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Four decades of rising incomes at the top, combined with income stagnation and declining intergenerational social mobility for the majority of American households, have combined to produce what has been widely described as a "new gilded age" in the United States. Yet analyses of the best available survey data reveal little evidence of a proportional increase in policy demands for redistribution over time. What explains this puzzling pattern of non-responsiveness? One classical explanation, revived in recent economic literature, postulates that high and persisting levels of optimism about the chances for advancement and social mobility reduce Americans' willingness to support redistributive public policies. Although seemingly paradoxical in the current economic environment, the "prospect of upward mobility" (POUM) hypothesis is consistent with cross-national survey evidence revealing relatively high levels of support for such beliefs. What about trends over-time? This raises an important and largely unexamined question: Have underlying beliefs about POUM also shaped Americans' attitudes toward redistributive policies during the era of rising inequality? In this paper, we examine the POUM-policy preference link, and how it has changed in recent decades. We find that POUM beliefs have shaped how individuals form policy attitudes toward inequality and taxes, net of partisanship, income, and confidence in government. Study findings provide new and provocative evidence in support of the POUM hypothesis, and we discuss implications for models of inequality attitudes and more generally scholarship on the politics of rising inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has examined effects on mobility of education level, social class background, and strength of achievement motive. The attainment of some college education is shown to enhance greatly the likelihood of upward mobility and reduce the likelihood of downward mobility. However, much mobility is not attributable to the factor of education. Strength of achievement motive is shown to exert noticeable influence, on upward mobility especially, among persons who lack any college training. An analysis of the interaction of factors associated with social class background, strength of achievement motive, and level of education in the determination of mobility is offered; the analysis rationalizes both the absence of expected relationships between strength of achievement motive and mobility among persons from upper middle-class backgrounds, and the presence of such relationships among persons from the other social class groups. The correctness of this latter analysis will, of course, turn upon the results of future research in which more refined measures of social class variables are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two implicit models have provided the major frameworks for rural-urban migration research in developing societies: one model, the underprivilege model, predicts that rural migrants enter the bottom rungs of the urban occupational structure and suffer inequality in status attainment in the city: the other model, the push up model, suggests that the influx of rural migrants provides a structural impetus to upward social mobility for the urban natives. This study synthesizes relevant findings from several major Asian and Latin American metropolises and thereby provides a cross-national test of the two models. The paper rejects both models and explicates structural reasons why the models do not hold true in Third World cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how variations in status crystallization influence the status attainment process in two stratification systems: the kibbutz and the urban population in Israel. The first is an example of a weakly crystallized system; the second of a moderately crystallized one. The findings provide support for the proposition that in weakly crystallized systems status dimensions tend to affect only variables which measure equivalent dimensions, that is, corresponding variables, with minimal radiation of effects to noncorresponding ones. This pattern has been observed in the application of the status attainment model to the kibbutz. In the urban sample the pattern of effects is uneven. While there is a partial tendency of status dimensions to have a stronger effect on noncorresponding variables, the discrepancy between corresponding and noncorresponding effects is small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the analysis of socioeconomic achievement initiated by Blau and Duncan and subsequently developed by both Jencks and Rainwater. The major extensions arc the specification of models for female heads of household in the labor force and the inclusion of several previously neglected predictors of socioeconomic achievement including some which require panel data. Our analysis suggests that a different model is needed for females than for males and that a different model is needed for black females than for white females. The evidence also suggests that the socioeconomic success of women is more fixed by background, education, and occupational factors, and is less a function of individual ability than is the case for men. The evidence supporting this conclusion is particularly compelling for black women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discuss the merits of this last hypothesis is beyond the scope of this paper, which has the much more limited aim of examining the empirical support for Lipset and Bendix's original argument. How firmly can we rely on their empirical generalization that the overall pattern of social mobility appears to be much the same in industrial societies? To answer this requires a reanalysis of their data. Although a complete assessment of this generalization would require the examination of all the available material, I have made here no attempt to incorporate more recent findings than they consider. Needless to say, this