Theory of social mobility I
•Social mobility is the movement of people up or down the stratification system.
•Class systems allow for more movement than slave or caste systems.
•Intragenerational and intergenerational social mobility.
•While class systems do allow for social mobility, opportunities are not evenly distributed across
social groups
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•Social origin class/actual social class position have a significant impact on many aspects of
life, including education, occupation, place of residence, marriage partner, and more
•Against to economic liberal view of social world
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An important characteristic of class systems, as opposed to slave or caste systems, is that in
class-based systems of stratification, there is the opportunity for social mobility. This means
that people and groups can, potentially, move up or down in the rankings, and this is seen by many
as a significant benefit of class systems.
In reality, however, such mobility is less common than our national mythology suggests. Typically,
those who arrive at high positions have families who either had high positions themselves or the
resources to provide the appropriate education for advancement. Achieving upward mobility is very
difficult, and the wonderful stories we’ve all heard and seen (think, for example, of the movie The
Pursuit of Happyness) are so very moving because they are the exception, not the norm. If such
stories were common, they would not get our attention in nearly the same way.

Theory of social mobility II
•Loss aversion - psychological concept
•Those who now occupy managerial and professional positions will do all they can to protect their
children from falling down the social ladder.
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•To pay for the best pre-school provision
•To buy houses in areas with high-performing state schools
•To hire private tutors, and arrange educationally enriching experiences
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•All human behavior can be interpreted from the point of social position reproduction in time
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Theory of social mobility III
•People may move up or down the social ladder within their lifetime or from one generation to the
next.
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•Everyone has the same chance of moving up is what lies behind the idea of equality of opportunity.
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•Social mobility can relate to an individual’s life opportunities or opportunities in relation to
parents (intergenerational)
•ISO – inequality of social opportunity - definition
•IEO – inequality of educational opportunity - definition
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Inequality of opportunity
•Indicated by social mobility
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•Trends in European countries
•From agriculture to industry: industrial societies
•From industry to services: post-industrial societies
•These trends are reflected in structural social mobility trends
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•But no changes in social fluidity (relative social mobility)
•Odds ratios are the same
•Three factors that influence pattern of social fluidity
•desirability
•bariers
•resources
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An important characteristic of class systems, as opposed to slave or caste systems, is that in
class-based systems of stratification, there is the opportunity for social mobility. This means
that people and groups can, potentially, move up or down in the rankings, and this is seen by many
as a significant benefit of class systems.
In reality, however, such mobility is less common than our national mythology suggests. Typically,
those who arrive at high positions have families who either had high positions themselves or the
resources to provide the appropriate education for advancement. Achieving upward mobility is very
difficult, and the wonderful stories we’ve all heard and seen (think, for example, of the movie The
Pursuit of Happyness) are so very moving because they are the exception, not the norm. If such
stories were common, they would not get our attention in nearly the same way.

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Skleněný strop (Glass ceiling)
X
Lepivá podlaha (Sticky Floor)
omezení, bariéry
X
hodnoty, motivace
stejné úsilí
X
rozdílné úsilí
problém na straně systému
X
problém na straně rodiny/jedince
systémové/sociální vysvětlení
X
kulturalistické vysvětlení
Emile Durkheim
X
Max Weber
sociální fakta
X
sociální jednání
metodologický holismus
X
metodologický individualismus
Strukturní, systémové teorie
X
Teorie individuální
Strukturní změna/změna v omezeních
X
Teorie racionlání volby
Teorie kohortní výměny (v nejvyšších stupních vzdělání nejnižší OD asociace)
X
Mobilitní strategie (shora, zdola), Teorie averze k riziku
Age, Period, Cohort efekty v mobilitním výzkumu

An important characteristic of class systems, as opposed to slave or caste systems, is that in
class-based systems of stratification, there is the opportunity for social mobility. This means
that people and groups can, potentially, move up or down in the rankings, and this is seen by many
as a significant benefit of class systems.
In reality, however, such mobility is less common than our national mythology suggests. Typically,
those who arrive at high positions have families who either had high positions themselves or the
resources to provide the appropriate education for advancement. Achieving upward mobility is very
difficult, and the wonderful stories we’ve all heard and seen (think, for example, of the movie The
Pursuit of Happyness) are so very moving because they are the exception, not the norm. If such
stories were common, they would not get our attention in nearly the same way.

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Is America Dreaming?: Understanding Social Mobility
•YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2XFh_tD2RA
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Social mobility - politicians
•“I want to see social mobility rising once again,” said prime minister Tony Blair in 2004
•“We can unleash the biggest wave of social mobility since the second world war,” said prime
minister Gordon Brown in 2010.
•“I want to see a more socially mobile Britain,” said David Cameron in 2013.
•“I want Britain to be the world’s great meritocracy,” said Theresa May in 2016.
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•Why does social mobility happen?
•Two general factors that influence social mobility
1.Level of inequality
2.Exogenous and endogenous factors
•Exogenous, structural factors, absolute mobility
•Endogenous, individual factors, relative mobility
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Level of inequality I - GGC
•What is the relatioship between inequality and social mobilty?
•Aggregated level – Great Gatsby Curve
•Higer economic inequality means lower social mobility and vice versa
•Inequality generates less opportunities, low social mobility
•GGC: Great Gatsby Curve
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An important characteristic of class systems, as opposed to slave or caste systems, is that in
class-based systems of stratification, there is the opportunity for social mobility. This means
that people and groups can, potentially, move up or down in the rankings, and this is seen by many
as a significant benefit of class systems.
In reality, however, such mobility is less common than our national mythology suggests. Typically,
those who arrive at high positions have families who either had high positions themselves or the
resources to provide the appropriate education for advancement. Achieving upward mobility is very
difficult, and the wonderful stories we’ve all heard and seen (think, for example, of the movie The
Pursuit of Happyness) are so very moving because they are the exception, not the norm. If such
stories were common, they would not get our attention in nearly the same way.

Level of inequality II - GGC
•How does GGC work in individual level?
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Exogenous factors I
•Demographic, economic, political factors
•Contextual dependent
•Differences between countries
•level of industrialization
•technological and economic trends
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•Changes in social class structure
•Changes in the proportions of social classes
•Changes in numbers of people in classes vs changes in class positions of people
•Changes in classholders vs changes in social mobility

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•Birth cohort replacement, education, equalization and compositional effect in social mobility
(Breen, Johnson, 2007)
•Labour market = birth cohorts (APC differences)
•Cohort replacement
•Argument: in each younger cohort we can measure higher social fluidity (lower OD association)
•Why? Connections: O - E – D triangle
•Equalization effect
•Compositional effect
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•This argument is relevant for stable democratic society „under normal circumstances“
Example of exogenous factors

Endogenous factors
•Inner mobility regime
•Contextual independent
•Similar in all countries
•Level of social fluidity is the same over countries – red queen effect
•Similar factors that influence social fluidity
•Sociological theories
•Social vs. cultural reproduction (glass ceiling vs. sticky floor)
•Theory of rational action (Goldthorpe, 1996; 2000), the aim is to avoid of social decrease,
because of that strong orientation for social reproduction, especially in educational aspiration
that are stratified according to social origin
•Theory of cultural capital is a tool for reproduction of class position via educational system
(Bourdieu, Passeron, 1964; 1977)