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Begin New Search Topic Social Mobility Publication Year within 10 Years

1. Black Intergenerational Mobility, Libertarian Capitalism, and Authoritarian Government, 1877–1941: A Case Study

Author:
Patrick L. Mason
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
There are persistent multigenerational Black-white gaps in occupational attainment. These racial differences in intergenerational mobility are not caused by differences in family values and behavior (Mason, 2007). For three decades, I have gathered evidence on my family’s intergenerational transition from enslavement to present social and economic circumstances. Charles and Susan Rollins were 32 and 29 years-old, respectively, as enslavement ended in 1865. During Reconstruction, they accumulated wealth, established a successful dairy and other farming, helped found a church and religious organizations, helped found multiple civic organizations, served on boards affiliated with the local university and high school, were elected to County and State public office, had savings and bank accounts for the entire family, and were leaders among an extensive social network. Jim Crow in the South and anti-black racism in the north stymied upward mobility for the Rollins family for the three generations after Charles and Susan, despite the fact that their descendants obtained greater education than their ancestors, displayed a willingness to relocate 100s of miles away from their home, possessed a culture of achievement (hard work, future orientation, married couple families, etc.), were blessed with exceptional social capital, and, perhaps, the relative advantage of being mulattoes.
Topic:
History, Authoritarianism, Capital, Libertarianism, and Social Mobility
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

2. Trade Shocks and Social Mobility: The Intergenerational Effect of Import Competition in Brazil

Author:
Andrés César, Matias Ciaschi, Guillermo Falcone, and Guido Neidhöfer
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS)
Abstract:
This paper investigates whether the impact of trade shocks on employment and wages persists across generations. Using an instrumental variable strategy on survey data with retrospective information on parental employment, we study the consequences of increased Chinese import competition in Brazilian industries on individuals with differently exposed fathers. Results show that several years after the shock, children of more exposed fathers have lower education and earnings, lower chances of formal jobs, and are more likely to rely on social assistance. These effects are substantial for children from disadvantaged background, indicating that the shock had a negative impact on intergenerational mobility.
Topic:
Trade, Imports, Economic Competition, and Social Mobility
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

3. Association between Caste and Class in India: Evolution of Caste-Class Dynamics during Economic Growth

Author:
Vaishali Kohli
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University
Abstract:
Caste and class are two major markers of social and economic stratification in India. They play a crucial role in sustaining and strengthening the process of social exclusion. It has been often expected that the process of economic growth and modernization may weaken the congruence between caste and class structures and induce social and economic mobility, thereby bringing about a change in the socio-economic environment. In this paper, we focus on the celebrated period of high economic growth in India during the previous decade to study the evolution of caste-class dynamics, to analyze the pattern of association between caste and class positions, and to examine whether this association/congruence has weakened during this period. The analysis is based on four rounds of employment-unemployment surveys of the National Sample Survey Organization covering the period 1999-2012. We construct a matrix of caste and class positions of repeated cross-sections of individuals that shows whether different caste groups are over- or under-represented in different class positions and how these representations have changed over time. We then use a multinomial logistic regression framework to capture the role of caste in explaining the conditional probability of an individual to belong to a particular class position, after controlling for other critical explanatory variables. We further examine how the explanatory role of caste has changed over time. Additionally, we explore the role of education, a crucial channel for socioeconomic mobility, in explaining the class positions of individuals belonging to different caste groups over time. Finally, we examine the impact of high economic growth in determining the class position of an individual in general, as well as for different caste groups over time. The analysis shows that caste has continued to remain an important factor in explaining class locations of individuals during the period of high economic growth. Further, the caste-class associations have continued to persist across different categories of education over time. While there has been a partial weakening of certain associations during the period, particularly for the Other Backward Castes and in some parts of the rural sector, the overall picture is more of continuity than change, with further strengthening and reinforcement of caste-class congruence along several axes. This calls into question the 2 expectations about social mobility with economic growth as well as the nature of economic growth in India.
Topic:
Development, Economic Growth, Class, Caste, Social Exclusion, and Social Mobility
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

