What Drives Intergenerational Mobility? The Role of Family, Neighborhood, Education, and Social Class: A Review of Bukodi and Goldthorpe's Social Mobility and Education in Britain
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 61,
no. 4, December 2023
(pp. 1540-78)
Abstract
The main finding of Bukodi and Goldthorpe (2019), using social status based on occupation groupings, is that there have not been improvements nor any decline in relative intergenerational mobility in Britain since World War II in terms of social class. Notably, there has not been improvement in the mobility of children from working-class backgrounds relative to other background classes. Importantly, the authors argue strongly that education is not the key determinant of adult success in the labor market. Moreover, improving the educational attainment of children from poor socio-economic backgrounds does not help improve their labor market performance. This suggests that policies to improve the mobility of children from poor social backgrounds should not include attempts to foster human capital or education policies in general.Citation
Salvanes, Kjell G. 2023. "What Drives Intergenerational Mobility? The Role of Family, Neighborhood, Education, and Social Class: A Review of Bukodi and Goldthorpe's Social Mobility and Education in Britain." Journal of Economic Literature, 61 (4): 1540-78. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20211622Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- I26 Returns to Education
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
- N34 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: 1913-