Upward Socioeconomic Mobility Research Articles

“Broken Home”: (De)constructing the Moral Standards of Mobility for Atlanta’s Early Black Public Housing Families

The public housing program was designed as a stepping-stone into upward socioeconomic mobility when the first developments were constructed for White and Black households in the 1930s. White residents were able to save and move into private housing with greater speed than Black residents, who faced both external and internal constraints on their socioeconomic status. As a result of this decreased mobility, scholars and policymakers soon associated public housing developments with impoverished Black containment, categorizing it as the home of the underclass and those who are stuck in place. This article employs a Du Boisian approach to understand the categorical differences and political economic conditions shaping mobility rates among Atlanta’s early Black public housing families. Using historical documents and approximately 40 years of administrative data collected from the first Black public housing development in Atlanta, Georgia by housing managers, Du Bois, and a group of research assistants from Atlanta University, this article examines how internal and external constraints shaped Black tenant mobility. It demonstrates how housing administrators and their actions shaped eviction rates—and by default, public housing’s ability to advance Black tenant mobility—through elite housing managers’ moral judgments of impoverished Black families.

Neoliberal, trouble-free worlds for an aspirational middle-class in Chinese EFL publications: A multimodal critical discourse analysis

For most English language learning engagements in expanding circle countries, textbooks play a key role in defining a syllabus and corralling students toward some measure of completion in a course of study. While scholars have shown how English is broadly seen as a prestigious skill, connected with upward socio-economic mobility, less work has been done on the discourses and ideologies carried by the textbooks, even though this is a billion-dollar-a-year industry with titles selling in the millions. Research clearly raises the need for further investigations of the discourses and world views that they carry as they appear in different territories. In this paper, using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, we analyze a corpus of texts books produced domestically within China. In China, English language learning has become a fundamental part of the aspirations of the emerging middle classes, who also tend to consume Western-style products and increasingly take on more individualistic Western-style values. Analysis shows that these textbooks carry language learning activities which combine a gloss of signifiers of more local, cultural ideas embedded in a privileged world inhabited by an aspirational, international middle-class.

The Allegory of the Favela: The Multifaceted Effects of Socioeconomic Mobility

What are the consequences of upward socioeconomic mobility for disenfranchised individuals? This article examines this question in the context of a business training program offered to residents of Brazilian urban slums, known as “favelas.” The study employs a randomized controlled trial complemented by quantile regressions, field visits, and interviews. The results show that training improves favela dwellers’ economic outcomes, such as by increasing income and participation in entrepreneurship, and some socio-psychological outcomes, such as by improving self-efficacy and optimism. However, these income improvements were accompanied by participants’ enhanced experiences of favela stigma, an adverse socio-psychological outcome related to their residential segregation. Both quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrate the multifaceted nature of socioeconomic mobility, through which favela dwellers who prosper economically become more exposed to prejudice from people living outside favelas. The study illustrates, through the “allegory of the favela,” the bittersweet process of socioeconomic mobility. This abductive research contributes to the literature by showing that while interventions designed to enfranchise individuals may effectively achieve economic inclusion in terms of income gains, they may simultaneously lead participants into discriminatory systems that further stigmatize people based on the same characteristics of their prior exclusion.

Teachers’ beliefs and reproduction of language ideologies in English-medium instruction programs in Nepal

Aims: This study explored the language ideologies that guide teachers’ language beliefs and practices in English-medium instruction (EMI) classrooms. It also sought to uncover the ways teachers’ beliefs and practices reproduce language ideologies and, thereby, social hierarchies within educational contexts. Design: Drawing on a narrative research design, the study utilized semi-structured interviews and focus groups to examine the language beliefs of content subject teachers from EMI higher education programs in Nepal. The data were analyzed through a thematic approach. Findings: The study’s results shed light on the prevailing language ideologies in EMI classrooms, where English holds a dominant position, followed by Nepali and other local/Indigenous languages. This linguistic hierarchy reflects deeply ingrained nationalist and neoliberal beliefs inherent in Nepal’s educational landscape. Moreover, the research underscores how these ideologies perpetuate societal hierarchies as educators emphasize the pivotal role of English proficiency for students’ upward socioeconomic mobility and access to global opportunities, while concurrently endorsing a deficient perspective on local/Indigenous languages. Consequently, this linguistic hierarchy perpetuates disparities in language treatment, thereby prompting concerns regarding equity and inclusivity in EMI programs. Originality: It sheds light on teachers’ complex beliefs and practices regarding the use of different languages in EMI settings. The study also highlights the language hierarchy that emerges within these classrooms, emphasizing the original contribution to understanding the complexities and implications of language ideologies within EMI programs. Significance: The study’s findings serve as a valuable resource for fostering meaningful discussions and facilitating evidence-based practices in the field of EMI, ultimately contributing to the improvement of multilingual higher education settings worldwide.

