Social Mobility and Inequalities

Social mobility, or the intra- or intergenerational movement between strata, has been researched extensively across disciplines. While economists have approached mobility through the study of income and wealth, sociologists have primarily studied patterns of mobility through a class-based approach. Social mobility has significance in the study of the perpetuation of inequalities since the absence of opportunities of mobility can indicate a reproduction of the existing inequalities across generations or over a life course. This chapter explores some of the key concepts in the study of social mobility from a sociological perspective as well as major findings at the macro-level. Further, social mobility is closely tied to lived experience and can be seen in the imprint it has on everyday life and values of individuals and communities. Since it is enmeshed in everyday life connecting with systems of social stratification such as gender, caste and race, this chapter reviews some of these thematics.