Upward Social Mobility Research Articles

Schools as Drivers of Capitalist Accumulation Conditional Socialized Reproduction in Shenzhen

Based on fieldwork in an urbanized village of Shenzhen, this paper analyzes the place of schools in the reproduction of Chinese state capitalism. It retraces the circuit of socialized capital that allows for the social reproduction of the native elite and the exclusion of many migrant workers in the context of Shenzhen’s development as a special economic zone and its efforts to upgrade the economy. The native villagers, now forming an urban upper-class of rentiers, have capitalized on their overseas connections and capital accumulation to finance their school, allowing for their elite’s upward social mobility after, but also already under Mao. After China’s transition to capitalism, this school has served as an asset in generating value in the context of redevelopment and the real estate-driven upgrading of Shenzhen’s economy. Property ownership is now a major criterion in points-based systems for accessing school places. I make two interrelated arguments. First, there is a closer relationship between the secondary circuit of socialized capital and the larger circuit of capital than what the literature on social reproduction implies. Second, the conditionality of quality education upon value generation amounts to separating the population deemed worthy of socialized reproduction and the surplus population that is left out. The paper connects diverse strands of social reproduction theory, Althusser’s interpellation and ideological state apparatuses, feminist agentive social reproduction theories, and Bourdieu’s capital conversion recuperated within a Marxian framework, to provide an integrated approach to social reproduction within capitalism.

Дихотомия «элита–массы» в идеологии внесистемной оппозиции современной России

The article aims to identify the features of the social opposition between the population and the nonsystemic opposition based on an analysis of the ideology of the latter. The methodological basis of the work was the proposition that a certain social position corresponds to certain points of view and type of thinking (total ideology). Therefore, similar ideological intentions of various groups of non-systemic opposition in relation to the described dichotomy leads to the idea that their social position is also similar. Apparently, these are groups of professional politicians seeking to occupy higher social positions or return to the ones they previously occupied. These groups can also be characterizsed by a high level of qualification resources, which makes it possible to formulate certain ideological constructs, a relatively high level of economic resource, which excludes from their discourse the problem of scarcity of material means of subsistence, inherent in the majority of the population of modern Russia, as well as social isolation, which does not allow them to articulate the interests of other groups to which they do not belong. This leads to the conclusion that the non-systemic opposition represents people from the urban intelligentsia, including the near-elitist intelligentsia, with inflated expectations of their social status. From «to have or to be» they choose the former. Despite their being in opposition, these groups do not seek to blow up or substantially reconstruct the existing social order. Their ideologies cannot be classified as utopias, and the limit of the aspirations of the non-systemic opposition is its own upward vertical social mobility.

A study of social mobility under the Imperial Examination System in Qing Dynasty based on Bourdieur’s theories

The Imperial Examination System was the main means of selecting officials in ancient China, and was therefore seen as the main means of upward social mobility between classes. The main objective of this study is to examine the extent of social mobility among classes in the Qing dynasty through the imperial examination, based on Bourdieu’s theory, and through indirect research methods such as comparative literature analysis, and to analyse the social and cultural outcomes of the imperial examination system, as well as its impact on the cohesion, values, and traditional norms of these classes and societies. The study concludes that despite the various reforms that the imperial examination system underwent during its existence, it failed to promote social mobility. This was due to the fact that the ruling class used the imperial examination system to consolidate their rule by strictly controlling the selection of talents and opportunities for class mobility. As a result, the imperial examination system led to institutional and social ideological rigidity.

