Social Class: Social Mobility

Americans often think of their society as one which allows anyone to get ahead, as long as they are willing to work hard. However, the evidence suggests that upward social mobility may be more prevelant in Western Europe than the U.S. This board explores intergenerational and intragenerational mobility. Drawing from empirical research, the board highlights just how likely it is for people to move up or down in social class.
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The Sociological Cinema
a man climbing up stairs with stacks of money on the bottom and another person standing at the top
"The Sad Truth" Source: http://9gag.com/gag/aOm7wnR?ref=mobile
the bar chart shows how many people are using social media
Next Time Someone Says 'White Privilege Isn't Real,' Show Them This
(1 of 2) Social Mobility Matrix, White Americans Roughly 16 percent of white children and only 3% of black children born into the poorest 1/5 of US families will rise to become a member of the top 1/5 by the time they turn 40 years old Source: Reeves, Richard V. & Isabel V. Sawhill. 2014. "Equality of Opportunity: Definitions, Trends, and Interventions," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
63% of all Americans said most children in the U.S. won't be better off than their parents, even though 54% said they are better off than their own parents. [click on this image to find a short video and analysis examining social mobility in the United States and why the so-called American Dream is more of a reality in parts of Europe] Source: CNNMoney's American Dream Poll, conducted by ORC International, 2014
Social Immobility in the United States
63% of all Americans said most children in the U.S. won't be better off than their parents, even though 54% said they are better off than their own parents. [click on this image to find a short video and analysis examining social mobility in the United States and why the so-called American Dream is more of a reality in parts of Europe] Source: CNNMoney's American Dream Poll, conducted by ORC International, 2014
an image of the names of different languages in russian and english, as well as some other words
Social Immobility in the United States
Upward Mobility in the 50 Biggest Metro Areas. The Top 10 and Bottom 10 Source: Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner (http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/) [click on this image to find a short video and analysis examining social mobility in the United States and why the so-called American Dream is more of a reality in parts of Europe]
the line graph shows that children's likelihood of earning more than their parents is
Children's likelihood of earning more than their parents by birth year and income percentile The chance that a baby boomer would earn more than their parents was much higher than the chance a millennial would. Source: Equality of Opportunity Project
the bar chart shows how many americans are using social media
(2 of 2) Social Mobility Matrix, Black Americans Roughly 16% of white children & only 3% of black children born into the poorest 1/5 of US families will rise to become a member of the top 1/5 by the time they turn 40 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/21/upward-mobility-race_n_6016154.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000047&ir=Black+Voices) Source: Reeves, Richard V. and Isabel V. Sawhill. 2014. "Equality of Opportunity: Definitions, Trends, and Interventions," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
a bar chart showing the number of americans who have lived in poverty, and how much they
"Income Mobility" is a reflection of how much equal opportunity a society has--the ability of a child to rise to a higher socio-economic class than the one in which he/she was born (the American Dream). The higher bar in the graph below, the LESS mobility (equal opportunity) that country has; a son's earnings are highly correlated not with their individual talents & efforts, but rather with what their father earned... Source: Corak, 2006
the map shows where people are living in each state, according to those who live there
The middle-class share fell in almost all U.S. metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2014 % point change in the share of adults in middle-income households Source: Pew Research Center
a map shows the percentage of people living in each state
Probability of Reaching Top Quintile from Bottom Quintile, 2014 Source: The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/why-is-the-american-dream-dead-in-the-south/283313/)
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Related Interests

Social Class
Empirical Research
Social Science Project
Sociology
Western Europe
American Exceptionalism
the bar chart shows that there are many different types of children's wages
Social Immobility in the United States
In a nutshell, it appears that the benefits of your undergraduate degree in terms of earnings have an impact on your child's lifetime earnings. [click on this image to find a short video & analysis examining social mobility in the US & why the American Dream is more of a reality in parts of Europe] Source: Haskins et al, 2008., data from the College Board and The Brookings Institution (Read more here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/student_debt_report_final.pdf)
the graph shows that there are two different types of economic growth, and one is in decline
Greater Economic Segregation Is Associated with Lower Mobility Select U.S. metropolitan areas by economic mobility and neighborhood stratification Note: The 34 metro areas shown above are represented in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and are among the 50 most populous metro areas, according to 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The 12 most populous metro areas are labeled for ease of identification. Source: Pew Charitable Trusts
college graduates are more upward from the bottom and less likely fall from the top and middle
College Graduates Are More Upwardly Mobile from the Bottom and Less Likely to Fall from the Top and Middle, 2013 There's only a 10 percent chance that a college graduate from the bottom quintile will end up in the top quintile, but a 25 percent chance that a non-college grad from the top quintile will stay there. Rich kids without a college degree are 2.5 times more likely to end up rich than poor kids who graduate from college. Source: Pew Economic Mobility Project
an old newspaper advertisement showing men's heads in different styles and sizes, with the caption going up? or down?
"Going up? Or down?" - This is an illustration from a 1916 advertisement for a vocational school in the back of a US magazine. Education has been seen as a key to economic mobility, and this advertisement appealed to Americans' belief in the possibility of self-betterment, as well as threatening the consequences of downward mobility in the great income inequality existing during the Industrial Revolution.
a line graph showing the number of children in different countries
Social Immobility in the United States
This figure plots the difference in average income percentiles for children born to low vs. high-income parents in each year from 1971-1993... Source: Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner (http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/) [click on this image to find a short video and analysis examining social mobility in the United States and why the so-called American Dream is more of a reality in parts of Europe]