Social mobility over three generations in Britain

Presenter: Min Zhang, University of Manchester

Author: Min Zhang

Most social mobility studies adopt a two-generation (parent-to-child) model and overlook the role of grandparents as an extra resource in affecting individuals’ mobility chances. A combination of increased longevity, higher rates of divorce and single-parenthood, and the declining fertility rate has increased the duration of grandparent-grandchild relationships and as a result grandparental involvements in their grandchildren’s life chances have become prevalent and complex. Against this background, the traditional two-generation paradigm may not be able to fully capture the picture of social mobility and risks an underestimation of the effect of family origins. Only a few studies have paid attention to the grandparental effect in grandchildren’s social mobility, but their results are mixed.

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey from 1991 to 2008 and Understanding Society from 2010 to 2013, I attempt to investigate the pattern of social mobility over three generations. While considering the three-generational lineage (grandparent-parent-grandchild) as the agent of resource redistribution with an appreciation of demographic changes, I suggest that social positions of grandparents do have significant influences on the grandchildren’s social achievements after controlling for the effects of parents. Moreover, grandparents at the paternal and maternal lines appear to play different roles in their grandchildren’s educational achievement and employment status. Going beyond the previous preoccupation with the two generation framework and taking a holistic view of family origins are expected to contribute to our understanding of how social inequalities persist over generations.