The Direct Effect of Social Origins on Social Mobility Chances: ‘Glass Floors’ and ‘Glass Ceilings’ in Britain

Alexi Gugushvili,John H Goldthorpe,Erzsébet Bukodi

doi:10.1093/esr/jcx043

Alexi Gugushvili, John H Goldthorpe + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcx043

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Abstract

textabstractIn this article we pursue, using appropriate British birth cohort data, various issues that arise from recent research into the ‘direct’ effect of social origins on individuals’ social mobility chances: i.e. the effect that is not mediated by education and that can be seen as giving rise to non-meritocratic ‘glass floors’ and ‘glass ceilings’. We show that if educational level is determined at labour market entry, class destinations are significantly associated with class origins independently of education. However, we go on to investigate how far the direct effect may be underestimated by an insufficiently comprehensive treatment of social origins, and also how far it may be overestimated by a failure to take into account the effects of later-life education and resulting changes in individuals’ relative qualification levels. Finally, having arrived at our best estimates of the extent of the direct effect, we seek to identify factors that mediate it. While individuals’ cognitive ability and sense of locus of control prove to play some part, reported parental help in the labour market does not appear to be of any great importance. Some implications of our findings both for further research and for the ideal of an education-based meritocracy are considered.

Highlights

The role of education in social mobility has for long been a focus of research interest, and it is well established that individuals’ levels of educational attainment are a major factor in determining their chances of mobility or immobility
We seek to establish how far DESO is present in the experience of individuals in the 1970 birth cohort and how it is expressed in more specific glass floor and glass ceiling effects when DESO is defined in relation to relative qualification level at labour market entry
As regards glass floor effects, it can be seen that if one takes men or women who were in the bottom qualifications tertile at labour market entry, their class of origin is clearly associated with their class position at age 38

Summary

Introduction

The role of education in social mobility has for long been a focus of research interest, and it is well established that individuals’ levels of educational attainment are a major factor in determining their chances of mobility or immobility. Relative Qualifications Position at Age 38 It is possible that educational qualifications obtained after labour market entry bear on mobility chances, and to allow for this, we include in our analyses a variable constructed in the following way.

Results

Conclusion