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The assumption that in contemporary society vertical mobility depends upon formal education is tested with data from England, Sweden, and the United States. The upwardly mobile group is found to comprise mainly persons of typical, not superior, schooling, though among the few individuals with superior training there is relatively high probability of upward mobility. Detailed data for England reveal that recruits to each stratum outnumber inheritors. A large fraction of the new upper stratum is of lower origin and median schooling. At the same time, a considerable fraction of even the better-educated sons of upper-class fathers drop down the occupational status scale. Circumstances other than schooling play a major part in mobility.
Craig A. Anderson (Mon,) studied this question.