Social Mobility Research Articles

The Impact of Social Class Solidification on the Educational Opportunities of the Next Generation in the Philippines and the Barriers to Social Mobility in Primary Education

This paper explores the impact of social class solidification on the educational opportunities of the next generation in the Philippines, focusing specifically on primary education and the barriers to social mobility faced by children from low-income families. Despite recent economic growth, the Philippines remains deeply stratified, with income inequality and social class divisions reinforcing each other. This entrenched disparity limits access to quality education for disadvantaged students, exacerbating the cycle of poverty. Key barriers include economic constraints, underfunded public schools, language mismatches, and limited access to early childhood education, all of which contribute to lower academic achievement and higher dropout rates among poor students. The long-term effects of these barriers perpetuate inequality, hinder the development of a skilled workforce, and contribute to social instability. The paper argues that systemic reforms, such as increased investment in public education, targeted support for disadvantaged students, language and curriculum reforms, and expanded access to early childhood education, are critical to breaking this cycle. By addressing these barriers, the Philippines can create a more equitable education system that enables upward social mobility and promotes long-term social and economic stability.

Belongingness in higher education: Fostering decent education to sustain academic progress and equitable access to decent work

Given the critical role of higher education in fostering social mobility and access to decent work, our study investigates how the college experience, shaped by social marginalization and economic constraints, influences students’ academic engagement and work volition before and during COVID-19. Drawing from the psychology of working theory (PWT) and decent education, we assess the mediating role of school belongingness and the moderating effect of COVID-19 timing through structural equation modeling. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 exacerbated the negative effect of social and economic marginalization on work volition and the negative effects of economic constraints on academic engagement, while also diminishing the moderating effect of school belongingness. These insights are crucial considering the profound disruptions in higher education due to the pandemic and underscore the importance of fostering school belongingness as a component of decent education to sustain student engagement and positive views of their work futures.

Childhood and adult socioeconomic status influence on late-life healthy longevity: evidence from the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey.

Older people in low- and middle-income countries are more susceptible to the impact of childhood experiences. This study comprehensively examines how childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and adult SES collectively influence late-life healthy longevity from a life course perspective, providing insights for shaping health-related policies. This study analyzed data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (1998-2018) with 37,264 individuals aged 65 and above. Using R software, we applied continuous-time multi-state models incorporating the Rockwood frailty index with 38 indicators to assess participants' health. Childhood SES or life course SES trajectories were core explanatory variables, while age and gender were controlled. Multinomial regression estimated annual transition probabilities between different states, and the multi-state life table method calculated total and frailty-specific life expectancy (LE). (1) Social mobility among older people in China showed an upward trend from childhood to adulthood. (2) Transition probabilities for robust-frailty, robust-dead, and frailty-dead increased with age, while frailty-robust decreased. Transition probabilities and LE varied across different childhood SES (low, medium, high) or life-course SES trajectory categories (low-low, low-medium, low-high, medium-low, medium-medium, medium-high, high-low, high-medium, high-high), with probabilities of robust-frailty, robust-dead, and frailty-dead decreasing sequentially across different categories, and frailty-robust increasing sequentially across different categories. Total LE, robust LE, and robust LE proportion increased sequentially across different categories, while frailty LE decreased sequentially across different categories. (3) Women had higher total LE and frailty incidence, but lower recovery rate, mortality risk, robust LE, and robust LE proportion compared to men. Favorable childhood SES and lifelong accumulation of SES advantages protect against frailty morbidity, improve recovery rate, reduce mortality risk, and increase total LE, robust LE, and robust LE proportion. High childhood SES has a stronger protective effect than high adult SES, indicating the lasting impact of childhood conditions on healthy longevity. Systematic interventions in education, food supply, and medical accessibility for children from impoverished families are crucial.

