Mobility is calculated using earnings, income, or wealth. Mobility is also measured through time. Some studies look at intergenerational, or whether children have higher incomes than their parents. Others may only consider intragenerational, or how far someone can go in their lifetime.

Social change can evolve from a number of different sources, including contact with other societies (diffusion), changes in the ecosystem (which can cause the loss of natural resources or widespread disease), technological change (epitomized by the Industrial Revolution, which created a new social group, the urban …

The concept of cultural mobility refers to the differential capacity to engage with or consume cultural goods and services across the entire spec- trum of cultural life, an ability which is itself premised upon an unequal, class- related distribution in cultural competence.

Structural mobility happens when societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder. Structural mobility is attributable to changes in society as a whole, not individual changes.

Types of Social Mobility

• Horizontal mobility. This occurs when a person changes their occupation but their overall social standing remains unchanged.
• Vertical mobility.
• Upward mobility.
• Downward mobility.
• Inter-generational mobility.
• Intra-generational mobility.

How to improve social mobility

1. Admissions: reforming education through random justice. Admissions to schools and universities are tilted in countless ways to the already advantaged.
2. Behaviour: from ‘me’ culture to ‘we’ culture.
3. Community: restoring local prospects and pride.
4. Decent work: the need for skills to pay the bills.

The middle class is a description given to individuals and households who typically fall between the working class and the upper class within a socio-economic hierarchy. Those in the middle class often are employed as professionals, managers, and civil servants.