Social Mobility in Europe

Abstract

In contemporary studies of social mobility a key distinction is drawn between observed patterns of social mobility, sometimes referred to as &s;absolute mobility&s;, and social fluidity. Absolute mobility is concerned with patterns and rates of mobility, where mobility is understood simply as movement between class origins and class destinations. Absolute mobility concerns the observed rates and patterns of flows between origin and destination classes and, in mobility analysis, is treated as the consequence of social fluidity operating within fixed origin and destination distributions. Britain is the sole clear exception to this: here there has been little or no change. In other cases—notably Germany—there is no statistically significant change, though the trend, at least for men, is towards a weaker association between origins and destinations. The experience of this project should lead people to question the balance that mobility research has struck between social fluidity and absolute mobility.