Disenchanted With the Immigrant Dream: The Sociological Formation of Ex-Immigrant Subjectivity

Abstract Although many return migrants had planned to go back to their country of origin, other return migrants who had originally planned to pursue the immigrant dream––the idea that one can have a better life by migrating—eventually change their mind and return to their society of origin. Just as the identity of individuals must adjust to the loss of a relationship, job, or membership of a group, many formerly aspiring immigrants give up on immigrating. I analyze data from oral history interviews and social media narratives of 121 Chinese ex-immigrants from 16 different countries. I show how disappointments, the language barrier, cultural alienation, racial-ethnic discrimination, intersectional-gender issues, barriers to upward socioeconomic mobility, and/or restrictive immigration policies interact with each other to constitute ex-immigrant subjectivity. This article highlights why immigration is a far less certain process than many perceive it to be, contributing to the broader sociological literature on how in different and similar ways processes of abandoning important social endeavors, like a romantic partnership, political party, or religious faith, transform subjectivities and social identities in other domains of social life.

Concurrent and prospective associations between family socioeconomic status, social support and salivary diurnal and hair cortisol in adolescence.

Exposure to socioeconomic adversity is hypothesized to impact hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and cortisol secretion, but existing evidence is inconsistent. Yet, few studies have investigated this association using a developmental approach that considers potential protective contextual factors. This study examined the role of stability and changes in family socioeconomic status (SES) in the prediction of multiple cortisol indicators and tested whether social support moderated these associations. Participants were part of a population-based sample of twin pairs recruited at birth. Family SES was assessed in early childhood (ages 0-5) and mid-adolescence (age 14). Social support was assessed at ages 14 and 19. Diurnal cortisol (n = 569) was measured at age 14 at awakening, 30 min later, in the afternoon and evening over four non-consecutive days. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC, n = 704) was measured at age 19. All data were collected before the pandemic and multilevel regression models were conducted to account for the nested data structure. Youth exposed to lower family SES levels in childhood and mid-adolescence had a flatter diurnal slope and higher HCC compared with those who experienced upward socioeconomic mobility in mid-adolescence. Contrastingly, mid-adolescence SES showed no association with the diurnal slope or HCC for youth from higher-SES households in early childhood. Moreover, youth raised in higher-SES families in early childhood had a higher CAR in mid-adolescence if they reported greater social support in mid-adolescence. Social support also moderated the SES-cortisol association in mid-adolescence, with higher-SES youth showing higher awakening cortisol secretion when reporting more social support. Our findings support the hypothesis that early socioeconomic adversity sensitizes HPA axis activity to later socioeconomic disadvantage, which may bear consequences for socioemotional and behavioral functioning.

Associations between family socioeconomic mobility during childhood and adolescence and diurnal and hair cortisol among adolescent twins

Although exposure to socioeconomic hardship is hypothesized to induce dysregulation in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and cortisol secretion, evidence remains inconsistent. Yet, few studies have investigated this association according to a developmental approach sensitive to the social context likely to exacerbate and mitigate this association. To examine whether childhood family socioeconomic status (SES) sensitizes the association between mid-adolescence SES and multiple indicators of cortisol secretion. Participants were twin pairs reared together with measures of SES collected in early childhood (ages 0–5) and mid-adolescence (age 14). Diurnal cortisol (n=592 twin pairs) was measured at age 14 at awakening, 30 min later, in the afternoon and evening over four non-consecutive days. Hair cortisol (n=422 twin pairs) was measured at age 19. Our findings revealed that youths experiencing lower SES levels throughout childhood and adolescence had a flatter diurnal slope and higher hair cortisol levels in comparison to those who experienced upward socioeconomic mobility from childhood to mid-adolescence. Moreover, youths who experienced downward socioeconomic mobility showed higher hair cortisol levels, except for those who were raised in higher-SES households during early childhood. Our study supports the hypothesis that early socioeconomic adversity may sensitize HPA axis activity to later socioeconomic disadvantage, which may bear consequences for socioemotional and behavioral functioning.