‘Adult’ youth in the contemporary social space of Russia

The study of the contemporary youth problems is impossible without generational analysis which provides methodological grounds for understanding the youth’s place in the social space, their functions and identification practices in the context of generational changes and continuity. The theoretical grounds for such an analysis were provided by the theory of generations by K. Mannheim, by his definition of socialization of the younger people who take their place in the hierarchy of generations. Some aspects of the generational analysis were developed by Mannheim quite thoroughly, others were only named, but his analysis was historically the first comprehensive study followed by the works of other authors. The article presents the results of the study of the social stratification and socialization of the ‘adult’ youth in contemporary Russia (cohorts of 18-24 and 25-34 years old) and of their position in the social space. Mannheim’s theory of generations was used as a methodological basis, while the empirical data was provided by the All-Russian representative survey of the ‘adult’ youth (N=1717). The author considers the influence of material well-being and education of parents on the financial differentiation, level of education and professional selfidentification of the younger people; identifies the upward social mobility trend of the younger people compared to their parents; makes a conclusion about the consolidation of the social differentiation among the younger generations of Russians; analyzes the influence of parents, teachers, classmates, informal groups and virtual world on the primary and secondary socialization of the youth. The author argues that informal groups and Internet communications have become extremely important in the primary and secondary socialization of the contemporary youth, especially under their detachment from political participation and ethical absenteeism.

“I’ve Lived Everything They Are Trying to Teach Me”: Latinx Immigrant Youth’s Ambivalent Educational Mobility in White Evangelical Universities

Undocumented Latinx youth in Tennessee envision higher education as the single pathway to enable their upward economic and social mobility. Many of these young people enroll in private, historically white, Evangelical Christian colleges that provide financial support otherwise unavailable to undocumented youth. At the same time, university actors struggle to meet students’ other needs as undocumented and minoritized individuals. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I demonstrate how youth struggle with the hidden personal costs of educational access and the upward mobility it promises. Most significantly, Latinx immigrant youth must navigate the tensions between the ever-present legacy of racial segregation and animus in Evangelical traditions and their status as the embodiment of newfound, institutionally desirable “diversity.” As these students negotiate deeply racialized social and academic orders, they grow ambivalent about the promises of educational mobility, particularly if that mobility is contingent upon conforming to “respectable” forms of diversity. Centering youth’s ambivalence reveals both the contingent value of educational mobility to those experiencing it and the limits of university policies intended to increase educational access.

SOCIOECONOMIC PRIVILEGE IN CHILDHOOD AND LATER LIFE COGNITION

Abstract Prior studies have demonstrated the effects of early socioeconomic status on later life cognition; yet the degree to which this effect operates directly, or indirectly through adult factors, is not well documented. Drawing from accumulation theories, we use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study and its Life History Mail Survey (N=11,761) to examine the extent to which childhood socioeconomic privilege protects against later life cognitive decline and whether this effect is direct or indirect through measures of adult socioeconomic position. Analyses reveal that, among childhood privilege measures, consistent attendance in private school, participation in college preparation, foreign language, and multiple clubs in high school were most protective of later life cognition. The effect of cumulative childhood privilege on later life cognition is both direct and indirect through increased wealth and education credentials and the strength of this relationship is particularly robust for those demonstrating upward social mobility.

CHILDHOOD SOCIOECONOMIC POSITIONING AND LATE-LIFE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Abstract The predictors of cognitive functioning are varied and complex. Gerontologists are increasingly interested in the long arm of childhood, suggesting that late-life cognitive functioning may be partly the result of influences across the life span. Research shows that childhood economic hardship is associated with disparities in cognitive functioning in older adulthood. Framed by the life course perspective, we reviewed 27 articles that examine associations between childhood socioeconomic positioning (SEP), commonly assessed via parents’ educational attainment, and late-life cognitive functioning in 11 different US datasets. The influence of childhood SEP on cognitive functioning is stronger when cognitive functioning is assessed at a single time point rather than as change over time, suggesting that childhood SEP might not affect the rate at which cognition declines in later life, but does impact where decline begins. The majority of research supported the pathway hypothesis, suggesting that childhood SEP’s influence on adult cognitive functioning works primarily through the mechanism of adults’ own educational attainment and SEP. Several studies support the accumulation of (dis)advantage hypothesis and point to the compensatory potential of upwards social mobility. Support for the latency model, which posits that early-life economic hardship results in enduring outcomes that influence cognitive functioning in older adulthood, above and beyond one’s adult SEP, is present, although weaker than the other hypotheses. Implications include strengthening policies that relieve economic strain and promote educational access among families with young children and also among young adults, as addressing the precursors of cognitive functioning in tomorrow’s older adults is paramount.

