Anthony Heath & Yaojun Li 
Social Mobility 

Social mobility has long been one of the central topics of sociology. It has been the subject of major theoretical contributions from the earliest generations of scholars, as well as being of persistent political interest and concern. Social mobility is frequently used as a key measure of fairness and social justice, given the central role that modern liberal democracies give to equality of opportunity. More pragmatically, policymakers often consider it a force for economic growth and social integration.

However, discussions of social mobility have increasingly become dominated by advanced statistical techniques, impenetrable to all but specialists in quantitative methods. In this concise and lucid book, Anthony Heath and Yaojun Li cut through the technical literature to provide an eye-opening account of the ideas, debates and realities that surround this important social phenomenon. Their book illuminates the major patterns and trends in rates of social mobility, and their drivers, in contemporary western and emerging societies, ultimately enabling readers to understand and engage with this perennially relevant social issue.

Table of Content

1. What is Social Mobility and Why Does It Matter?
2. Landmarks: A Brief History of Mobility Research
3. Intergenerational Social Class Mobility in the Twenty-First Century
4. Intergenerational Income Mobility and the Great Gatsby Curve
5. Gender: Bringing Mobility Research into the Twenty-First Century
6. Race and Ethnicity: Entrenched Disadvantage?
7. Trends in Social Mobility: From the Medieval Period to the Twenty-First Century
8. Who Gets Ahead and Why?
9. Conclusion: Individual and Collective Consequences of Mobility

About the author

Anthony Heath, CBE, is a Fellow of Nuffield College and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford.

Yaojun Li is Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester.