John H. Goldthorpe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199258451
- eISBN:
- 9780191601491
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199258457.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
Analyses trends in intergenerational class mobility in Britain between the early 1970s and the early 1990s on the basis of data from the General Household Survey. Over this period there was little ...
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Analyses trends in intergenerational class mobility in Britain between the early 1970s and the early 1990s on the basis of data from the General Household Survey. Over this period there was little change in total mobility rates. Rates of upward mobility, if anything, fell while rates of downward mobility rose–in contrast to the situation in the middle decades of the twentieth century when rising rates of upward mobility were the salient feature. However, there is continuity in that relative rates of mobility, indicating the level of social fluidity, remain little altered. Education plays a major part in mediating class mobility but its influence is now tending to decrease rather than increase, and individuals’ class origins still have a significant independent effect on their class destinations.Less
Analyses trends in intergenerational class mobility in Britain between the early 1970s and the early 1990s on the basis of data from the General Household Survey. Over this period there was little change in total mobility rates. Rates of upward mobility, if anything, fell while rates of downward mobility rose–in contrast to the situation in the middle decades of the twentieth century when rising rates of upward mobility were the salient feature. However, there is continuity in that relative rates of mobility, indicating the level of social fluidity, remain little altered. Education plays a major part in mediating class mobility but its influence is now tending to decrease rather than increase, and individuals’ class origins still have a significant independent effect on their class destinations.
Mary Ann Mason and Eve Mason Ekman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195182675
- eISBN:
- 9780199944019
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182675.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
In the past few decades the number of women entering graduate and professional schools has been going up and up, while the number of women reaching the top rung of the corporate and academic worlds ...
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In the past few decades the number of women entering graduate and professional schools has been going up and up, while the number of women reaching the top rung of the corporate and academic worlds has remained relatively stagnant. Why are so many women falling off the fast track? This book traces the career paths of the first generation of ambitious women who started careers in academia, law, medicine, business, and the media in large numbers in the 1970s and '80s. Many women who had started families but continued working had ended up veering off the path to upper management at a point the author calls “the second glass ceiling.” Rather than sticking to their original career goals, they allowed themselves to slide into a second tier of management that offers fewer hours, less pay, lower prestige, and limited upward mobility. Men who did likewise—entered the career world with high aspirations and then started families while working—not only did not show the same trend, they reached even higher levels of professional success than men who had no families at all. Along with her daughter, an aspiring journalist, the author has written a guide for young women who are facing the tough decision of when—and if—to start a family. It is also a guide for older women seeking a second chance to break through to the next level, as the author herself did in academia.Less
In the past few decades the number of women entering graduate and professional schools has been going up and up, while the number of women reaching the top rung of the corporate and academic worlds has remained relatively stagnant. Why are so many women falling off the fast track? This book traces the career paths of the first generation of ambitious women who started careers in academia, law, medicine, business, and the media in large numbers in the 1970s and '80s. Many women who had started families but continued working had ended up veering off the path to upper management at a point the author calls “the second glass ceiling.” Rather than sticking to their original career goals, they allowed themselves to slide into a second tier of management that offers fewer hours, less pay, lower prestige, and limited upward mobility. Men who did likewise—entered the career world with high aspirations and then started families while working—not only did not show the same trend, they reached even higher levels of professional success than men who had no families at all. Along with her daughter, an aspiring journalist, the author has written a guide for young women who are facing the tough decision of when—and if—to start a family. It is also a guide for older women seeking a second chance to break through to the next level, as the author herself did in academia.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0006
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter presents an ethical narrative of upward mobility that is more honest about the true nature of the ethical costs of moving up and the responsibility borne for those costs. It discusses ...
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This chapter presents an ethical narrative of upward mobility that is more honest about the true nature of the ethical costs of moving up and the responsibility borne for those costs. It discusses how to craft an honest, alternative narrative of upward mobility. The chapter provides not answers, but rather a framework that can help strivers confront the questions they will face in a reflective way. It also situates ethical costs in the proper socioeconomic context in a way that recognizes the extent to which they disproportionately burden strivers. The chapter navigates the competing pressures on a person's identity that upward mobility creates.Less
This chapter presents an ethical narrative of upward mobility that is more honest about the true nature of the ethical costs of moving up and the responsibility borne for those costs. It discusses how to craft an honest, alternative narrative of upward mobility. The chapter provides not answers, but rather a framework that can help strivers confront the questions they will face in a reflective way. It also situates ethical costs in the proper socioeconomic context in a way that recognizes the extent to which they disproportionately burden strivers. The chapter navigates the competing pressures on a person's identity that upward mobility creates.
Jennifer Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.001.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails ...
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Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, very little attention has been paid to the deep personal compromises such students have to make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Measuring the true cost of higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this book looks at the ethical dilemmas of upward mobility—the broken ties with family and friends, the severed connections with former communities, and the loss of identity—faced by students as they strive to earn a successful place in society. The book reframes the college experience, factoring in not just educational and career opportunities but also essential relationships with family, friends, and community. Finding that student strivers tend to give up the latter for the former, negating their sense of self, the book seeks to reverse this course. It urges educators to empower students with a new narrative of upward mobility—one that honestly situates ethical costs in historical, social, and economic contexts and that allows students to make informed decisions for themselves. The book paves a hopeful road so that students might achieve social mobility while retaining their best selves.Less
Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, very little attention has been paid to the deep personal compromises such students have to make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Measuring the true cost of higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this book looks at the ethical dilemmas of upward mobility—the broken ties with family and friends, the severed connections with former communities, and the loss of identity—faced by students as they strive to earn a successful place in society. The book reframes the college experience, factoring in not just educational and career opportunities but also essential relationships with family, friends, and community. Finding that student strivers tend to give up the latter for the former, negating their sense of self, the book seeks to reverse this course. It urges educators to empower students with a new narrative of upward mobility—one that honestly situates ethical costs in historical, social, and economic contexts and that allows students to make informed decisions for themselves. The book paves a hopeful road so that students might achieve social mobility while retaining their best selves.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter provides a background on ethical costs of upward mobility. It explains what ethical costs are, why they matter, and how to contend with them. The chapter outlines the elements of a new ...
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This chapter provides a background on ethical costs of upward mobility. It explains what ethical costs are, why they matter, and how to contend with them. The chapter outlines the elements of a new narrative of upward mobility, one that is honest about the ethical costs involved. It also emphasizes how narratives are powerful tools in shaping the understanding of people and their future. The ideas introduced are not only backed up by arguments or evidence from the social sciences, but also illustrated by the stories of real-life strivers. It does not intend to serve as a rigorous, systematic empirical study of the experiences of first-generation students. Rather, it is meant to show narratives of upward mobility that are far more ethically complicated than is generally acknowledged.Less
This chapter provides a background on ethical costs of upward mobility. It explains what ethical costs are, why they matter, and how to contend with them. The chapter outlines the elements of a new narrative of upward mobility, one that is honest about the ethical costs involved. It also emphasizes how narratives are powerful tools in shaping the understanding of people and their future. The ideas introduced are not only backed up by arguments or evidence from the social sciences, but also illustrated by the stories of real-life strivers. It does not intend to serve as a rigorous, systematic empirical study of the experiences of first-generation students. Rather, it is meant to show narratives of upward mobility that are far more ethically complicated than is generally acknowledged.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0002
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter describes the ethical costs of upward mobility and presents an argument for why they are different from other costs that strivers face on their path. It argues that understanding the ...
