Social inequality and mobility in history: introduction

Abstract

The processes by which social inequality is transmitted from one generation to the next are important for all societies. Notions of how ‘open’ a society is strongly legitimize or delegitimize its social and political order. In a fully open society each individual will achieve as much as his or her talent allows, without being stopped short by ‘inherited ’ inequalities, most notably social background. Societies open to ‘talent’ are better geared for innovation and economic growth, and we are inclined to think of them as fairer than societies that block the social ascent of their talented members in favour of inherited positions. Fully open or meritocratic societies do not exist, but some societies and some periods are more open than others. Has there been a trend towards more social mobility in all or some parts of the world ? That is a fundamental question for sociology and social history. Many historians and sociologists think that there is a trend away from traditional societies, where a person’s social position was essentially inherited, to more open ones, where social position depends upon individual achievement. Is there a convergence in levels of mobility between parts of the world? If so, where and when did those trends start? And what were the determinants of social mobility in the various regions and historical periods ? Variations in mobility patterns have long since interested historians and sociologists, from de Tocqueville, Marx, Weber, Sombart, Sorokin and the New Urban Historians to the flourishing community of stratification sociologists today. When de Tocqueville travelled in the USA early in the nineteenth century he noted an exceptionally high degree of mobility : There is still a class of menials and a class of masters but these classes are not always composed of the same individuals, still less of the same families; and those who command are