7 - Structural Changes in Occupational Mobility among Men in the United States

Abstract

There has been no change over time in the relative mobility chances of American men whose fathers held different occupations. Changes in the occupational structure are the only source of systematic variation in rates of intergenerational occupational mobility. Based on this assumption, we have constructed detailed tables of the occupational mobility of U. S. men in 1952, 1962 and 1972. Both between and within cohorts, systematic trends appear which include increasing upward mobility, decreasing downward mobility and, by some measures, a weakening of the relationship between father's and son's occupations. At least for men in the U. S., the shifting occupational structure is the driving force and the problematic issue in changing intergenerational mobility patterns. We suggest that these same ideas be applied in cross-societal research. If there be invariances in the mobility process across societies which match those across time within the U.S., then comparative mobility research should be reoriented to investigate the sources and consequences of transformations of the occupational structure.