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This chapter describes the ethical costs of upward mobility and presents an argument for why they are different from other costs that strivers face on their path. It argues that understanding the nature of the ethical goods move people well beyond the cost-benefit analysis that might be appropriate when thinking about money, time, or effort. The ethical costs of upward mobility are particular and not easily offset. Consequently, loss is felt keenly by those who succeed even if they ultimately have much to gain from the sacrifices they have made. The chapter emphasizes how people who are concerned with the challenges faced by first-generation and low-income college students often fail to appreciate the significance of the potential ethical costs that strivers encounter in pursuing a better life for themselves.Less
This chapter describes the ethical costs of upward mobility and presents an argument for why they are different from other costs that strivers face on their path. It argues that understanding the nature of the ethical goods move people well beyond the cost-benefit analysis that might be appropriate when thinking about money, time, or effort. The ethical costs of upward mobility are particular and not easily offset. Consequently, loss is felt keenly by those who succeed even if they ultimately have much to gain from the sacrifices they have made. The chapter emphasizes how people who are concerned with the challenges faced by first-generation and low-income college students often fail to appreciate the significance of the potential ethical costs that strivers encounter in pursuing a better life for themselves.
Peter Coss
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199560004
- eISBN:
- 9780191723094
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560004.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book examines the formative years of the English gentry. In doing so, it explains their lasting characteristics during a long history as a social elite, including adaptability to change and ...
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This book examines the formative years of the English gentry. In doing so, it explains their lasting characteristics during a long history as a social elite, including adaptability to change and openness to upward mobility from below, chiefly from the professions. Revolving around the rich archive left by the Multons of Frampton in South Lincolnshire, the book explores the material culture of the gentry, their concern with fashion, and their obsession with display. It pays close attention to the visitors to their homes, and to the social relationships between men and women. The book shows that the gentry household was a literate community, within a literate local world, and he studies closely the consumption of literature, paying particular attention to household entertainment. Beyond their households, the gentry could assert their pre-eminence in the local community through involvement with the Church and the management of their estates. Treating the relationship between gentry and Church in both devotional and institutional terms, the book shows how religious practice was a means for the gentry to assert social dominance, and they increasingly treated the Church as a career path for their kin. Protecting their estates was of similar importance, and legal expertise was highly prized — it consequently provided a major means of entry into the gentry, as well as offering further opportunities for younger sons. Overall, the book reveals that the cultural horizons of the gentry were essentially local. Nevertheless there were wider dimensions, and the book concludes with observations on how national and chivalric concerns interacted with the rhythms of regional life.Less
This book examines the formative years of the English gentry. In doing so, it explains their lasting characteristics during a long history as a social elite, including adaptability to change and openness to upward mobility from below, chiefly from the professions. Revolving around the rich archive left by the Multons of Frampton in South Lincolnshire, the book explores the material culture of the gentry, their concern with fashion, and their obsession with display. It pays close attention to the visitors to their homes, and to the social relationships between men and women. The book shows that the gentry household was a literate community, within a literate local world, and he studies closely the consumption of literature, paying particular attention to household entertainment. Beyond their households, the gentry could assert their pre-eminence in the local community through involvement with the Church and the management of their estates. Treating the relationship between gentry and Church in both devotional and institutional terms, the book shows how religious practice was a means for the gentry to assert social dominance, and they increasingly treated the Church as a career path for their kin. Protecting their estates was of similar importance, and legal expertise was highly prized — it consequently provided a major means of entry into the gentry, as well as offering further opportunities for younger sons. Overall, the book reveals that the cultural horizons of the gentry were essentially local. Nevertheless there were wider dimensions, and the book concludes with observations on how national and chivalric concerns interacted with the rhythms of regional life.
Yue Chim Richard Wong
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390625
- eISBN:
- 9789888390373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390625.003.0016
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
It is reasonable to surmise that the dramatic improvement in upward mobility for lower-income families between 1986 and 1996 was a temporary phenomenon – a con-sequence of less competition for school ...
