Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: ABSTRACT Recent studies of social mobility inspired by Pierre Bourdieu have sought to move beyond the traditional focus on vertical movement between big classes. Drawing on his language of capitals and social space, and spotlighting access to and differences within the elite, they have demonstrated mobility to be both multidimensional and fine-grained. This paper seeks to synthesise and broaden these developments, taking the UK as its case study. It uses data from the Labour Force Survey from 2021 to 2023 and a multidimensional class scheme to examine absolute rates of vertical, horizontal and diagonal mobility as well as relative odds and pathways of entry to fractions of the higher class linked to social origins. While the results confirm the importance of how much capital one starts with for limiting vertical mobility, they also reveal clear differences according to the preponderant type of capital people start with, as well as gender and ethnicity, that indicate specific strategies of social reproduction and ascent. I finish by calling for a consolidation and elaboration of a Bourdieusian research programme on social mobility.
Source: European Societies
DOI: 10.1162/euso.a.28
Author: Will Atkinson
Institution: University of Bristol
Language: English
Topic: Social and Cultural Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411400334