4. Barriers or catalysts? Traditional institutions and social mobility in rural India

Author:
Vegard Iversen, Anustup Kundu, Rahul Lahoti, and Kunal Sen
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
We examine how village-level social group dominance affects the educational and occupational mobility of minority and other social groups in rural India across multiple generations. We distinguish between upper caste and own-group dominance and examine the mechanisms underpinning inequality in mobility outcomes. We find inequality in upward educational mobility to have significantly narrowed over time, with Scheduled Castes doing better in upper caste- and own-dominated villages, while Scheduled Tribes and Muslims do worse in own-dominated villages. In contrast, for occupational mobility we find no evidence of minority groups catching up with upper castes; Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are particularly disadvantaged, but Scheduled Castes, again, do comparatively better in their own-dominated villages. Exploring the mechanisms that explain the relationships between land dominance regimes and mobility, we find that a combination of agroecological and natural resource base and social cohesion of villages underpins the differences observed more than public goods provision. Our findings suggest a new pattern of inequality where historically disadvantaged groups appear less able to convert educational gains into labour market and occupational progress.
Topic:
Education, Inequality, Rural, Social Mobility, and Traditional Institutions
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

5. Degrees of disadvantage

Author:
Chinmayi Srikanth
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This study is positioned in two strands of literature—intersectionality and social mobility. It is the first to measure (dis)advantage at the individual level as an outcome of the intersectionality of identities and parental circumstances. By linking circumstances at the parental level with (dis)advantage at the individual level, this study uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) in an unprecedented application, i.e. to study social mobility or generational persistence. By accounting for intersectional ascribed identities, this study is also the first to analyse social mobility for the intersectionality of caste, religion, and gender identities. Using data from the India Human Development Survey 2011–12, the study finds that, in a given generation, Hindu women can observe high outcomes only if they are born into advantageous parental circumstances. This is further tempered by their position in the social hierarchy. For men, advantageous circumstances are not a necessary precondition for upward mobility. By building epistemological arguments, this paper also makes a contribution by being the first to contend that fsQCA is the ideal method to study overdeterministic social science phenomena.
Topic:
Development, Women, Inequality, Identity, and Social Mobility
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

6. Mobile Internet and income improvement: Evidence from Viet Nam

Author:
Trang Thi Pham
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
New developments of existing technologies over time have led to emergent patterns of technology adoption and, accordingly, changing impacts on economy and society. Focusing on the arrival of mobile internet in the early 2010s in developing countries, this paper identifies significant positive effects on provinces’ average household income in Viet Nam. The effect sizes are larger for lower-income quintiles and for rural areas, suggesting the more inclusive changing impact of the innovation over the last decade. Preliminary evidence of impact mechanisms via skilled employment rates and (formal) wages is also presented. The evidence from Viet Nam, a lower-middle-income country, can bring further understanding in terms of the extent of development impacts of second-generation mobile for development (M4D 2.0) in particular and information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) in general.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Internet, Rural, Economic Development, Social Mobility, and Income
Political Geography:
Southeast Asia and Viet Nam

7. Intergenerational Mobility in Latin America: The Multiple Facets of Social Status and the Role of Mothers

Author:
Matias Ciaschi, Mariana Marchionni, and Guido Neidhöfer
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS)
Abstract:
In this paper we assess intergenerational mobility in terms of education and income rank in five Latin American countries—Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Panama—by accounting for the education and occupation of both parents. Based on the method proposed by Lubotsky and Wittenberg (2006), we find that intergenerational persistence estimates increase by 26% to 50%when besides of the education of parents we consider also their occupation. The increase is partic-ularly strong when education is more evenly distributed in the parents’ generation. Furthermore, we evaluate the changing importance of each single proxy for parental background to explain inter-generational mobility patterns in each country and over time, and find that the relative importance of the characteristics of mothers have been increasing over the last decades, in line with rising women’s average years of education and labor market participation. Interesting heterogeneities across countries and cohorts are observed.
Topic:
Education, Occupation, Social Status, Social Mobility, and Mothers
Political Geography:
Latin America