30215

WiSe 13/14: Social Mobility in Europe

Reinhard Pollak

Kommentar

"Like father, like son!" "Someone's a chip off the old block!" "To follow in his father's footsteps!" There is a variety of popular proverbs describing the same (sociological) fact: Social origin, i.e. the class or income position of parents, has a large effect on the future life-chances of children. For example, a child from a working class background has considerably lower prospects of achieving a position as a professional compared to a child from parents who work as professionals. And the same is true vice versa. Asking about this lack of social mobility (or, contrary, asking about the amount of social mobility) across generations is one of the classic questions in sociology. The seminar will offer a comprehensive view on concepts of intergenerational (and intragenerational) social mobility, on theoretical approaches to explain social mobility, on (quantitative) methodological approaches and on empirical results regarding the amount of social mobility in Europe. Students are expected to read and discuss the most prominent articles in the field, including rather technical/statistical state-of-the-art applications of theories and new methodologies. The seminar encourages students to think critically of the concepts, theories and empirical applications and invites students to develop their own research questions, potentially gearing towards a master's thesis research question. Schließen