Cause and effect in social mobility tables

The processes that facilitate or impede social mobility result from complex interactions of social and economic forces, traditions, and values of the social system. Exactly how do these processes develop? How do they work? How are they changed? Which aspects of the processes are decisive, and which are unimportant? Here the author uses data on occupational mobility to construct and test a model which, it is hoped, will serve as a guide in the development of a statistical mechanics for large social systems.