QUESTIONS ABOUT OPNENNESS

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QUESTIONS ABOUT OPNENNESS

• MOBILITY AND
• STATUS ATTAINMENT RESEARCH

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Relevant Questions
1. How much mobility is there in U.S.
Society? 2. What is the nature of the
mobility? 3. Are mobility patterns the same for
all parts of the structure 4. What roles do
achievement and inheritance play in mobility? 5.
How do individuals achieve their status or
position in our societys hierarchy?
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Types of Studies

• Mobility Studies
• answer questions about the degree to which
  positions are inherited
• Status Attainment Studies
• answer questions about why people get ahead
• answer questions about individual factors that
  contribute to mobility

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Terms to Know

• Horizontal Mobility
• lateral move from one position to another that
  does not affect status
• Vertical Mobility
• Change in position that results in a move up or
  down in social status
• Intergenerational Mobility
• change in social status from one generation to
  the next
• Intragenerational Mobility
• change in social status for same person over
  their lifetime

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Terms to Know

• Structural Mobility
• changes in social status due to changes in the
  occupational or economic structure of a society
• Open Society
• a society where there is a lot of mobility from
  one generation top the next
• Typifies class societies with class systems of
  stratification
• Closed Society
• a society where there is not much social movement
  between generations
• A society where political and cultural norms
  dictate against mobility

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How To Read a Mobility Table
F a t h e r s O c c u p a t I o n
Sons Occupation
High
Low
High
Downward Mobility
Upward Mobility
Low
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Some Major Conclusions That Can Be Drawn From
Mobility Studies

• Industrialized countries are moving towards a
  similar rate of mobility.
• Upward mobility more common as countries move
  towards industrialization
• More than half the population does not experience
  mobility
• Much of the mobility in industrialized nations is
  due to changes in the occupational and economic
  structure (structural mobility)
• Most industrialized nations have mobility in the
  middle of the status hierarchy
• Most of the mobility in industrialized countries
  tends to be upwards
• Mobility tends to coincide with political
  stability

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Some Major Conclusions That Can Be Drawn From
Mobility Studies
Trends in the United States

• There is a large amount of mobility
• most mobility is short range (move to nearest up
  or down position)
• most of the mobility takes place in the middle of
  the status hierarchy
• Information about mobility into the very top of
  status hierarchy is limited.
• Know that there is much inheritance at the top
  and recruitment is selective
• For white males, occupational mobility appears to
  be greater than would be expected by changes in
  the occupational structure
• In 1980s-1990s mobility seems to have slowed
  and appears downward mobility is more prevalent
  than upward mobility

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Some Major Conclusions That Can Be Drawn From
Mobility Studies
Trends in the United States

• Mobility patterns of blacks and women are
  different from white males
• For blacks occupational structure is more rigid
  at the bottom. At same time there is extensive
  disinheritance at the top.
• When examine womens own career mobility then No
  matter where women originate in hierarchy most of
  the movement appears to be into lower level
  non-manual occupations.
• When examine womens mobility as measured by
  husbands position then resemble mobility
  patterns of white males

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Major Issues to Keep in Mind

• Just because there is mobility in a society, it
  does not mean there is an absence of social
  inequality
• High mobility can be consistent with high
  inequality and may serve to mask it.

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Individual Mobility

• Structural forces create opportunities for
  mobility but question is which individuals are
  most likely to make the most of these
  opportunities?

Those with the most talent, motivation, and
skills regardless of the circumstances they were
born into.
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Status Attainment

• Major results
• Social origin, education and first job accounts
  for lt50 of variance in occupational status
• Education has the largest impact
• Economic origins explain most of the variance in
  occupational achievement
• Most of the impact of family origin is through
  education

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Status Attainment for Women

• Women omitted from most studies because believed
  that status derives from husband
• Sex segregation remained fairly stable in the
  1960s. This impacts womens achievements.
• Women moving into male fields believed to
  indicate a decline in profession
• Women are more likely than men to face limited
  job mobility and be employed in peripheral firms.

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Status Attainment Model for Blacks

• Cumulative disadvantage to being black
• hard time getting education
• education has lower pay-off in terms of
  occupational status and income
• Successful blacks are more likely than whites to
  come from privileged background
• Psychological variables (parental support,
  aspirations, peer support) more important than
  for whites
• For blacks personality and conformity play a
  larger role in grades
• For whites personality and intelligence play
  equal roles
• For black in contrast to whites, grades have no
  effect on educational or occupational attainment

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Status AttainmentCriticisms/Weaknesses

• Models do not explain much of the variance in
  income
• Models leave 50 of the variance in occupational
  status unexplained
• Different variables are important for the
  achievement of whites and blacks
• Most of this research ignores women

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Status AttainmentCriticisms/weaknesses Continued

• Ignores the roles of mothers in influencing where
  children end -up
• Ignores non-individual factors
• Structural, economic, and organizational
• Study of status is not equivalent to the study
  of inequality
• Inequality structure shapes opportunity structure
• Models are based on a functionalist view of the
  economy