Beliefs About Socioeconomic Mobility: Their Properties, Development, and Roles in the Maintenance of and Protection Against Educational Inequities

Across many countries, educational attainment represents one of the primary pathways to future financial mobility and stability. Despite its objective value, a burgeoning area of research has demonstrated how the subjective value of education, and level and quality of people's motivations to engage with it, can be influenced by the nature of their beliefs about socioeconomic mobility, or their general perceptions about whether or not it is truly possible for them to change their socioeconomic position in their society. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the existing bodies of research that have examined these beliefs and their role in influencing important academic attitudes and behaviors. Focusing our review on two specific forms of mobility beliefs—people's concerns about their own likelihood of experiencing (a) upward mobility or (b) downward mobility—we discuss the unique ways that each of these types of beliefs can influence the academic attitudes and behaviors of students and parents, of people from more versus less advantaged social positions, and of people from both Western and non‐Western samples. We then discuss what is currently known about how and when these beliefs develop and change in both children and adults. We close by highlighting important open questions on these topics and calling for future research thereinto.