Tradition, upward social mobility, and sophistication: An ethnographic appraisal of the patatera

Tradition, upward social mobility, and sophistication: An ethnographic appraisal of the patatera

Bifurcated incorporation and migrant social mobility in Japan

AbstractThe context of reception is crucial in establishing different mobility pathways for migrants within host societies. Given that access to government resources is increasingly reserved for citizens and permanent residents and most states provide relatively few avenues to naturalization or permanent residence, host country human capital and social networks are often vital for upward social mobility. I use a variety of research methods including 60 semi‐structured interviews, over 800 hour of participant and non‐obtrusive observation, and ethnography from a 14‐month period in 2011–2012 in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area to investigate how Sub‐Saharan African migrants pursue mobility within Japanese society. I theorize that there are two distinct groups of long‐term staying migrants in Japan: one initially incorporated as unskilled laborers and another initially incorporated as skilled laborers. Migrants initially incorporated as skilled workers have comparatively greater access to state resources and discretion to incorporate as individuals. Migrants initially incorporated as unskilled laborers must rely on the intervention of native‐born individuals in order to experience upward mobility. These findings suggest that visa status is an important signal of initial migrant incorporation trajectory and a significant moderating factor for individual outcomes and social mobility in Japan.

Invention or Inversion? Revisiting the Question of Caste Tradition

The main theme of this paper is to revisit the question of caste and the politics of/on traditions. We have explored the questions of mythology; how ‘we’, the lower caste people associate and (re)interpret the mythical characters as a process of social upward mobility. So, is it the invention of tradition or is it the inversion of tradition or both? Interestingly, we could be able to locate a distinct regional pattern in this case. Thus, we argue that in the Northern part of India, specifically in Uttar Pradesh, though it is the process called the invention of tradition, it can be framed as a little tradition under the grand Hindu tradition. On the other hand, in the Southern part of the country specifically in Tamil Nadu, it is rather the process called the inversion of tradition which is much more radically grounded in sub-national ethos. Based on these premises, this article further argues that Uttar Pradesh’s caste politics is based on the invention of a tradition model which can incorporate the lower castes’ little traditions within the larger ambit of the Hindu grand narratives. Thus, new Hindutva politics has easily appropriated them within their polemic. On the contrary, in the South, due to the inversion of the tradition model embedded in a pre-existing political tradition and sub-national ethos, Hindutva failed to get a proper hold in recent times.

The voices of the tenement operators

Tenements have been a housing option for the poor in downtown São Paulo since the 1870s. Studies on tenements in São Paulo have been conducted for more than a century, although the major subject missing from the literature has been the tenement intermediaries or operators, the articulating agent of the entire scheme. The text is based on six interviews conducted with tenement landlords and intermediaries in the central region of São Paulo. Through discourse analysis 6 analytical categories have been listed: 1. The beginning of the activity: in which the insertion of the operator into the ecosystem of the tenements is narrated, and sometimes the transformation of properties into tenements; 2. Selection and contracts: how residents move in and the rental documents and agreements; 3. Caretaking: the maintenance of each tenement, habitability; 4. Coexistence: the daily relationship between tenants and landlords and intermediaries; 5. Rates and earnings: costs and income obtained; 6. Future and life projects: how the operators visualize their future in relation to the tenement(s), expansion, sale and even leaving the business. Rather than the tenement operator being described generically, with negative attributes, common figures emerge, who are mostly poorly capitalized and who strive to obtain a slight social upward mobility or to interrupt processes of deterioration.

Language Use and Ethnic Identity of Young Migrant Kashmiri Speakers in Karachi, Pakistan

Pakistan is home to several indigenous communities. However, life in cities is much more challenging than in under-developed areas. Due to social mobility, economic uplift, and better educational and health opportunities; communities migrate from their local towns to cities. Hence, each province reflects a diverse population and cultural groups speaking their mother tongues, practicing different religions, and following their cultural norms independently. Therefore, this study aims to explore the case of young migrant Kashmiri speakers who are residing in different urban parts of Karachi. As the focus is to identify the language use and identity patterns of young Kashmiri speakers in the presence of dominant languages and cultures. Consequently, the qualitative case study has been undertaken using purposive sampling to know about the scenario of young Kashmiris. For this purpose, data were collected from 05 participants using semi-structured interviews and the responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study show that the young Kashmiris use the Urdu language in different domains like home, market, education, and friends because of upward social mobility and lingua franca. As a result, it is being used in their ancestral hometowns as well. While the Kashmiri language has been restricted and it is only used for fun and interaction with only relatives. Similarly, the linguistic identity is predefined by being proud of the Kashmiri language, its association and affiliation with the Kashmiri land, and geography. Overall, although the language patterns showed a shift, the linguistic identity is preserved by a high ethnolinguistic vitality among the young generation in cities.

