The missing link? The relationship between spatial mobility and social mobility.

Sociological writing on social mobility has neglected to consider whether upward social mobility is linked to an individual's geographical mobility. This paper argues that there is no necessary link, but that in post-war Britain, where much intra-generational social mobility has been linked to workers' being promoted through internal labor markets of bureaucratic organizations this frequently means that these workers have to be re-located to different sites of that organization. In these circumstances there is a significant -- though under-researched -- link between social and spatial mobility. I argue that this type of upward social mobility is however becoming less important as public and private sector organizations have retrenched in recent years. Hence the link between social and spatial mobility has declined. I speculate on the implications of this for patterns of class formation and political alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]