya Vaid
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
National Level ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Specific Occupation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This chapter brings out the influence of caste on social class mobility and analyses in detail the association between caste and social class in India. While theories of social change posit a decline in the impact of caste on social mobility over time, this chapter questions whether we see evidence of this at the national level. More crucially has the association between caste and class declined? And, has the relative importance of caste on achieveing a specific occupation, and hence social mobility, also declined overtime? In light of debates on affirmative action, this chapter asks whether certain castes find it harder to take advantage of upward class mobility chances, and conversely whether some castes are cushioned from downward mobility chances.

scholarly journals Intergenerational social mobility and allostatic load in Great Britain

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Präg ◽  
Lindsay Richards
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Socioeconomic Position ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Density Lipoprotein ◽  
Equal Weight ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Relationship

BackgroundIntergenerational social mobility is hypothesised to be a stressful process that has a negative effect on health. By examining the relationship between own socioeconomic position, parental socioeconomic position and allostatic load (AL) in a representative sample of the British population, we test this hypothesis.MethodsOur study uses cross-sectional data from 9851 adult participants of waves 2 and 3 of Understanding Society. The relationship between parental occupational class at age 14 years, respondents’ social class at the time of the interview and AL is explored by means of diagonal reference models, which allow us to disentangle the effects of parental social class, own social class and the mobility process. The AL score comprises the following biomarkers: (1) total cholesterol, (2) high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, (3) triglycerides, (4) glycated haemoglobin, (5) C-reactive protein, (6) fibrinogen, (7) systolic blood pressure, (8) diastolic blood pressure, (9) resting heart rate, (10) body mass index and (11) waist circumference.ResultsAL is particularly high among the stable working class and low among the stable upper class. On average, current class and origin class exert about equal weight on current AL. However, social mobility—regardless of whether upwards or downwards—is not detrimental for AL. Furthermore, we find evidence that class of origin may be less important among those outside the labour market for reasons other than retirement.ConclusionBoth own social class and parental social class influence AL to a similar extent. However, we find no evidence that mobility trajectories exert any effects, good or bad, on AL.

Trends in Intergenerational Class Mobility in Modern Britain: Evidence From National Surveys, 1972—2005

2008 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Goldthorpe ◽  
Colin Mills
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Modern Britain ◽  
Social Fluidity ◽  
Prevailing View ◽  
Representative Samples ◽  
Over Time

We present analyses of intergenerational social class mobility based on data from representative samples of the British population from 1972 to 2005. We distinguish throughout between absolute and relative rates of mobility. As regards absolute rates, we find little or no change in total mobility rates over the period covered. In the case of men, there is also little change in rates of upward and downward mobility — in contrast with the middle decades of the twentieth century when upward mobility steadily increased while downward mobility fell. This latter pattern does, however, prevail in the case of women. As regards relative rates, we again find, for men and women alike, an essential constancy over time. This, then, indicates that such changes as are apparent in absolute rates derive from shifts in class distributions rather than from any significant increase or decrease in social fluidity. Our results are contrary to the prevailing view in political and media circles that in Britain today the level of social mobility is in decline, although for men the pattern of mobility has become less favourable. We end with some remarks on policy implications.

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