Success of Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Western Canada

This article assesses the history of Jewish agricultural settlements created in Western Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first settlements were founded following the 1881 Russian pogroms, at which time Canada’s Jewish community tried to resettle refugees in Western Canada. The result was the establishment of over a dozen farming colonies at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By examining the documentation produced by the colonists and the organizations that facilitated their settlement, it is possible to reconstruct the lives of the colonists in each community. This study investigates documents available for twelve different communities that span the Prairies. Settlers report several impediments to their success, including inexperience, poor soil, natural disaster, anti-Semitism, poor administration, and financial hardship. However, the decisive factor which brought an end to the colonies was upward social mobility. They were victims of their own success, unable to maintain their numbers as younger generations moved away, and parents joined them when they retired. The analysis of the farm colonies reveals the causes of their decline and provides grounds for re-evaluating their legacy. (EW)

Neighborhood effects, college education, and social mobility

This study models the impact of environmental factors on upward social mobility, where the educational environment is measured by the proportion of college-educated individuals, and social mobility is measured by a change in proportion of people in different income classes. The dynamics of the educational environment is modeled using a modified version of the invasion/extinction ecological model of Richard Levins. The educational environment influences the educational choices of poor people, becoming effective only after a threshold point is reached. The rate of growth in influence is modeled using a monotonically increasing saturation function, which includes a delay parameter referred to as handling time, that measures the speed of influence. Our simulations indicate that poor people choose to become educated at a rate that primarily depends on the density of the local environment.

Reparations: theorising just futures of education

ABSTRACT This conceptual paper examines reparations as a vital yet under-researched orientation to justice in education. The idea of reparations requires us to understand the interconnections between past, present and future in both the formation of injustice and its repair. It implies that until injustices are actively addressed they can endure in social institutions – like education – which also shape lives-to-come. The paper explores material, epistemic, and pedagogic approaches to reparations in education. It argues that attention to reparations can upturn conventional scholarly and political approaches which frame education either as a force of social reproduction or as a track to upward social mobility. Instead, models of reparative justice ask: what sorts of futures of education can emerge from taking seriously the righting of past and present educational wrongs? Injustice is not an inevitability in reparative futures of education: these are new, if challenging, horizons of theory and practice for the field.

No one is self-made: Evolving iterations of giving and shaping of transnational Kamma caste subjectivities

This article focuses on the transnational giving practices of Kammas (a dominant caste in Coastal Andhra, South India) by examining their records, standing myths and evolving iterations around the practice. While Kammas date their giving practices to the 1700s, written records trace community giving to the late colonial period, where a few elites instituted and patronized caste associations. The practice was reconstituted in the late 1990s, with many affluent Kamma professionals in the US embracing the role of community welfare organizers. In its transnational moment, expressed through the idiom of donations, horizontal giving has become one of the key embodied markers of Kamma selfhood, recursively produced as a group trait of a globally dispersed community of professionals. Despite the evolving iterations and modernizing impulses, the article argues that historically, giving for the Kammas has engendered an interiority and exteriority and is intimately tied to their collective quest for upward social mobility.

