A re‐consideration of rates of ‘social mobility’ in Britain

Or why research impact is not always a good thing

Bibliographic Data

ID11165904
AuthorsStephen Gorard (0000-0002-9381-5991, University of Birmingham, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume29
Issue3
Pages317-324
Publication date2008-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0142-5692 • E-ISSN: 1465-3346
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01425690801966402
OpenAlexW2079089263
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited5

This paper re‐considers some of the evidence for low and declining social mobility in Britain, showing that one study based on a re‐analysis of cohort figures appears to have had an impact on policy‐makers out of all proportion to its scale and rigour. The study claimed to show that the income of parents and children were more closely related for sons born in 1970 than in 1958, and that therefore social mobility was declining. It also claimed to show that the incomes of fathers and sons were more closely related in Britain than in countries such as Norway. However, a reconsideration of the same results in this paper leads to very different conclusions. This example is considered in detail here to illustrate the point that it is not always a good thing for research to have influence. The most important and ethical challenge facing social research in education is to improve its quality rather than its impact

Demographic economics · Economics · Epistemology · Geography · Positive economics · Quality (philosophy · Rigour · Scale (ratio · Social mobility · Social research · Social science · Sociology · Health disparities and outcomes · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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