PLEASE NOTE this is a 2013 reading list—the precise content may change in future years.
Term 2, Week 1
What is social mobility? Has it declined in the UK?
Essential Reading
Goldthorpe, J. : “Understanding - and Misunderstanding - Social Mobility in Britain: The Entry of the
Economists, the Confusion of Politicians and the Limits of Educational Policy”. Journal of Social
Policy 42 (2013), 431-450
Goldthorpe, J. and Jackson, M. "Intergenerational Class Mobility in Contemporary Britain: Political
Concerns and Empirical Findings", British Journal of Sociology 58 (2007), 525-546
Marshall, G., Swift, A. and Roberts, S: Against the Odds? Social Class and Social Justice in Industrial
Societies (Oxford UP, 1997): chs. 3 and 4 and pp.192-194.
Social Mobility beyond the UK
India
Kumar, S., Heath, A. and Heath, O. "Determinants of Social Mobility in India", Economic and Political
Weekly 2002
Majumder, R. "Intergenerational Mobility in Educational and Occupational Attainment: A
Comparative Study of Social Classes in India", Journal of Applied Economic Research 2010
China
Bian, Y. "Chinese Social Stratification and Social Mobility", Annual Review of Sociology 2002
Lin, Y. Cultural Exclusion in China: State Education, Social Mobility and Cultural Difference (Routledge
2008)
Gong, H., Leigh, A. and Meng, X. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in Urban China", Review of
Income and Wealth 2012
Russia
Titma, M et al, "Education as a factor in intergenerational mobility in Soviet society", European
Sociological Review 2002
Gerber, T. and Hout, M. "Tightening Up: Declining Class Mobility during Russia's market
transition", American Sociological Review 2004
Supplementary Reading on UK
Blanden, J., Goodman, A., Gregg, P. and Machin, S. ‘Changes in intergenerational mobility in Britain’
in M. Corak (ed.),Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe. (Cambridge University
Press, 2004).
Erikson, R. and Goldthorpe, J. H. ‘Has social mobility in Britain decreased? Reconciling divergent
findings on income and class mobility’. British Journal of Sociology 61 (2010), 211-30
Gorard, S. ‘A re-consideration of rates of “social mobility” in Britain: or why research impact is not
always a good thing’,British Journal of Sociology of Education 29 (2008), 317-24
HM Government. ‘Unleashing Aspiration: The Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the
Professions’. (2009)