Spatial and social mobility in England: The persistence of the ‘Escalator’ effect for the millennial generation

AbstractRegional disparities in social mobility have long been apparent in Britain. Recent decades have seen a growing level of spatial inequalities in terms of social, economic and employment opportunities. Empirical studies suggest not only what do your parents do, but also where do you come from, profoundly influences one's life opportunities, London and the Southeast are consistently shown to be areas with more social mobility than the rest of country. This study presents an updated estimate of the extent of social mobility across regions in England, and more importantly, how this has been conditional on cross‐region migration. By using national representative survey data covering a decade (2005–2015), the results show considerable variations in the regional estimates of both absolute and relative mobility. In particular, London was found to be leading on social mobility measures in nationwide comparisons, supporting previous findings that London plays an important national role in Britain's social mobility. In addition, separate analysis for samples of cross‐region ‘movers’ and ‘stayers’ suggests that migration is associated with social upward mobility, with London still functioning as an ‘escalator‘ region providing better opportunities for those who move there from elsewhere the country. This persistence of the ‘escalator region’ effect for the millennial generation in England underlines how unequal economic geography continues to shape opportunity and trajectories of mobility for individuals.

Unravelling the Cinematic Tapestry of Immigration: A Socio-Cultural Disccection of Indonesian Migrant Labor in Rawuh (2019)

This article addresses the representation of Indonesian migrant labor experiences, particularly from Jember, in local cinema by presenting a multifaceted analysis of the film Rawuh (2019). The study emphasizes the film's depiction of socio-cultural dynamics and its contribution to existing discourses on immigration and migrant labor. Utilizing close textual analysis and scrutinizing mise-en-scène elements such as setting, lighting, costume, and props, the paper probes the film's representation of the rural community's aspirations for upward social mobility, as well as the repercussions of immigration on the characters' lives and societal dynamics. Moreover, by integrating theories by Pierre Bourdieu and pertinent literature on social class, cultural capital, and habitus, the study delves into the film's portrayal of social class and inequality, illuminating the intricate interplay between cultural assets, social stratification, and the quest for distinction. Through a rigorous examination of the film, the study underscores the ways in which Rawuh (2019) intersects with and contributes to ongoing discourses on immigration, labor, and global economic forces, accentuating the film's pertinence to contemporary debates surrounding the experiences and challenges encountered by Indonesian migrant workers from Jember. Based on the analysis also serves as evidence that local films have the potential to offer a more authentic portrayal of their respective societies, as they tend to closely engage with the prevalent issues in their immediate surroundings.

Social class and forced migrants’ perception of the value of international mobility

ABSTRACT The link between international mobility, class, and social mobility is often framed in binary terms. While high-skilled labour migration is usually considered to lead to upward social mobility, forced or irregular migrants are often described as poor and marginalised members of their host communities. This article focuses on forced migrants’ own perceptions of their mobility experiences to uncover how they make sense of the links between migration, class, and social mobility. Based on interviews with migrants in Germany, I show that the value they assign to international mobility for social status enhancement is affected by their perceived range of choice over mobility and settlement options. Considering growing global inequality of access to cross-border movement and settlement, the findings contribute to academic debates on the factors influencing the relative importance of migration for increasing people's chances in life.

Intergenerational social mobility and suicide risk by firearm and other means in US males

Firearms are the leading method of suicide in US men, and socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with suicide risk. In this 40-year mortality follow-up of a national cohort of US men, we examined if improved SES relative to one's family of origin, upward intergenerational social mobility (ISM), is associated with lowered risk for firearm suicide and suicide by other means in US men. Family of origin SES was assessed as part of Project Talent, a broad survey of US high school students in 1960. 42,766 men in the cohort completed follow-up surveys at age 29, assessing attained SES via education, occupation, and income. ISM was measured by change between harmonized SES composites. Mortality follow-up was conducted through age 70. Adjusting for baseline SES and race/ethnicity, a 1 standard deviation increase in SES was associated with a 31% reduction in firearm suicide risk later in the life course (HR [95% CI] = 0·69 [0·54, 0·88], P = 0·003), and a smaller, non-significant reduction in suicide by other means (HR [95% CI] = 0·80 [0·60, 1·07], P = 0·136). Traits associated with both suicide and SES attainment (cognitive ability, calm, impulsivity) only modestly attenuated this association. Upward ISM was more strongly associated with reduced firearm suicide risk in males with parents of low SES. The association between upward ISM and reduced firearm suicide mortality risk prevailed over ensuing decades. Policies improving social mobility in US males, particularly those of lower SES, may function as de-facto firearm suicide prevention strategies.