McArthur, D. & Hecht, K. (2021) BSA Annual Conference, 13 April 2021 [ONS LS]

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Abstract:

This paper shows how class origin shapes patterns of geographic mobility in Britain’s higher professional and managerial classes. Many scholars have shown that rates of social mobility vary across areas, and have thus pointed to geography as shaping patterns of upward mobility. Fewer have considered the ways in which social origin shapes the propensity for geographic mobility, and the places people move to. We address these issues using 30 years of linked census data from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study. Even among those working in higher professional and managerial occupations, social origins shape patterns of geographic mobility. In addition to living in more affluent areas during childhood, individuals from privileged backgrounds are more likely to move long distances than those who were upwardly socially mobile. When they are geographically mobile, the upwardly mobile move to more affluent areas than those they grew up in. However, they do not close the gap on their peers from more affluent backgrounds. We find evidence of an ‘area gap’, whereby those from advantaged backgrounds consistently live in more affluent areas than their upwardly mobile counterparts. Our findings show an unappreciated role for geography, and geographic mobility, in the reproduction of class inequalities.

Output from project: 1013211