review is not meant to be negative but, rather, reopens an issue which may have been prematurely closed. Indeed it may even be that readers of Lipset and Bendix have imbued their findings with greater finality than was indicated, since in their original monograph they stress the tentative nature of their interpretation. As an interpretation their study remains masterful, and this critique should be seen in this context. One final qualification is that since the chapter in which this analysis appears was in fact written by Lipset and Zetterberg, it may be more proper to refer to this thesis as the Lipset-Zetterberg thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a more systematic study of the relationship between fraternity membership and mobility aspirations. Controls for relevant social background variables (income, education, and religious identification) are added so that a better indication of the true relationship between aspirations and fraternity membership can be made. Based on the findings of Levine and Sussmann and those of Jackson and Winkler, it is hypothesized that the higher one's mobility aspirations, the more likely one is to join a fraternity. A caveat must be interjected here. It is not assumed that only social mobility aspirations determine whether or not one joins a fraternity. Related research by the author indicates that other variables, especially peer and familial pressures, are very important in determining membership in fraternities. What is attempted here is an analysis which focuses on one small part of the membership process so as to shed some light on a hitherto neglected research area, viz., the relationship between mobility aspirations and fraternity membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major objective of the research reported here is to investigate the significance and meaning of the contextual effects of communities on individuals' opportunities for socioeconomic attainment. A model which incorporates both individuals and their communities is proposed and tested. The empirical test was done by using samples of the Israeli labor force population. The findings demonstrate that community has significant effects on individuals' attainment. Community seems to be an additional factor that affects social mobility and as such an important dimension of the stratification system. Characteristics defining the social context of the community as an opportunity structure are identified and their significance discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars assume that Asian Americans’ emphasis on education is due to immigrant parents’ own experiences with intense education when young and concerns about their children’s social mobility in the United States. This article reopens the question by considering Indian immigrants who prioritize academics for their children, including extracurricular academics. Contrary to common assumption, education is not these immigrants’ top priority. Instead, they are responding to and motivated by a sense of intense competition, in which their children must stand out among peers. Asian immigrant parents choose education as the best venue in which to make their children competitive. They demonstrate a minority culture of mobility, performed as a distinct style of concerted cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, students’ ability to perform well in school mathematics is important for gaining access to a selective college and affects entry into sought-after majors. We find that the gatekeeper function of mathematics is not a function of general academic prowess and operates separately from advantages attributable to family background. Moreover mathematics is especially important for educational attainment among youth from higher socioeconomic status families. Human capital theory implies that schooling’s emphasis on math reflects its functional importance in the workplace. However, our analyses of skills used in workplaces indicate that very small proportions of educated workers ever use “school math.” We draw out the implications of this disjuncture both for theories of class reproduction and for human capital theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gender differences in neighboring are investigated using survey data from respondents in 81 Nashville neighborhoods. Of primary concern is why women neighbor more than men. Secondarily, the effects of life-cycle stage and socioeconomic status (SES) on neighboring are explored. Of these three, gender most strongly predicts neighboring activities, even with full and part time employment controlled. Life-cycle stage and SES are about equivalent in strength, although they significantly influence different neighboring measures. Findings suggest that the definition in American gender roles of women as bearers of emotional and social responsibilities accounts for their more extensive neighboring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many less developed countries, planners are concerned about the concentration of population in one or two major cities. The authors implemented a small-scale experimental program in Northeast Thailand designed to alter patterns of out-migration from a rural area, specifically to redirect migration to urban centers within the same region rather than toward Bangkok. Using data from a baseline survey and a follow-up survey 12 months later, strong effects on mobility behavior, modest effects on information, and little or no effect on community evaluations and mobility plans are discerned. Implications for the attitude-behavior literature are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blau's and Duncan's reconceptualization of social mobility analysis in terms of the status attainment model led to a rapid growth in the number of studies of mobility processes in the United States. Observations of differences in the attainment processes of different segments of the population and theoretical and methodological critiques have produced alternative