후기청소년의 진로장벽과 진로준비행동의 관계: 진로성숙도의 매개효과와 사회이동성 인식의 조절효과

후기청소년의 진로장벽과 진로준비행동의 관계: 진로성숙도의 매개효과와 사회이동성 인식의 조절효과

The Role OfEducation In Social Mobility: A Comparative Study Across Socioeconomic Groups

The Role OfEducation In Social Mobility: A Comparative Study Across Socioeconomic Groups

Livestock farming and women empowerment in rural Bangladesh: a mixed method approach

BackgroundIn Bangladesh, livestock farming is not only a major source of animal protein, but it also provides opportunities for women to contribute to household income. Therefore, this study was undertaken to identify the empowerment status of women livestock farmers, factors influencing women's participation in livestock farming and its impact on women's empowerment.MethodsThe study was conducted in the Mymensingh district (administrative unit) of Bangladesh, due to the active participation of women in livestock farming activities. A total of 200 women were surveyed between May to November 2018. Additionally, prior to the final survey, 02 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were performed to gain insight into the context of the study areas. Furthermore, a total of 12 semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 12 experienced women livestock farmers to collect data regarding the challenges they encounter in livestock farming. Women empowerment was measured using four domains: decision-making process, ownership of assets, social and political awareness, and freedom of mobility. Descriptive statistics, and Heckman's endogenous treatment effect model were applied to analyze the data.ResultsThe results revealed that majority (75%) of women who are involved in livestock farming had a medium level of empowerment. Women's decision to participate in livestock farming was positively influenced by farm size, knowledge, extension contact, and training. According to the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) value, the empowerment status of women is 16 points higher among participants in livestock farming compared to non-participants. Furthermore, women in rural areas face several obstacles such as economic issues and inadequate marketing facilities, which may prevent them from engaging in livestock farming.ConclusionsEducating women through raising awareness and providing training is warranted because there is a notable disparity in the empowerment status of women who are and are not involved in livestock farming. This will help women improve their social awareness, decision-making capacity, and mobility. Livestock initiatives that encourage women's involvement could be generated by various rural-focused organizations.

The Impact of Meritocracy on Higher Education: A Perspective from College Admissions Policies in Mainland China

This study examines the impact of meritocracy on higher education in mainland China, focusing on university admission policies. Since the reform and opening-up period, Chinas economic and educational advancements have increasingly emphasized elitism, particularly in allocating university admission slots through mechanisms like the Gaokao. The analysis, conducted from historical and contemporary perspectives, reveals that while elitism has optimized the distribution of educational resources, it has also deepened social inequalities. Despite their intent to promote fairness, policies such as the provincial quota system and independent admissions have widened regional and urban-rural disparities in educational resources. Furthermore, government initiatives like targeted poverty alleviation and regional preferential policies have had limited success in addressing these disparities. The study concludes that while elitism has centralized high-quality educational resources, it has hindered upward social mobility, especially for students from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds, highlighting the need for comprehensive reforms to achieve educational equity and social justice.

Egg providers in eGoli

AbstractIn South Africa's urban hubs, young women are increasingly participating in the global fertility market by donating their eggs. Egg providers, who supply oocytes for others’ use in fertility treatment, are a key resource in the fertility market, and they are emblematic of new forms of biolabor. Egg markets have tapped into a precariously middle‐class population of young Black women in Johannesburg, where the neoliberal state has largely retreated from fostering social mobility. What role does egg donation play in the social world of young South African women? I approach this question by extending Cohen's concept of “operability,” which can illuminate how egg donation becomes a means for young women to enact modernity, or relationality beyond the postapartheid state and the horizons of their social worlds, structured as they are by the entanglements of race, class, and gender.

Bundled otherwise: Skills, social mobility, and raciolinguistic ideologies in the Canadian labour market

Abstract Showcasing how understandings of social mobility encoded raciolinguistic ideologies of the ideal upwardly mobile speaker, I investigate blue- and white-collar orientation to language, race, and social mobility in the Canadian labor market. I analyze these two subject positionalities and the way bundles of skills are ‘bundled otherwise’ when ideologies of race and language are invoked as relevant to a class experience. While the acquisition of standard languages remains understood as a gateway to upward mobility, the increased commodification of language made the acquisition of standard registers of French and English a skill amongst others, on par with any other. If this shift challenges an implicit ‘linguistic’ bias embedded in emic and scientific understandings of class, raciolinguistic ideologies continue to organize worker's orientations to language and work, be it to imagine themselves as cosmopolitan workers or to defend the positions of ethnic, national, and racialized groups in the economy. (Social class, raciolinguistics, work, language ideologies, francophone Canada, bilingualism)*