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It is reasonable to surmise that the dramatic improvement in upward mobility for lower-income families between 1986 and 1996 was a temporary phenomenon – a con-sequence of less competition for school places and, especially, university places. This period is now behind us. The significance of such an unusual period of opportunity is that we have to reinterpret the earlier finding by Professor Chou Kee-lee. A more plausible interpretation of upward mobility in Hong Kong is that it improved dramatically for the cohort born in 1946-56 and remained stable afterwards. The cohort that was born in 1961-71 lucked out as upward mobility received a huge boost due to middle class emigration in the lead up to 1997. Since then upward mobility in Hong Kong has returned to the same stable level.Less
It is reasonable to surmise that the dramatic improvement in upward mobility for lower-income families between 1986 and 1996 was a temporary phenomenon – a con-sequence of less competition for school places and, especially, university places. This period is now behind us. The significance of such an unusual period of opportunity is that we have to reinterpret the earlier finding by Professor Chou Kee-lee. A more plausible interpretation of upward mobility in Hong Kong is that it improved dramatically for the cohort born in 1946-56 and remained stable afterwards. The cohort that was born in 1961-71 lucked out as upward mobility received a huge boost due to middle class emigration in the lead up to 1997. Since then upward mobility in Hong Kong has returned to the same stable level.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0003
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter argues that ethical costs are unfairly leveled on students born into disadvantage for three contingent reasons: socioeconomic segregation, an inadequate safety net, and cultural ...
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This chapter argues that ethical costs are unfairly leveled on students born into disadvantage for three contingent reasons: socioeconomic segregation, an inadequate safety net, and cultural mismatch. It shows how several of the ethical costs strivers face are not a necessary feature of striving itself but are instead dependent on how opportunities are unequally distributed in the United States. The chapter explains how strivers are more likely to bear ethical costs in a society that suffers from socioeconomic segregation, inadequate safety net, and cultural forces that privilege those who are already otherwise advantaged. It talks about how strivers are liable to face tragic conflict more frequently than those who are better off because of the socioeconomic structures into which they are born. It also points out ethical costs that are embedded in larger social, economic, and cultural structures that do not occur in a vacuum and affect everyone equally.Less
This chapter argues that ethical costs are unfairly leveled on students born into disadvantage for three contingent reasons: socioeconomic segregation, an inadequate safety net, and cultural mismatch. It shows how several of the ethical costs strivers face are not a necessary feature of striving itself but are instead dependent on how opportunities are unequally distributed in the United States. The chapter explains how strivers are more likely to bear ethical costs in a society that suffers from socioeconomic segregation, inadequate safety net, and cultural forces that privilege those who are already otherwise advantaged. It talks about how strivers are liable to face tragic conflict more frequently than those who are better off because of the socioeconomic structures into which they are born. It also points out ethical costs that are embedded in larger social, economic, and cultural structures that do not occur in a vacuum and affect everyone equally.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0007
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter argues that in an unequal, socioeconomically segregated society, strivers, as they travel the path of upward mobility, incur significant ethical costs for themselves, their families, and ...
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This chapter argues that in an unequal, socioeconomically segregated society, strivers, as they travel the path of upward mobility, incur significant ethical costs for themselves, their families, and their communities. Those who grow up in communities in which disadvantages are concentrated must often seek opportunities for advancement elsewhere. If they succeed, their success in all likelihood will take them far from their families and communities. This distance will not just be literal. Strivers, in order to succeed, will have to prioritize their own path over important relationships, over obligations to their family, and over maintaining their ties to their community. In so doing, they risk sacrificing important and meaningful aspects of their lives and identities.Less
This chapter argues that in an unequal, socioeconomically segregated society, strivers, as they travel the path of upward mobility, incur significant ethical costs for themselves, their families, and their communities. Those who grow up in communities in which disadvantages are concentrated must often seek opportunities for advancement elsewhere. If they succeed, their success in all likelihood will take them far from their families and communities. This distance will not just be literal. Strivers, in order to succeed, will have to prioritize their own path over important relationships, over obligations to their family, and over maintaining their ties to their community. In so doing, they risk sacrificing important and meaningful aspects of their lives and identities.
