The Current State of Social Mobility Research

AbstractBlau's and Duncan's reconceptualization of social mobility analysis in terms of the status attainment model led to a rapid growth in the number of studies of mobility processes in the United States. Observations of differences in the attainment processes of different segments of the population and theoretical and methodological critiques have produced alternative ways of viewing and analyzing social stratification and mobility. Recent European contributions have tended to be more heavily theory-laden and concerned with social class rather than a continuum of occupational levels. Current developments promise to provide a basis for a rapprochement between the two approaches and further clarification of the relative importance of structural and individual factors in the social mobility process.