Emotion and imagination in English-medium instruction programs: Illuminating its dark side through Nepali students’ narratives

This article reports on students’ affective dimension in English-medium instruction (EMI) university programs in Nepal. To unpack the affective dimension of EMI students, I conducted interviews and focus group discussions with students from different disciplines (e.g., business, nursing, pharmacy, and education). The data analysis revealed that the social and cognitive process of selecting an EMI program is embedded in “neoliberal imagination,” in which they perceive EMI as a way to upward socioeconomic and symbolic mobility. Such neoliberal desire has implicitly appropriated EMI as a neoliberal endowment and created a discourse of unequal emotions. While EMI has engendered positive emotions (e.g., hope and pride) for some students, other students from non-EMI schooling backgrounds experience negative emotions (e.g., shame and anxiety). The paper, therefore, argues that the neoliberal desire for EMI can create a discourse of mixed emotions, also leading to emotional challenges and discrimination against some students.

Abstract P655: Childhood and Lifecourse Socioeconomic Position and Cardiovascular Health in Hispanic/Latino Adults of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Introduction: The Hispanic/Latino population experiences extensive socioeconomic adversity across the lifespan. Yet little is known about the role of lifecourse socioeconomic position (SEP) on cardiovascular health (CVH) in this population. Hypothesis: Childhood and adulthood SEP as well as socioeconomic mobility are associated with changes in CVH over time in Hispanic/Latino adults. Methods: We used longitudinal data (N = 14,604) from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), a population-based cohort study conducted in four major U.S cities. We determined childhood SEP using participant-reported parental education classified as No schooling; Elementary, middle, or high school; and more than high school (HS). Adulthood SEP was determined through an index with a score ranging from 0 to 9 combining participants’ education, occupation, annual household income, and assets, and classified as low (0), middle (1-4), and high SEP (5-9). Using childhood and adulthood SEP, we classified participants into socioeconomic mobility categories (e.g., persisting low, downward, or upward mobility, etc.). Using the four-health metrics of the American Heart Association “Life’s Essential 8” (i.e., body mass index, non-HDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose or HbA1c, and blood pressure) we built a score of ideal CVH ranging from 0 to 100. CVH was assessed at baseline and at the 6-year follow-up. Since changes in CVH over time differed by CVH at baseline, we conducted linear mixed effects models stratifying by CVH at baseline, with random intercept and slope, adjusting for age, sex, Hispanic/Latino background, study center, U.S or foreign-born, years in the U.S, as well as baseline health insurance, diet, physical activity, hours of sleep per night, smoking, alcohol consumption, and antihypertensive and cholesterol medication use. Results: 8% of parents did not have any formal education, 11% of the population had low SEP in adulthood, and 37% showed upward socioeconomic mobility. Among those with low (CVH score <50) and moderate to high (CVH score 50-100) baseline CVH, there was no association between childhood SEP and CVH at baseline. However, among those with moderate to high baseline CVH, high childhood SEP was associated with greater CVH over time (Coefficient for >HS: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.00, 0.47). There was no longitudinal association among those with low baseline CVH. High adulthood SEP was associated with greater CVH at baseline for those with low (Coefficient: 2.55 95% CI: 1.25, 3.85) and moderate to high CVH (Coefficient: 1.36 95% CI: 0.09, 2.62). However, it was not associated with changes in CVH. Socioeconomic mobility was associated with greater baseline CVH as well as with improvements in CVH over time. Conclusion: Among Hispanic/Latino population with high initial CVH, high childhood SEP and socioeconomic mobility were associated with better CVH over time.

Moving up the social ladder: homeownership and expected socioeconomic status among migrant young adults in China

A substantial body of literature on the promotion of socioeconomic mobility has focussed on the role played by government support and human capital investment. However, homeownership as a channel for upward socioeconomic mobility has been under-researched. This study investigates the relationship between homeownership and expected socioeconomic status by using data from a self-conducted survey in 2021 on migrant young adults in China’s five superstar cities (i.e., Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou) where housing prices have been soaring in the past decade. Results indicate that homeowners expect higher socioeconomic status 5 years later than renters. This effect cannot be explained by household characteristics, such as current socioeconomic status, income and education, and occupational characteristics, such as job positions and work units. Explanations from the perspective of asset appreciation and social integration are examined for this effect. Further analyses show a larger effect of homeownership for those who own at least two homes, with a college degree or above, or with a mortgage loan.

The relation between Self-Esteem and Productivity: An analysis in higher education institutions.