Jessi Streib
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199364428
- eISBN:
- 9780190232450
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199364428.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility, Marriage and the Family
This book advances the notion that intimate life—marriage and ideas of how to best live—is closely linked to the class in which individuals were raised. Arguing against the notion that class is a ...
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This book advances the notion that intimate life—marriage and ideas of how to best live—is closely linked to the class in which individuals were raised. Arguing against the notion that class is a meaningless category or that college degrees erase childhood inequalities, this book describes the ways that the class of individuals’ past influences their identities and marriages. Drawing on interview data, the book reveals that not only are adults’ class origins linked to their ideas of who is a desirable spouse, but class origin is also tied to ideas of how to use money, attend to work, engage in leisure, organize time, divide household duties, raise children, and express emotions. Couples in which each partner was raised in a different class must then contend with their different ideas of how to live—ideas that they rarely realize are related to the class of their past.Less
This book advances the notion that intimate life—marriage and ideas of how to best live—is closely linked to the class in which individuals were raised. Arguing against the notion that class is a meaningless category or that college degrees erase childhood inequalities, this book describes the ways that the class of individuals’ past influences their identities and marriages. Drawing on interview data, the book reveals that not only are adults’ class origins linked to their ideas of who is a desirable spouse, but class origin is also tied to ideas of how to use money, attend to work, engage in leisure, organize time, divide household duties, raise children, and express emotions. Couples in which each partner was raised in a different class must then contend with their different ideas of how to live—ideas that they rarely realize are related to the class of their past.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0005
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter explores the need for strivers to think about their potential complicity within the social structures that make it hard for others who are disadvantaged to succeed. It argues that ...
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This chapter explores the need for strivers to think about their potential complicity within the social structures that make it hard for others who are disadvantaged to succeed. It argues that strivers are in a unique position to improve those social structures because of the skills and knowledge they acquire on the path upward. The field of philosophy tends to attract those who already have a privileged position in society. Consequently, much of the philosophical dialogue concerning justice centers around work written by White, privileged men, even though this is the population that has the least to lose by maintaining the status quo. The intellectual and creative energy that will drive social change will come from those who have the most to gain from the system changing.Less
This chapter explores the need for strivers to think about their potential complicity within the social structures that make it hard for others who are disadvantaged to succeed. It argues that strivers are in a unique position to improve those social structures because of the skills and knowledge they acquire on the path upward. The field of philosophy tends to attract those who already have a privileged position in society. Consequently, much of the philosophical dialogue concerning justice centers around work written by White, privileged men, even though this is the population that has the least to lose by maintaining the status quo. The intellectual and creative energy that will drive social change will come from those who have the most to gain from the system changing.
Christine J. Walley
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226871790
- eISBN:
- 9780226871813
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226871813.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter explores the author's own experiences with upward mobility traveling between Southeast Chicago and an elite East Coast boarding school. Conservatives often respond to critiques of class ...
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This chapter explores the author's own experiences with upward mobility traveling between Southeast Chicago and an elite East Coast boarding school. Conservatives often respond to critiques of class divisions in the United States by emphasizing possibilities for upward mobility. They depict upward mobility as a relatively straightforward process at the heart of the American dream. However, such assumptions downplay both the personal and familial ambivalence that can accompany upward mobility and fail to explain why the collective upward mobility that once characterized industrial regions like Southeast Chicago has been replaced by a narrower focus on isolated individuals getting ahead.Less
This chapter explores the author's own experiences with upward mobility traveling between Southeast Chicago and an elite East Coast boarding school. Conservatives often respond to critiques of class divisions in the United States by emphasizing possibilities for upward mobility. They depict upward mobility as a relatively straightforward process at the heart of the American dream. However, such assumptions downplay both the personal and familial ambivalence that can accompany upward mobility and fail to explain why the collective upward mobility that once characterized industrial regions like Southeast Chicago has been replaced by a narrower focus on isolated individuals getting ahead.
