Social mobility

Social mobility refers to the movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification. A change in position, such as by occupation, without social class change, might be called horizontal mobility, whereas a change in social class is termed vertical mobility, up or down.

In terms of construction the CIOB produced a paper in 2016 entitled 'Social Mobility and Constriction; Building routes to opportunity' in which it referred to the definition set by the Government’s Cabinet Office, Performance and Innovation Unit, in their paper Social Mobility: A Discussion Paper, April 2001, produced during a resurgent interest in social mobility within government, being:

“the movement, or opportunities for movement, between different social groups, and the advantages and disadvantages that go with this in terms of income, security of employment, opportunities for advancement etc.”

CIOB conclude that as with many sociological issues, it gets more complicated the more consideration it receives. This starts with the fact that social mobility, as a term, covers a number of related but separate trends. Furthermore, measuring social mobility can be fraught and open to a range of interpretations.

The theme was later built upon at Government level by the Liberal Democrats in 2011 with their paper, 'Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Social Mobility' published in April 2011. Where Social Mobilty was more directly connected to Fairness;

"In a fair society what counts is not the school you went to or the jobs your parents did, but your ability and your ambition. In other words, fairness is about social mobility – the degree to which the patterns of advantage and disadvantage in one generation are passed onto the next. An unfair society is one in which the circumstances of a person’s birth determine the life they go on to lead."

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• Social mobility and construction: Building routes to opportunity