Social Mobility: Myth and Reality

In few other societies do people think about social mobil­ity as much as Americans do; in fact, moving ahead has historically been central to the American Dream. Furthermore, the assumption that society offers plenty of opportunity to improve one's social position is an important ideological support of social stratification in the United States (Kleugel & Smith, 1986).

But is social mobility as commonplace as many Americans imagine it is? Sociological research suggests that, in fact, social mobility is fairly common. Studies of intergenerational mobility using the broad categories of blue-collar and white-collar jobs (which, unfortu­nately, have focused almost exclusively on men) show that almost 40 percent of the sons of blue-collar workers have white-collar jobs and almost 30 percent of sons born into white-collar families have a blue-collar occupa­tion. When more narrowly defined occupational catego­ries are used, about 80 percent of sons show at least some social mobility in relation to their fathers (Blau & Duncan, 1967; Featherman & Hauser, 1978).

These facts support three general conclusions. First, social mobility is relatively high for American males, as we would expect in a class system. Second, at least during most of this century, social mobility has more commonly been upward than downward. This is largely a case of structural social mobility, a white-collar revolution by which white-collar jobs have steadily re­placed the blue-collar and farming occupations more common several generations ago. Third, although sweep­ing changes are evident over many decades, social mobility within a single generation has usually been incremen­tal rather than dramatic.

Finally, how does the United States compare to other industrial societies in social mobility? Because of the emphasis American culture places on individual achievement, one might expect social mobility to be more common in the United States, but comparative studies do not bear this out. Table 10-3 provides a com­parative look at intergenerational social mobility in six industrial societies (Lipset & Bendix, 1967).

Table 10-3 INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY

IN SIX INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

Country	Upward Social Mobility	Downward Social Mobility
Switzerland	45%	13%
France	39	20
Japan	36	22
United States	33	26
Sweden	31	24
West Germany	29	32

SOURCE: Seymour Martin Lipset and Reinhard Bendix, Social Mobility in Industrial Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), p. 25.

In this table, intergenerational social mobility is based on the occupation of fathers and their sons. Upward social mobility indicates a father with a blue-collar occupation and a son with a white-collar occupation. Downward social mobility indicates a father with a white-collar occupation and a son with a blue-collar occupation.