Yue Chim Richard Wong
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390625
- eISBN:
- 9789888390373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390625.003.0017
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
Failure to appreciate theimportant fact that poverty propagated itself in the absence of a parent or a social program that had time to help young childrenhas allowed child poverty to fester, ...
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Failure to appreciate theimportant fact that poverty propagated itself in the absence of a parent or a social program that had time to help young childrenhas allowed child poverty to fester, compromising children’s ability to go to school, their willingness to learn, their attitudes, and their motivation. This is a major cause of worsening intergenerational mobility and poverty. The research findings of Chetty et al. confirm the importance of investing in schooling, of having stable families, and of building communities to provide positive encouragement and support for the disadvantaged. The isolated, remote public housing estates we have in Hong Kong are unlikely to foster such communities.The findings from the US and Hong Kong strongly suggest that public sector housing policy to subsidize low-income families should be changed from providing subsidized rental housing units to homeownership units. This would have three different effects for increasing intergenerational mobility among low-income households.Less
Failure to appreciate theimportant fact that poverty propagated itself in the absence of a parent or a social program that had time to help young childrenhas allowed child poverty to fester, compromising children’s ability to go to school, their willingness to learn, their attitudes, and their motivation. This is a major cause of worsening intergenerational mobility and poverty. The research findings of Chetty et al. confirm the importance of investing in schooling, of having stable families, and of building communities to provide positive encouragement and support for the disadvantaged. The isolated, remote public housing estates we have in Hong Kong are unlikely to foster such communities.The findings from the US and Hong Kong strongly suggest that public sector housing policy to subsidize low-income families should be changed from providing subsidized rental housing units to homeownership units. This would have three different effects for increasing intergenerational mobility among low-income households.
Jennifer M. Morton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691179230
- eISBN:
- 9780691190655
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179230.003.0004
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter focuses on the idea of codeswitching in order to avoid incurring ethical costs and retain a sense of one's identity. It talks about how changing a person behaves as it moves between the ...
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This chapter focuses on the idea of codeswitching in order to avoid incurring ethical costs and retain a sense of one's identity. It talks about how changing a person behaves as it moves between the community it is attempting to join in which the person's family and friends reside. The chapter discusses codeswitching as a strategy for strivers to navigate the ethical conflicts that arise when one is pulled in different directions by conflicting sets of social expectations. Strivers might deploy codeswitching as a way to maintain their ties to their community while adapting to the world in which educational and career opportunities reside. Playing for both sides might be thought of as a strategy to minimize the ethical costs that strivers face as they pursue upward mobility.Less
This chapter focuses on the idea of codeswitching in order to avoid incurring ethical costs and retain a sense of one's identity. It talks about how changing a person behaves as it moves between the community it is attempting to join in which the person's family and friends reside. The chapter discusses codeswitching as a strategy for strivers to navigate the ethical conflicts that arise when one is pulled in different directions by conflicting sets of social expectations. Strivers might deploy codeswitching as a way to maintain their ties to their community while adapting to the world in which educational and career opportunities reside. Playing for both sides might be thought of as a strategy to minimize the ethical costs that strivers face as they pursue upward mobility.
Rachel Kranson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635439
- eISBN:
- 9781469635446
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635439.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This new cultural history of Jewish life and identity in the United States after World War II focuses on the process of upward mobility. Rachel Kranson challenges the common notion that most American ...
