Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Social Mobility and Education in Britain
  • Cited by 64
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      06 December 2018
      13 December 2018
      ISBN:
      9781108567404
      9781108474962
      9781108468213
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108567404
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.54kg, 260 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.44kg, 260 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Area Studies, British Government, Politics and Policy, European Studies, Political Sociology, Politics and International Relations, Sociology
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Area Studies, British Government, Politics and Policy, European Studies, Political Sociology, Politics and International Relations, Sociology
    Information

    Book description

    Building upon extensive research into modern British society, this book traces out trends in social mobility and their relation to educational inequalities, with surprising results. Contrary to what is widely supposed, Bukodi and Goldthorpe's findings show there has been no overall decline in social mobility – though downward mobility is tending to rise and upward mobility to fall - and Britain is not a distinctively low mobility society. However, the inequalities of mobility chances among individuals, in relation to their social origins, have not been reduced and remain in some respects extreme. Exposing the widespread misconceptions that prevail in political and policy circles, this book shows that educational policy alone cannot break the link between inequality of condition and inequality of opportunity. It will appeal to students, researchers, policy makers, and anyone interested in the issues surrounding social inequality, social mobility and education.

    Reviews

    ‘Bukodi and Goldthorpe quantify the key inequalities of the last thirty years. A person born into Britain's top class is twenty times more likely than a person born into the lower class to find a top-class job in adulthood. That was true in the 1970s and is still true today. Many will be surprised to learn that galloping income inequality did not tilt the odds further in favor of the privileged, nor could expanding education bring them closer to even. Bukodi and Goldthorpe argue persuasively that simple generalities about schooling will not make Britain more equal. Their last chapter discusses why policy must be much more disruptive if Britain is to become more socially mobile.'

    Michael Hout - Director of Center for Advanced Social Science Research, New York University

    ‘The authors draw together results of a body of intergenerational research applying latest methods to extensive evidence, mainly from the British birth cohort studies, women as well as men. These insights are badly needed in view of the confusion about social mobility in the political sphere. The authors explain how relative class mobility is not 'going down', is not 'worse' than many other countries, and may be hindered rather than helped by education policies. They also point out that social fluidity is limited politically by parents' rights to pass on their position in an unequal structure.'

    Heather Joshi - University of London

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents
    References

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.