How often do working-class children obtain college degrees and then
pursue professional careers? Conversely, how frequently do the children
of doctors and lawyers fail to enter high status careers upon completion
of their schooling? As inequalities of wealth and income have increased
in industrialized nations over the past 30 years, have patterns of
between-generation mobility changed?
In this volume, leading sociologists and economists present original
findings and conceptual arguments in response to questions like these.
After assessing the range of mobility patterns observed in recent
decades, the volume considers the mechanisms that generate mobility,
focusing on both the training and skills that are rewarded in the labor
market as well as the role of educational institutions in certifying
graduates for professional positions. The volume concludes with chapters
that assess the contexts of social mobility, examining the impact of
macroeconomic conditions and societal levels of inequality on social and
economic mobility.