Learning Objectives:

• Define social mobility

• Explain the relationship between social class and social mobility

• Explain how social class is measured​

IGCSE Sociology

Measuring Social Class

No agreement on how it is measured but the following can be taken into account when defining it...

• Wealth

• Income

• Housing

• Occupation

• Level of education/qualification

• Status

• Lifestyle​

The movement between classes.

​

The movement of individuals or groups from one class to another.​

Social Mobility

moving up the class ladder

​

Example: from working class to the middle class​

​​Upward

moving down the class ladder

​

Example: middle class to the working class​

​​Downward

Movement of a whole class. For example: all working class will move up and replace the middle class ​

​​Block

movement of an individual or family form one class to another

​​Individual

​Types of Social Mobility

Take place between generation; for example, the child of working-class parents who is successful in education and enters a middle-class profession is mobile in this way

Intergenerational Mobility

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Take place within one generation; for example, a man may start his working life in a working-class job but move up to become manager.

Intragenerational mobility

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Social Mobility Factors

• Getting education an qualification to improve your chances of bring upwardly mobile

• Getting promotion and career advancement

• Marrying someone of a different class

• Changes in wealth, for example becoming wealth through inheritance or winning a lottery