Testing the Quasi-Perfect Mobility Model for Intergenerational Data: International Comparisons

TH E study of social stratification and social mobility seems to be experiencing a revival of interest in recent years. The first studies on a national level were carried out in the decade following World War I I , with the pioneering work of David Glass and associates [ 9 ] . A series of national surveys soon followed, under the encouragement of the International Sociological Association. This early phase of mobility studies has been aptly summarised by Miller in his Comparative Social Mobility [ 20 ] . After this initial period, the variable occupational status, social class, or the like, became an intrinsic part of most sociological investigations, but the interest in social mobility subsided. Blau and Duncan [1 ] may be credited with a revival o f interest in mobility with the publication o f their American Occupational Structure. Presently, there are several national surveys being carried out in various parts of the world. (See Table 2.) Inevitably, the second generation of studies has brought about critical discussion of the many problems related to the conceptualisation, measurement, and analysis of social mobility. A number of different approaches to the study of mobility have been utilised.