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This new cultural history of Jewish life and identity in the United States after World War II focuses on the process of upward mobility. Rachel Kranson challenges the common notion that most American Jews unambivalently celebrated their generally strong growth in economic status and social acceptance during the booming postwar era. In fact, a significant number of Jewish religious, artistic, and intellectual leaders worried about the ascent of large numbers of Jews into the American middle class. Kranson reveals that many newly-affluent, postwar Jews were deeply concerned that their lives—affected by rapidly changing political pressures, gender norms, and religious practices—were becoming dangerously disconnected from what they saw as authentic Jewish values. She uncovers how Jewish leaders continued to identify with Jewish histories of economic and social insecurity, and romanticized Jewish life in America’s immigrant slums and Europe’s impoverished shtetls. Jewish leaders, while not trying to hinder economic development, thus cemented an ongoing identification with the Jewish heritage of poverty and marginality as a crucial element in an American Jewish ethos.Less
This new cultural history of Jewish life and identity in the United States after World War II focuses on the process of upward mobility. Rachel Kranson challenges the common notion that most American Jews unambivalently celebrated their generally strong growth in economic status and social acceptance during the booming postwar era. In fact, a significant number of Jewish religious, artistic, and intellectual leaders worried about the ascent of large numbers of Jews into the American middle class. Kranson reveals that many newly-affluent, postwar Jews were deeply concerned that their lives—affected by rapidly changing political pressures, gender norms, and religious practices—were becoming dangerously disconnected from what they saw as authentic Jewish values. She uncovers how Jewish leaders continued to identify with Jewish histories of economic and social insecurity, and romanticized Jewish life in America’s immigrant slums and Europe’s impoverished shtetls. Jewish leaders, while not trying to hinder economic development, thus cemented an ongoing identification with the Jewish heritage of poverty and marginality as a crucial element in an American Jewish ethos.
Erik N. Jensen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195395648
- eISBN:
- 9780199866564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395648.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History, European Modern History
Boxing rings, whether in sports arenas or burlesque theaters, afforded men and women stages on which to create larger‐than‐life personas and to test the limits of socially acceptable ...
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Boxing rings, whether in sports arenas or burlesque theaters, afforded men and women stages on which to create larger‐than‐life personas and to test the limits of socially acceptable self‐presentation. Female boxers embraced the sport's physical combat as a strategy for getting ahead in a postwar Germany in which young women outnumbered the battle‐ravaged men in their age group and had increasingly to fend for themselves. Male boxers embraced the marketing potential of the sport by posing for early renditions of the male pin‐up photograph. Women often displayed themselves as “babes” in boxing trunks for the titillation of their public, but the men did, too. These boxers' carefully crafted public images popularized an ideal of working‐class toughness, the promise of upward mobility, and the allure of self‐invention in modern society.Less
Boxing rings, whether in sports arenas or burlesque theaters, afforded men and women stages on which to create larger‐than‐life personas and to test the limits of socially acceptable self‐presentation. Female boxers embraced the sport's physical combat as a strategy for getting ahead in a postwar Germany in which young women outnumbered the battle‐ravaged men in their age group and had increasingly to fend for themselves. Male boxers embraced the marketing potential of the sport by posing for early renditions of the male pin‐up photograph. Women often displayed themselves as “babes” in boxing trunks for the titillation of their public, but the men did, too. These boxers' carefully crafted public images popularized an ideal of working‐class toughness, the promise of upward mobility, and the allure of self‐invention in modern society.
Megan Moodie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226252995
- eISBN:
- 9780226253183
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226253183.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
The Introduction lays out the central themes of the book. It argues that the Dhanka, like other tribal communities in India, must undertake a great deal of imaginative work to occupy the tribal role ...
