Blackwell Reference Online

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This entry comprises an analysis of intergenerational mobility, and in particular mobility tables, in which parents’ and children's positions are cross-classified. These positions can refer to the level of educational achievement, earnings, occupational position, religious denomination, social class, and so on. Intergenerational class mobility (social mobility) involves the class of the family in which respondents lived when young (the origin class), and their current class position (the destination class). The analysis of social mobility has a long tradition within sociology and largely evolved within the context of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee 28 on Social Stratification and Mobility. Elaborate overviews of the results of the different “generations” of social mobility research have been published ( Ganzeboom et al. 1991 ; Treiman & Ganzeboom 2000 ; Breen & Jonsson 2005 ). Usually, the origin class in an intergenerational mobility table is related to the occupational position fathers held when respondents were between 12 and 16 years of age, and the destination class is related to the current occupational position of respondents, although sometimes destination refers to the first occupation held. A typical age selection for respondents is between 25 and 64 years of age. How many categories do the origin and destination class have? ... log in or subscribe to read full text