ways of viewing and analyzing social stratification and mobility. Recent European contributions have tended to be more heavily theory-laden and concerned with social class rather than a continuum of occupational levels. Current developments promise to provide a basis for a rapprochement between the two approaches and further clarification of the relative importance of structural and individual factors in the social mobility process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turner's conceptualization of the relationship between education and social mobility in Great Britain and the United States as forming "sponsored" and "contest" systems is used as a theoretical framework for comparing the process of occupational status attainment of British and American women college graduates. British women graduates are more occupationally mobile than Americans; they gain more from attending prestigious institutions, studying science and mathematics and securing a higher class degree as compared with American women with similar qualifications. American graduate women benefit more from attaining a Ph.D. Marriage and motherhood have less significant, but different, cross-national effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special tabulations of the 1970 census of Brazil are used to estimate fertility and mortality rates by level of household income. Projections to the year 2000 indicate that the poor population will grow substantially faster than the rich population. Projections that simulate upward social mobility and declines in fertility and mortality levels do not alter this conclusion. Differential rates of natural increase by income strata are shown to contribute to an increase in the proportion of the population in the lower income strata by the end of the century. Although these differentials could be reduced by a more equitable distribution of income, the style of development in Brazil has yielded only a small increase in the real income of the poor. Analysis of the income elasticity of fertility and mortality at different levels of household earnings suggest that this pattern of economic growth will further widen differences in the rate of natural increase by socioeconomic strata. The analysis of the demographic behavior of population subgroups questions the assumption that a lower rate of aggregate population growth in developing countries necessarily contributes to a more equitable distribution of income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four mobility and attainment propositions are extracted from a theoretical discussion relating class mobility and attainment processes to the development of capitalism. These propositions are evaluated empirically using United States Labor Statistics, General Social Survey data, and primary data collected from a SMSA. The first proposition maintains that paralleling the development of capitalism will be a structural decrease in the relative size of the capital-owning classes resulting in mobility. In the second proposition, it is asserted that with the development of capitalism, the likelihood of downward mobility will be significantly greater than the probability of upward mobility. The third proposition stated that in advanced capitalist societies, circulation class mobility will be substantially constrained by structural change. Lastly, it is proposed that in advanced capitalist societies, attained class positions will depend significantly on an unmediated (by educational attainment) origin class effect. Empirical support is uncovered for all propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of occupational mobility have generally ranked occupations on the basis of their socioeconomic status level or prestige component to measure movement between jobs. Two potential problems may limit the usefulness of that approach for racial and ethnic minority groups: (1) the relationship between occupation and socioeconomic status may not be the same as for the majority group, and (2) minority group members are more likely to be clustered at the low end of both socioeconomic and prestige scales. Canonical correlation analysis requires no prior ranking of occupations, so we use it to investigate intergenerational and career mobility among a sample of Mexican Americans. The findings indicate that mobility among Mexican Americans is about as frequent as among the total population, but that the pattern of movement differs considerably. As a result, the relative status of occupations among Mexican Americans has changed over time and, consequently, socioeconomic status scales developed for the total population do not provide accurate assessments of mobility for Mexican Americans. This discrepancy is less noticeable for career mobility, indicating that among the latest generation of Mexican Americans, mobility patterns are becoming more similar to those in the rest of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have suggested a relationship between occupational and religious mobility, namely, that the later should follow upon the former in order to provide the mobile individual with a more socially congruent context. The greater the distance of occupational mobility, therefore, the more likely is religious mobility to occur. Analysis of data from a telephone survey of a small Midwestern city reveals that occupational and religious mobility are not related per se; there is, however, a significant relationship between occupational mobility distance and religious mobility. Education is also significantly and positively related to occupational mobility. Highly educated individuals who are occupationally mobile across a great distance are the most religiously mobile group of all. There is also a tendency for the religiously mobile to move into high status Protestant denominations or out of the Christian religion altogether; this pattern is intensified among those who are highly mobile occupationally. The results suggest that religious mobility is a coping mechanism rather than a search