Due to the importance of academic training, allowing upward socioeconomic mobility, and being key to getting out of poverty, as indicated by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda, investment in quality education is key. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of Self-Esteem in the work environment on Teaching and Research Productivity within the field of higher education in Spain. The research is carried out among the teaching staff of the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid (Spain). A structured questionnaire was used to ask about Self-Esteem and Productivity. Data analysis is conducted using 272 valid questionnaires analyzed with R-commander software. The validity of the variables is analyzed to check the quality of the questionnaire. Linear regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between Self-Esteem and Productivity and is completed with ANOVA analysis to study the most significant differences between these variables. We identified a positive correlation between Self-Esteem and Productivity, where significant differences have been observed depending on the age and seniority of the teaching staff. This research contributes positively to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 3 (SDG3) (Good Health and Wellbeing) and 4 (Quality Education), in addition to highlighting the importance of universities ensuring the Self-Esteem of their teachers, having a very positive impact on the education received by the students, on the quality and prestige of the teaching center, and society, increasing academic research and educational quality. Similarly, the results achieved can be extrapolated to other sectors.

Museo Nazionale dell'Emigrazione Italiana (MEI)

Museo Nazionale dell'Emigrazione Italiana (MEI)

“Exit Italy”? social and spatial (im)mobilities as conditions of protracted displacement

ABSTRACT This article examines how the experience of protracted displacement interacts with mobility desires and practices of a diverse population of asylum-seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants in Italy. Drawing from ethnographic data collected in different Italian localities and among different nationalities, we focus on participants’ translocal connections, both as ways ‘out of limbo’ and as factors in protracted legal and socio-economic precariousness. We propose an interpretation of complex spatial mobilities to understand under what conditions spatial mobility translates into an improvement in the living conditions of migrants, producing upward socio-economic mobility, and under what conditions spatial mobility perpetuates marginality and isolation. Although translocal connections provide space for action, migrants risk being trapped in a loop of movements between different countries and different localities within Italy, without the possibility to achieve legal protection in any of these.

How Media Literacy Education through Multimedia Tools Can Empower Learners with Autism

The United Nations recognize and celebrate diversity and promote the rights and welfare of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) people. Ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2008 reaffirmed the fundamental principle of universal human rights. UNCRPD provides an effective tool to promote an inclusive and caring local and global society and ensure that the autism community leads full and meaningful lives. Besides, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 Quality Education aims to enable upward socioeconomic mobility and poverty eradication through education for all. Since there is increasing interest in international opportunities and the promotion of scholarship as the world shrinks and creates new challenges and opportunities, this study aims to engage in the conversation related to the education of people with autism locally and globally. ASD is a neurological condition, but communication, social, and functional challenges are primarily due to an impoverished environment in all realms of life. This paper advances ways ASD learners can benefit from media literacy education (MLE). It shares how MLE can lead to new, alternative, and inclusive teaching practices that empower ASD learners.

Educational Mobility and Age-Related Decrements in Kidney Function Across Adulthood Among Black and White Adults

This paper examines the association between educational mobility and age-related decrements in kidney function. Data from the main survey and the Biomarker Project of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Wave 2 and Refresher samples were combined, resulting in 1,861 adults (54.5% female; age 25-84, Mage=53.37) who self-identified as non-Hispanic Black (n=326) and non-Hispanic white (n=1,535). The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was based on serum creatinine, calculated using the CKD-EPI formula. Intergenerational educational mobility was based on the comparison between parental education (no high school/HS degree versus HS degree or higher) and participant’s education level (HS degree or lower versus some college versus bachelor’s degree or higher). Results from regression analysis indicated that Black participants in the moderate upward mobility group (parental education = no HS degree, participant’s education = some college) showed significantly steeper age-related decrements in eGFR across adulthood compared to Black adults with higher stable high status (parental education = HS degree or higher, participant’s education = bachelor’s degree or higher), B=-0.70, SE=0.26, p=.008, or white adults with higher stable high status, B= 0.58, SE=0.29, p=.044. A steeper age-related decrement in eGFR is known as a reliable risk factor for chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. These findings support the notion of skin-deep resilience among Black adults who experience upward socioeconomic mobility. We explored multiple psychosocial factors that may explain these findings, including lifetime and daily discrimination, social status and financial strains, and perceived stress and depressive symptoms.

NGOs schools are promoting education for sustainable development in rural areas

ABSTRACT During the last decade, provision of education has become a primary indicator for Sustainable Development as the key agenda under the United Nations SDGs. The essence of this goal is to enable upward socio-economic mobility and is a key to alleviate poverty, provide free primary and secondary education, access to technical and higher education, expand scholarships for developing countries, improve the infrastructure of schools, and ensure the literacy among men and women globally. The current research was conducted to investigate the role of NGOs in provision of education at primary level operating in rural communities in Pakistan. This cross-sectional study opted quantitative research design where purposive sampling technique was used to draw the sample from the population. The findings of the study conclude that NGOs are playing a vital role in providing educational facilities to the residents of rural communities where both communities and students are participating in multiple learning-based educational activities. The study also revealed that the parents of school-going children show a higher level of satisfaction from these formal educational institutes and agree that it is also supporting the local community to learn school management system by arranging close coordination between parents and teachers (PTA – parents-teacher association).

