Economic Mobility

Economic mobility refers to the ability of individuals or families to change their economic position, moving up or down the distribution of income and wealth over a lifetime or across generations. Researchers distinguish absolute mobility, whether people are better off than their parents, from relative mobility, whether their rank in the distribution changes. Pitirim Sorokin pioneered the study of social mobility, and Peter Blau and Otis Dudley Duncan’s status attainment model examined the effects of family background and education on occupational outcomes. Gary Solon and Miles Corak compared intergenerational income elasticities across countries, and Raj Chetty and colleagues mapped how mobility varies by neighborhood in the United States. Corak’s Great Gatsby Curve describes how more unequal societies tend to have lower mobility. Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural capital explains how advantage is passed on, and Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro stressed the role of inherited wealth. Michael Young’s satire of meritocracy warned that mobility can legitimize hierarchy. Barriers include education costs, discrimination, housing segregation, and labor market insecurity. Economic mobility remains central to research on inequality, opportunity, education, family, and social policy.