Social Mobility and Political Attitudes: A Study of Intergenerational Mobility among Young British Men

Abstract

High rates of intergenerational social mobility prevail in modern industrial societies. Interpreting the consequences of this mobility is a difficult problem for theorists of democratic politics. Egalitarians must welcome the breakdown of ascriptively based limitations to human achievement. Mobility may, moreover, be a major societal safety valve which contributes to political stability. On the other hand, mobility may weaken primary group ties, isolate mobile men, and erode traditional values. Thus, it may be a source of social and political disorder as well as stability. One means of evaluating the consequences of social mobility is to examine the attitudes of mobile individuals. Few studies, however, have examined the relationship between mobility and political attitudes, mainly because adequate data are not available. Intergenerational mobility may affect attitudes through two fundamentally different processes. Mobile individuals may change their social and political attitudes as a result of their own mobility; or people may change their attitudes because they perceive other individuals as mobile. To understand best the ways in which a mobile individual is affected by his own mobility, we should view a man's entry into the work force as part of his socialization experiences.' Once a man enters the work