Intergenerational Aspirations Across the Life Course in Asia

Articles in this special issue probe the relationships between strategies for upward socio-economic mobility and intergenerational aspirations in Asia. With capitalism, urbanisation, mass media, education and migration increasing throughout Asia, now is a time of flux in opportunities and subjectivities. Such changes are lived as deeply personal and relational. Young people are often instrumental to familial ‘development’ strategies, and this effects divisions of labour, norms of moral economy, life course ideals and distributions of power. At the same time, media, education and development discourses often exhort people to author autonomous destinies through entrepreneurialism, career and consumerism. Contributors to this issue, ‘Development, Gender and Intergenerational Aspirations in Asia’, ethnographically explore how old and new dreams—some emphasising autonomy, while others stress familial obligation—conjoin, elide and compete, and how people negotiate associated life course expectations. We also show how dreams find limits, requiring redreaming and rerouting.

Exceptional upward mobility sin papeles: the case of Familia Arias and their fútbol team in New York City

In this paper I analyze cases of Mexican families in New York, which have experienced exceptional upward mobility while being headed by long-term undocumented immigrants. The focus is on Familia Arias, from Tlaxcala. They are part of a larger group of families who I identified in an amateur football team based in New York. I explain that some of these families are exceptional because out of 53 family-households headed by undocumented or DACA immigrants from Mexico in New York City and Long Island, only half a dozen reported an annual family income above $70,000 USD. Along the paper I explain how individual and group factors in each case combine to promote this upward socio-economic mobility. These mechanisms or processes that promote mobility for long term unauthorized immigrants, strongly interacting around amateur football teams, include (i) transferring binational labour skills, (ii) long-time tenure in jobs or prosperous self-employment, and (iii) positive intra-family dynamics. Stories such as the ones of Marcela and Claudio Arias are part of 92 individual ethnographic cases I developed and collected between the fall of 2014 and the summer of 2017 in two urban counties – the Bronx and Queens – and suburban towns in Suffolk County, Long Island. Almost all of these cases were incorporated into the Mexican Initiative for Deferred Action project, initiated in the summer of 2015, which includes other areas, regions, and counties in New York State and the metro area (screening over 1,700 individuals). The 92 cases studied and developed are mainly short biographies, labour and migratory trajectories of foreign-born Mexicans, most of them unauthorized immigrants, who have been living in New York for an average of 17 years with an estimated median family-household income of $43,000 USD annually. Fútbol, for participants in Queen, in New York City, was a key activity to develop strong local networks in the city.

Childhood poverty and cognitive aging

<p id="C2">How the childhood poverty influences cognitive aging remains controversial. Some studies have shown that childhood poverty can accelerate individual cognitive aging, but other studies have found that childhood poverty can delay individual cognitive aging, which is related to the moderation of social mobility. For poor individuals in childhood, low stability or the downward mobility of socioeconomic status will make the negative effects of adversity accumulate continuously, thus accelerating the cognitive aging of individuals. However, poor childhood individuals with high psychological resilience may promote upward socioeconomic mobility, which will increase the individual's cognitive reserve and enhance specific cognitive abilities, thus delaying cognitive aging. Future research in this field should explore the relationship between childhood subjective poverty and cognitive aging and the influence of childhood poverty on the aging of different cognitive abilities. It should also focus on the survivor bias effect in studies on the relationship between childhood poverty and cognitive aging in later life.

Social capital for socio-economic mobility of disadvantaged women: Limitations and opportunities connected to diversity in social networks

Using a differentiation between ‘social support’ and ‘social leverage’ networks, this paper emphasizes recognizing the heterogeneity of social capital when considered a tool for upward socioeconomic mobility of women. The specific aims are to: a) asses if types of social capital women have access to, is similar; b) examine whether access to different types of social capital is connected to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics; and c) analyse the implications of different types of social capital on socio-economic mobility. The paper is based on quantitative and qualitative data from a purposive sample covering urban, rural and estate sectors in Sri Lanka. A survey of 534 women and in-depth interviews with 32 women were used for data collection. Ninety-nine percent had support networks, but less than half had leverage networks. Women with primary or no education/ in the poorest income group/in lower-level jobs had lesser access to leverage networks compared to the rich/ tertiary or higher educated/professionals and managers. The role played by leverage networks for women originating from lower socioeconomic strata to achieve upward mobility were clear. Leverage networks provided advice and information on financial management and physical asset acquisition, skill development and training, finding stable employment etc. which facilitated upward mobility.