Lecture on Social Mobility

Introduction

• Introduced the family: Mary (mum), Jim (dad), and Ian (son).
• They will help illustrate key concepts of social mobility.

Social Classes

• Ian is an accountant, considered middle class.
• Social hierarchy represented as a triangle:
  • Upper class at the top
  • Middle class in the middle
  • Lower class at the bottom

Intragenerational Mobility

• Definition: Changes in social status within a person's lifetime.
• Example: Ian gets promoted to CEO and joins upper class, or
• Ian gets fired, takes poorly paid job, and joins lower class.
• Key point: Affects the individual within their own generation/lifetime.

Intergenerational Mobility

• Definition: Changes in social status across generations.
• Involves considering the social status of an individual's parents.
• Example: Ian's parents are laborers (lower class), but Ian becomes CEO (upper class).
• Key point: Affects multiple generations, not just within one lifetime.

Main Differences

• Intragenerational Mobility:
  • Focuses on changes within an individual's lifetime.
  • Example: Ian's career changes.
• Intergenerational Mobility:
  • Focuses on changes across generations.
  • Example: Comparing Ian's social class to his parents' social class.