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The Introduction lays out the central themes of the book. It argues that the Dhanka, like other tribal communities in India, must undertake a great deal of imaginative work to occupy the tribal role through which they are recognized as worthy and needy of affirmative action benefits. One of the ways in which the Dhanka perform this balancing act is by narrating tribal-ness or “adivasi-ness” in the past tense through the phrase “We were adivasis.” The assertion that “we were adivasis” allows the Dhanka to both index their adivasi-nessand distance themselves from the stigma of primitivity or militancy by placing this quality of tribal-ness in the past. Understanding this basic Dhanka claim illuminates why they undertake the particular kinds of identity-building efforts that they have embraced in recent years, particularly their annual collective weddings known as samuhikvivahasammelan, Dhanka men and women must embrace stigma and backwardness in order to avail themselves of the benefits of ST identity, which includes the ability to enact the marriage and family practices of other, non-tribal middle-class Hindus; thus, their practices of collective aspiration have deeply gendered effects. The Introduction also introduces the Shiv Nagar Basti, a slum area in Jaipur, Rajasthan.Less
The Introduction lays out the central themes of the book. It argues that the Dhanka, like other tribal communities in India, must undertake a great deal of imaginative work to occupy the tribal role through which they are recognized as worthy and needy of affirmative action benefits. One of the ways in which the Dhanka perform this balancing act is by narrating tribal-ness or “adivasi-ness” in the past tense through the phrase “We were adivasis.” The assertion that “we were adivasis” allows the Dhanka to both index their adivasi-nessand distance themselves from the stigma of primitivity or militancy by placing this quality of tribal-ness in the past. Understanding this basic Dhanka claim illuminates why they undertake the particular kinds of identity-building efforts that they have embraced in recent years, particularly their annual collective weddings known as samuhikvivahasammelan, Dhanka men and women must embrace stigma and backwardness in order to avail themselves of the benefits of ST identity, which includes the ability to enact the marriage and family practices of other, non-tribal middle-class Hindus; thus, their practices of collective aspiration have deeply gendered effects. The Introduction also introduces the Shiv Nagar Basti, a slum area in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Erik N. Jensen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195395648
- eISBN:
- 9780199866564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395648.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History, European Modern History
Tennis players in the 1920s expressed an unabashed sexuality and visible pursuit of fine living that appeared liberating to many Germans after the years of wartime and postwar austerity. Male players ...
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Tennis players in the 1920s expressed an unabashed sexuality and visible pursuit of fine living that appeared liberating to many Germans after the years of wartime and postwar austerity. Male players lavished attention on their personal grooming, style, and romantic liaisons, in open defiance of the Prussian ideal of discipline and self‐control. Instead, they modelled an alternative masculinity around aesthetic sensibility and self‐indulgence. Female players, meanwhile, projected a new aggressivity in matters financial and sexual, as well as athletic. Some top players even flouted the sport's amateur imperative by turning professional, pioneering the use of sports as an avenue of upward mobility, and modelling the possibilities of the “self‐made woman.”Less
Tennis players in the 1920s expressed an unabashed sexuality and visible pursuit of fine living that appeared liberating to many Germans after the years of wartime and postwar austerity. Male players lavished attention on their personal grooming, style, and romantic liaisons, in open defiance of the Prussian ideal of discipline and self‐control. Instead, they modelled an alternative masculinity around aesthetic sensibility and self‐indulgence. Female players, meanwhile, projected a new aggressivity in matters financial and sexual, as well as athletic. Some top players even flouted the sport's amateur imperative by turning professional, pioneering the use of sports as an avenue of upward mobility, and modelling the possibilities of the “self‐made woman.”
Rachel Kranson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635439
- eISBN:
- 9781469635446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635439.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
In the years after World War II, many liberal and left-leaning Jewish leaders expressed concern that American Jews would adopt conservative political values as the result of their economic rise. ...
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In the years after World War II, many liberal and left-leaning Jewish leaders expressed concern that American Jews would adopt conservative political values as the result of their economic rise. While there is little evidence to prove that Jewish upward mobility led directly to conservative political values, this fear of a rightward political shift continued to circulate. To the left-leaning leaders of postwar American Jews, this move toward Jewish conservatism – a shift that they saw as an inevitable consequence of Jewish upward mobility -- represented a betrayal of “authentic” Jewish values that were forged out of historical Jewish experiences of social and economic marginality. Less
In the years after World War II, many liberal and left-leaning Jewish leaders expressed concern that American Jews would adopt conservative political values as the result of their economic rise. While there is little evidence to prove that Jewish upward mobility led directly to conservative political values, this fear of a rightward political shift continued to circulate. To the left-leaning leaders of postwar American Jews, this move toward Jewish conservatism – a shift that they saw as an inevitable consequence of Jewish upward mobility -- represented a betrayal of “authentic” Jewish values that were forged out of historical Jewish experiences of social and economic marginality.