for a more socially congruent context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on participation with kin, with friends, and in voluntary associations was used to test two competing hypotheses of the effects of social mobility on social relations. The dissociative hypothesis maintains that mobility leads to social isolation, while the socialization hypothesis predicts an adaptive outcome to mobility. The relationship is more complex than either position would suggest. Social mobility is associated with isolation from kin and friends, but only for the upwardly mobile. The findings obtained with voluntary associations support the socialization hypothesis in that the level of membership of the socially mobile is intermediate between the two stable groups. Social mobility has maladaptive consequences for more intimate and personal social relations, but it is integrative as far as participation in voluntary associations is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature concerned with social mobility is quite extensive. This body of material has to a great extent taken a societal or institutional perspective, with a large proportion of mobility studies focusing on such questions, among others, as: what are the social origins of a particular occupational stratum; what rates and trends can be found over time and place; and, are class boundaries becoming more rigid? Emphasis on such questions is certainly pertinent for the understanding of stratification. Yet, there has been a relative neglect of what should prove to be an intriguing aspect of social mobility—the social and psychological consequences of such mobility for the individuals involved. A basic question to ask is: do individuals who have experienced mobility exhibit variations in their behavioral patterns when compared to individuals who are socially stable? To find and study possible variations in the behavior of individuals who have had different mobility experiences seems an important area of investigation. Several decades ago it was postulated that social mobility resulted in social isolation through its disruption of participation in primary and secondary group structures (cf. Durkheim, 1951:252-254; Sorokin, 1927); mobility was seen as detrimental for interpersonal relations because of its effect on ties within these groups. However, the theoretical and empirical work since these early statements has not shown that such a simple relationship between mobility and participation exists; mobility does not seem always to lead to social isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several authors have shown that over the past two or three decades the status of Catholics in America has risen more rapidly than that of Protestants (see Greeley, 1963; Bressler and Westoff, 1963; Mack et al., 1956; Vaughn et al., 1966; and Lipset and Bendix, 1959). A recent and well-documented article by Glenn and Hyland (1967) demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that Catholics are now of higher average status than Protestants as a category. Several other studies in the recent past (Lenski, 1961; Pope, 1955; and Hollingshead and Redlich, 1958) have shown that Catholics were, until recently, of lower average status than Protestants as a category, and lower than most large individual Protestant denominations. If this was in fact the case, then the higher current status of Catholics necessarily means Catholics have been more mobile than Protestants. Among the more commonly-accepted reasons for the apparent "mobility advantage" of Catholics are those expressed by Glenn and Hyland (1967). They say: "The more favorable distribution of Catholics by region and community size could mask a religiously-based handicap, and there are reasons to believe that it does." They argue that since Catholics are more urban and more concentrated in the non-southern regions than are Protestants, and status and mobility in these areas are higher than in the country generally, these facts explain the nationwide Catholic advantage in status. Curiously, Glenn and Hyland claim that their data support Greeley's (1963) finding that Catholics have no mobility disadvantage, but hold that Lenski (1961) and Lipset and Bendix (1959) were right in their conclusions that Protestants were more mobile than Catholics. Glenn and Hyland suggest that there is little reason to further explore Protestant-Catholic status and mobility questions, since the differences were (or are) probably minimal, and other kinds of questions are more important. Among such questions, they cite research into dif- ferences among various Protestant denominations as a possible area of inquiry. And clearly there is a need for more good research into areas such as the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing belief among family sociologists that the concept of the "isolated" nuclear family is misleading when used to typify the contemporary urban family in the United States. In a comprehensive article on the kin family network in modern urban society, Sussman and Burchinal refer to the lag between apparently antiquated family theory and empirical reality as an "academic cultural lag." They point out that the still dominant family theory "stresses the social isolation and social mobility of the nuclear family while findings from empirical studies reveal an existing and functioning extended kin family system closely integrated within a network of relationships and mutual assistance along bilateral kinship lines and encompassing several generations." The direct purpose of this article is to analyze data from a research project on the dropout in terms of a specific facet of family background; indirectly, and perhaps more important, the article appraises the conceptualization of the "isolated nuclear family" when applied to the contemporary lower-class urban family. We may cite four ideal types of family structure and functioning that emerge from the current literature on the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]