Search results

Geoff Payne considers a wide range of dimensions of mobility and life chances to assess the causes and consequences of mobility as social and political processes and challenges well-established opinions of politicians, pressure groups, the press, academics and the public

Geoff Payne considers a wide range of dimensions of mobility and life chances to assess the causes and consequences of mobility as social and political processes, and challenges well-established opinions of politicians, pressure groups, the press, academics and the public.

As sociology diversified, and under other academic pressures, British sociologists became `hyper-specialized' in subject expertise and methodology. Exploring multidimensional social life requires knowing about more than one field and having skills in more than one method. The retreat from quantitative methods, however good our qualitative methods, loses opportunities to contribute to important issues, particularly those in the public arena, at the boundaries of the discipline, or which take numerical form. This argument is developed through three recent examples: a critique of Erikson's view of British sociology and the BSA; the socio-economic circumstances of minority ethnic groups; and the isolation of social mobility analysis from political discourse. An approach based on an integrated view of social divisions and expanded methodological pluralism, in which we moderate our claims to sociological generalization, is proposed as a way forward.

Contrary to Pahl's criticism, Goldthorpe and Marshall's class analysis programme is a theoretical one. A re-formulation of their position shows how it sets key elements in structured relationships with each other. However this also shows several limitations in their model, which fails fully to account for changes in class positions, or social mobility. Their model says very little about education, cultural values, or events (like the Second World War) that are not entirely class-determined, but impact on life chances. An exploration of previous uses of the Goldthorpe and Marshall approach in defining classes and in measuring class mobility, reveals several inconsistencies of practice, which may suggest, as Pahl argues, too much emphasis on empiricism. Caution is advised before investment in the Goldthorpe and Marshall class analysis programme.

The social consequences of geographical mobility are usually conceptualized in terms of unidimensional dichotomies, such as those of Merton (`locals' and `cosmopolitans'), Stacey (`traditionalists' and `non-traditionalists'), and Watson (`burgesses' and `spiralists'). Despite their different meanings and limited generality, these typologies are applied and misused by current writers such as Bell, Frankenberg and Pahl. Typologies, even correctly applied, do not adequately cover the complexity of the processes involved in changes of place of residence. An alternative approach is suggested which rejects typologies and reduces both migration and orientation to local social milieux to their component factors.

Introduction: everyone a winner / Steph Lawler and Geoff Payne -- Social mobility : which ways now? / Geoff Payne -- Disruption in the working-class family : the early origins of social mobility and habitus clivé / Mark Mallman -- Mobile immobilites : the formation of habitus in "disadvantaged" families / Maria Gardener, Kirsty Morrin and Geoff Payne -- Getting up and staying up : understanding social mobility over three generations in Britain / Vikki Boliver and Alice Sullivan -- Time, accumulation and trajectory : Bourdieu and social mobility / Sam Friedman and Mike Savage -- Moving on up? : social mobility, class and higher education / Harriet Bradley -- "To become upwardly mobile you have to be a Swede" : women's upward class mobility in the neo-liberal Swedish welfare state context / Lena Sohl -- Experiencing upward mobility : the case of self-employed businessmen / Andreas Giazitzoglu -- Social mobility talk : class-making in neo-liberal times / Steph Lawler -- Promoting young people's social mobility : applying sociological perspectives to frame social policy objectives / Tony Chapman -- The cruelty of social mobility : individual success at the cost of collective failure / Diane Reay

8 Gender and Graduate Under-employment9 Gender and Patriarchy in Mining Communities; 10 Economic Change and Employment Practice: Consequences for Ethnic Minorities; 11 Gatekeepers in the Urban Labour Market: Constraining or Constrained?; References; Notes on Contributors; Index

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- 1 Introduction: Work and the Enterprise Culture -- 2 Not Such a Small Business: Reflections on the Rhetoric, the Reality and the Future of the Enterprise Culture -- 3 Paternalist Capitalism: An Organization Culture in Transition -- 4 From Coalminers to Entrepreneurs? A Case Study in the Sociology of Re-industrialization -- 5 Social Polarization in the Inner City: An Analysis of the Impact of Labour Market and Household Change -- 6 Young People's Transitions into the Labour Market -- 7 Part-time Employment, Dual Careers and Equal Opportunity -- 8 Gender and Graduate Under-employment -- 9 Gender and Patriarchy in Mining Communities -- 10 Economic Change and Employment Practice: Consequences for Ethnic Minorities -- 11 Gatekeepers in the Urban Labour Market: Constraining or Constrained? -- References -- Notes on Contributors -- Index