Modernization and Long-Term Trends in Social Mobility

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of recent large-scale studies on historical trends in social mobility. The major findings are that intergenerational mobility increased and marital mobility showed a shift from ascription to achievement in the nineteenth century when industrialization and socioeconomic modernization took place. Most studies show trends in mobility, but only few analyze the association of mobility with indicators of modernization. Those that do so indicate that marital mobility was more clearly related to modernization than intergenerational mobility was. Studies are appearing that focus on women’s mobility and on non-Western countries, but these are still too few to draw general conclusions. Future research could benefit from better and more comparable measures of modernization. Alternative hypotheses on the causes of trends in intergenerational and marital mobility, related to societal inequality, political regimes, educational systems, culture, and religion, are also still awaiting testing.