What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Social Mobility?. Lee Elliot Major

      SAGE Publications Ltd

      1 Oliver's Yard

      55 City Road

      London EC1Y 1SP

      SAGE Publications Inc.

      2455 Teller Road

      Thousand Oaks, California 91320

      SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd

      B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area

      Mathura Road

      New Delhi 110 044

      SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd

      3 Church Street

      #10-04 Samsung Hub

      Singapore 049483

      Editor: Natalie Aguilera

      Assistant editor: Eve Williams

      Production editor: Katherine Haw

      Copyeditor: Neville Hankins

      Proofreader: Clare Weaver

      Indexer: Charmian Parkin

      Marketing manager: George Kimble

      Cover design: Lisa Harper-Wells

      Typeset by: Cenveo Publisher Services

      © Lee Elliot Major and Stephen Machin 2020

      First published 2020

      Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

       Library of Congress Control Number: 2020940435

       British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      ISBN 978-1-5297-3204-7

      ISBN 978-1-5297-3203-0 (pbk)

      Printed in the UK

      At SAGE we take sustainability seriously. Most of our products are printed in the UK using FSC papers and boards. When we print overseas we ensure sustainable papers are used as measured by the PREPS grading system. We undertake an annual audit to monitor our sustainability.

      Titles in the Series

      Titles in the series

      iv

      iv

      Titles in the Series

      Forthcoming:

      About the Series

      Every news bulletin carries stories which relate in some way to the social sciences – most obviously politics, economics and sociology, but also, often, anthropology, business studies, security studies, criminology, geography and many others.

      Yet despite the existence of large numbers of academics who research these subjects, relatively little of their work is known to the general public. There are many reasons for that, but arguably, is that the kinds of formats that social scientists publish in, and the way in which they write, are simply not accessible to the general public.

      The guiding theme of this series is to provide a format and a way of writing which addresses this problem. Each book in the series is concerned with a topic of widespread public interest, and each is written in a way which is readily understandable to the general reader with no particular background knowledge.

      The authors are academics with an established reputation and a track record of research in the relevant subject. They provide an overview of the research knowledge about the subject, whether this be long-established or reporting the most recent findings; widely accepted or still controversial. Often in public debate there is a demand for greater clarity about the facts, and that is one of the things the books in this series provide.

      However, in social sciences, facts are often disputed and subject to different interpretations. They do not always, or even often, ‘speak for themselves'. The authors therefore strive to show the different interpretations or the key controversies about their topics, but without getting bogged down in arcane academic arguments.

      Not only can there be disputes about facts but also there are almost invariably different views on what should follow from these facts. And, in any case, public debate requires more of academics than just to report facts; it is also necessary to make suggestions and recommendations about the implications of these facts.

      Thus each volume also contains ideas about ‘what we should do’ within each topic area. These are based upon the authors’ knowledge of the field but also, inevitably, upon their own views, values and preferences. Readers may not agree with them, but the intention is to provoke thought and well-informed debate.

      Chris Grey, Series Editor

      Professor of Organization Studies

      Royal Holloway, University of London

      About the Authors

      Lee