Does greater filial piety bring more gender income advantages? Exploring the influence of traditional Chinese filial piety on the gender wage gap

PurposeBased on traditional Chinese filial piety, this article examines the impacts and mechanisms of the two-dimensional filial piety concept “Qinqin – Zunzun” on gender wages in China via China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2014 and 2018.Design/methodology/approachThis article construct regression models to examine the relationship between filial piety concepts and wages. Also, it uses unconditional quantile regression and decomposition to explore the impact of filial piety concepts on the wage gap.FindingsIt is found that: (1) The effects of two-dimensional filial piety are heterogeneous in terms of gender. Specifically, authoritarian filial piety significantly suppresses individual wages and has a stronger suppressive effect on women’s wages, whereas affinity filial piety significantly enhances individual wages without gender heterogeneity; (2) Parents' time support in the intergenerational exchange model is a crucial mechanism by which filial piety affects wages, exhibiting significant gender heterogeneity; (3) Regarding wage distribution, authoritarian filial piety mainly widens the gender income gap in the low and middle income-groups, while affinity filial piety narrows the gender wage gap by “raising the floor”, with its converging effect being most significant in the middle and high-income groups. This article deepens the understanding of the gender wage gap and intergenerational income mobility, providing policy references for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.Originality/valueThe article deepens the understanding and mechanisms of the gender wage gap and inter-generational income mobility, providing policy reference for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

The effect of essential skills on perceived employability: a case of Malaysian undergraduates in energy-focused universities

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the effect of technical skills, soft skills and social mobility skills on the perceived employability of Malaysian undergraduates in energy-focused universities. This study also aims to investigate the moderating effects of academic performance on such relationships.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish these objectives, this study employed partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse data obtained from 247 Malaysian undergraduates from public and private energy-focused universities across Malaysia. The Human Capital Theory served as the overarching theoretical framework for the study.FindingsThe study reveals that even if an undergraduate has stellar grades, they will not help him/her to land a job if they lack basic technical and computing skills. This study also indicates that undergraduates’ current academic performance affects their perceived employability despite already possessing the necessary soft skills. Along with academic performance, social mobility skills can be a determining factor in how graduates see their own employability. This is because social mobility has a significant impact on graduates’ chances of finding gainful employment.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides insights into how technical skills, soft skills and social mobility skills influence the perceived employability of Malaysian undergraduates, especially in energy-focused universities, and the role of various parties involved. These parties, such as higher education institutions, are the key players that can initiate strategies to enhance specific skills and steer a public conversation towards a more methodical strategy for boosting graduates’ employability for future employment. This research also sheds light on how to better prepare for emerging job opportunities in the energy sector.Originality/valueThe study examines the effect of technical skills, soft skills and social mobility skills on the perceived employability of Malaysian undergraduates in energy-focused universities for future employment among Malaysia’s universities’ graduates. By providing a multidisciplinary viewpoint, this study paves the way for future research partnerships among experts in higher education, researchers in related fields and career researchers.

Teenage childbearing and the welfare state

Abstract Teenage childbearing is a common incident in developed countries. However, teenage births are much more likely in the USA than in any other industrialized country. Most of these births are delivered by female teenagers from low-income families. The hypothesis put forward here is that the welfare state (a set of redistributive institutions) has a significant influence on teenage childbearing behavior. We develop an economic theory of parental investments and the risky sexual behavior of teenagers. The model is estimated to fit stylized facts about income inequality, intergenerational mobility, and the sexual behavior of teenagers in the USA. The welfare state institutions are introduced via tax and public education expenditure functions derived from US data. In a quantitative experiment, we impose Norwegian taxes and education spending in the economic environment. The Norwegian welfare state institutions go a long way in explaining the differences in teenage birth rates between the USA and Norway.

