Abstract
AbstractThe prospect of upward social mobility is a central motive for international migration. Curiously, the nexus of spatial and social mobility attracted attention only relatively late and existing research on intergenerational social mobility usually concentrates on the constellation within the nation state. This chapter expands on this literature by investigating the intergenerational social mobility of international German migrants from the perspective of the country of origin. First, we focus on the social origin of internationally mobile and non-mobile persons using data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). How do the two groups differ in their social background? What kinds of capitals do international migrants inherit from their parents? In a second step, this chapter explores the differences in social fluidity between migrants and non-migrants. Does international mobility increase social fluidity? Our findings suggest that German emigrants are positively selected in terms of their social origin. Their parents are more likely to have academic degrees and to belong to the upper service classes compared with non-migrants. Although social fluidity is not significantly higher among emigrants compared with non-migrants, their risk of downward social mobility is significantly reduced.
Highlights
The question of intergenerational social mobility is a central concern in sociology
Our empirical analysis of the nexus between spatial and social mobility is based on the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) (Ette et al 2021)
In order to account for these compositional differences, we model relative rates of social mobility
Summary
The question of intergenerational social mobility is a central concern in sociology. It describes the association between the socio-economic status of parents and the status their children attain as adults. This chapter contributes to recent debates in social mobility research by analysing the impact of international spatial mobility on social mobility and the life chances of individuals It compares German citizens who recently moved abroad (‘emigrants’) with the internationally non-mobile population in Germany (‘non-migrants’). In the context of international migration, much research has investigated intragenerational mobility, whereas intergenerational social mobility has received less attention. Those who do analyse intergenerational mobility are often concerned with mobility between the first and second generation of migrants (Yaish 2002; Platt 2005). This chapter contributes to the literature on migration and social mobility by investigating the intergenerational social mobility from the perspective of the country of origin like the study by Zuccotti et al (2017) does.
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