Patterns of Intergenerational Mobility of Females Through Marriage

A comparison, based on data from four U.S. national surveys, of female mobility through marriage with male mobility through occupational attainment indicates (a) no tendency toward hypergamy not explained by the favorable balance of upward over downward mobility among males, (b) a weaker relationship of origin to destination among females, (c) a pronounced male mobility advantage among middle-origin persons, and (d) substantially more downward mobility into the manual-farm class by females than by males. Although the data indicate in general that the American status structure is more fluid than the male mobility data alone would indicate, there apparently is a condition of relative stasis among middle-origin females.