From Earnings to Occupations: Understanding Intergenerational Mobility inTurkey

The studies analyzing intergenerational economic mobility have been rather scarce for developing countries due to unavailability of longitudinal datasets. This study uses data from Survey of Income and Living Condition (SILC) from2006- 2021, obtained from Turkish Statistical Institute to analyze the intergenerational income and occupational mobility in Turkey. Besides measuring the dynamics of income and occupational mobility across generations, we also analyze howdoes the association of children socioeconomic outcome with their family backgroundvary at different career levels of children. Our findings reveal that the associationwith parents income is much higher for daughters as compared to sons suggestingdaughters outcomes are more explained by their family socioeconomic status. Regarding the association of children’ outcome with family status at different career stage, the relationship is stronger when children are at the mid-career level. The Bayesian methodology and Pseudo-panel fixed effect model has beenemployed to estimate intergenerational income elasticity and for the rest of the analysis, Bayesian methodology has been utilized. Our finding also reveals higher intergenerational occupational persistence among children in higher income families while children from disadvantaged families have higher probability of switching career upon receiving good education and income perspective.

Adaptation, change and reaffirmation: investigating the limits of young working-class men adapting to elite higher education institutions

ABSTRACT Historically, and in contemporary society, the pursuit of higher education remains an integral part of social mobility. The research presented in this article aligns with previous research capturing the complexities many students from non-traditional backgrounds face in transitioning to tertiary education. We focus on a small cohort of young men from working-class backgrounds who were able to access elite higher education institutions. Statistically, this population is the least likely to attend university or engage in post-secondary education and training. We explore how they adjust aspects of their identities to align with their perception of an elite university context. We see their journeys as a process of negotiation, of identifying with certain aspects associated with elite settings while rebuffing others often through reference of historically embedded aspects of working-class culture. To decipher these negotiations, we focus specifically on four key themes present in the data: a sense of exceptionalism; confronting the competitive culture; fitting in; and reaffirmations of working-class culture.

The everyday female entrepreneur and the pursuit of emancipation

PurposeThis study takes an “entrepreneurship as emancipation” perspective to study entrepreneurs defined as “others” on multiple categories: women entrepreneurs whose ventures are necessity-based, bootstrapped and located in economically impoverished areas (neighborhoods) in two Latin-American countries: Chile and Peru.Design/methodology/approachThe study takes an interpretivist research approach and analyses inductively interviews with women entrepreneurs.FindingsThe findings reveal how everyday practices in pursuit of emancipation – while conducted within the existing patriarchal social structure – push the boundaries and contribute to changes in the social system via a variety of outcomes such as intergenerational social mobility, personal fulfilment and strengthening the communities in which the women entrepreneurs operate. Furthermore, while the authors find that in the particular Latin-American context under study, entrepreneuring activities become an emancipatory possibility for the everyday women entrepreneurs, they also highlight a “dark side” of their emancipatory projects.Originality/valueThe study contributes to recent critical studies in entrepreneurship by demonstrating the diversity and importance of the “mundane” activities undertaken by “necessity-based” entrepreneurs, and the significant – yet underappreciated – reach of their ventures’ impact on issues well beyond economic considerations.

Overeducation and economic mobility

We assess the hypothesis that declining intergenerational economic mobility in Norway is attributable to a rising signaling value of education accompanied by more overeducation particularly among upper-class offspring. We identify five empirical facts that together point in this direction:• The educational earnings premium has risen, but only through the extensive (employment) margin.• The rising earnings premium is associated with completed degrees only. When educational attainment is measured as time actually invested, the premium has declined.• Both educational attainment and the labor market's skill-requirements (as predicted by the occupational distribution) have increased, but attainment has risen faster than requirements such that the incidence of overeducation has increased.• There is a steep positive social gradient in overeducation: Overeducation is more frequent and has risen faster among offspring in upper-class families.• There is a steep negative social gradient in non-employment: Non-employment is more frequent and has risen faster among offspring in lower-class families.

Attitudes and Perceptions of Language Varieties: A Case Study of Ekegusii Dialects in Kisii County

Purpose: The size of the territory considered to be home for speakers of Ekegusii in Kenya is about 2230 square kilometres. The sheer size of the territory and also compounded by the fact that the terrain is mountainous makes contact between people from extreme ends of the territory a rare occurrence. Methodology: This state of affairs contributes a great deal to the birth of regional dialects. Ekegusii has two notable regional dialects; Maate and Rogoro. This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of speakers of the two varieties of the language as reflected in their speech behaviours. The study employed Language Use and Attitude Questionnaire (LUAQ) by Fishman (1965) to elicit attitudes and perceptions of speakers towards their dialect and that of the others. Findings: It emerged that there is disparity in the treatment and perception of the dialects; Rogoro dialect speakers are favourably treated and their dialect is perceived to be superior to Maate dialect. The situation is attributed to the immense institutional support Rogoro dialect enjoys from the mainstream community. Unique Contribution to theory, practice and policy: Thus, it has a strong network of speakers in a vast area as opposed to Maate dialect which is prevalent in South Mugirango only, a small portion of the entire territory. Speakers of Maate dialect do not perceive their variety as being any lesser but are aware of the preferential bias accorded to Rogoro dialect at the expense of theirs. The bias is manifested in, among other instances, distribution of limited resources such as government jobs and opportunities for social mobility in the region where the two dialects are spoken.

The evolution of veteran educational attainment gaps over the life cycle

Abstract Individuals who serve in the military substitute work experience for post-secondary educational attainment after high school, leading to large educational attainment gaps between new veterans and observably similar nonveterans. Little is known about the evolution of these gaps by age and across cohorts. We investigate the life-cycle attainment of veterans relative to nonveterans using a synthetic panel data approach. Following five multiyear birth cohorts we find that, on average, veterans close a 20-percentage point gap in attainment of a bachelor's or greater over time and significantly outpace observably similar nonveterans in attainment of an associate's degree. Female and minority veterans exceeded the attainment of similar nonveterans over time, and more recent birth cohorts began with larger gaps but closed them at younger ages due to increasing levels of both enrollment and enrollment intensity. Our findings highlight the important role of military service in facilitating social mobility through educational attainment.

Tourism and intergenerational social mobility

ABSTRACT This study examines the influence of regional tourism growth on intergenerational social mobility using a comprehensive cross-sectional data set that includes six survey waves from the Chinese General Social Survey. Our findings show that tourism significantly encourages upward intergenerational social mobility. These baseline results remain consistent even when we apply instrumental variables, employ a hierarchical linear model, and conduct other robustness tests. Based on theories related to intergenerational mobility, promoting industrial structure upgrading and addressing regional inequality to ease the financial burden of family education are ways in which tourism promotes upward intergenerational social mobility. Moreover, our analysis of different groups shows that tourism growth mainly improves intergenerational social mobility for male offspring from low-education or rural backgrounds. Consequently, while tourism may reduce urban-rural disparities to a degree, it could intensify gender inequality in rural areas. These findings reveal the theoretical mechanism through which tourism influences intergenerational mobility, providing a more comprehensive examination of tourism’s role in promoting regional sustainability.

Residential mobility amongst children and young people in Wales: A longitudinal study using linked administrative records

BackgroundChild poverty remains a major global concern and a child's experience of deprivation is heavily shaped by where they live and the stability of their local neighbourhood. This study examines frequencies and patterns of residential mobility in children and young people (CYP) at a population level using novel geospatial techniques to assess how often their physical environment changes and to identify geographical variations in social mobility.MethodsWe used routinely collected administrative records held in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank for CYP aged under 18 years living in Wales between 2012 and 2022. We calculated the Moran's I statistic to assess the magnitude of Lower layer Super Output Area (LSOA)-level geographic variation in residential mobility and used the Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) to identify clusters of LSOAs where there are higher rates of residential mobility.ResultsThis study included 923,531 CYP, with 58% having moved at least once during the study period. A total number of 1,209,102 house moves were recorded, 59% of which occurred between the ages of 0 and 5 years. Almost 10% of the cohort resided in five or more dwellings before the age of 18 years. In terms of area-level (LSOA) deprivation, 75% of house moves were to areas with the same or higher levels of deprivation, leaving only 25% of house moves that achieved upward social mobility. Clustering of residential mobility was identified predominantly in areas of high deprivation.ConclusionThe findings of this study show that residential mobility is linked with socio-economic circumstances and is experienced by over half of CYP in Wales. Understanding where CYP live, their mobility patterns and which areas have high levels of influx and efflux is crucial for policymakers to generate well-informed, targeted and effective child-focused interventions.