Lower class competence stereotypes of the upper class increase class conflict: mediation by intergroup envy and moderation by upward social mobility belief.

Background: With increasing gaps between the rich and poor, potential risk factors for class conflict have attracted increasing attention from researchers. Although cognitive factors are known to be significant predictors of class-conflict behavior, limited attention has been paid to competence stereotypes of the upper class. When considering economic inequality, people pay more attention to competence stereotypes of the upper class, which may have adverse effects. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between competence stereotypes held by the lower class about the upper class and class conflict, and to test the mediating role of intergroup envy in this relationship and the moderating role of upward social mobility belief. Methods: Data were collected from a convenience sample from a comprehensive university in China. Based on scores on subjective and objective class scales, 284 lower-class college students (103 males and 181 females) aged 18-24 were selected to participate (both their subjective and objective scores were lower than 3 points). Their endorsement of upper-class competence stereotypes, intergroup envy, upward social mobility beliefs, and class conflict were measured using a well-validated self-report questionnaire. Results: The main data were analyzed using correlation analysis, the SPSS macro PROCESS (Model 7), and simple slope analysis. The results show a significant positive correlation between competence stereotypes held by lower-class college students toward the higher class and class conflict, and this connection was mediated by intergroup envy. Moreover, the indirect effect of intergroup envy on this link was moderated by upward social mobility beliefs; this effect was stronger for college students with lower upward social mobility beliefs. Conclusion: This study broadens our understanding of how and when competence stereotypes among the lower class concerning the upper class are related to class conflict. Researchers and policymakers should pay special attention to competence stereotypes of the upper class, especially intergroup envy and class conflict among lower-class individuals with lower levels of upward social mobility beliefs.

Beliefs about social mobility in young American children.

Although actual experiences of upward social mobility are historically low, many adolescents and adults express a belief in social mobility (e.g., that social status can change). Although a belief in upward mobility (e.g., that status can improve) can be helpful for economically disadvantaged adolescents and adults, a belief in upward social mobility in adults is also associated with greater acceptance of societal inequality. While this belief might have similar benefits or consequences in children, no previous work has examined whether children are even capable of reasoning about social mobility. This is surprising, given that elementary-aged children exhibit sophisticated reasoning about both social status, as well as about the fixedness or malleability of properties and group membership. Across an economically advantaged group of 5- to 12-year-old American children (N = 151, Mage = 8.91, 63% racial majority, 25% racially marginalized; Mhousehold income = $133,064), we found evidence that children can reason about social mobility for their own families and for others. Similar to research in adults, children believe that others are more likely to experience upward than downward mobility. However, in contrast to adult's typical beliefs-but in line with economic realities-between 7- and 9-years-old, children become less likely to expect upward mobility for economically disadvantaged, versus advantaged, families. In sum, children are capable of reasoning about social mobility in nuanced ways; future work should explore the implications of these beliefs. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Despite harsh economic realities, a belief in upward social mobility and the American Dream is alive and well. Between 7 and 9 years of age, economically advantaged, American children begin to expect economically disadvantaged families to experience less upward mobility than economically advantaged families. Children's beliefs about social mobility better accord with reality than adults' do.

Perceived Social Mobility and Smartphone Dependence in University Students: The Roles of Hope and Family Socioeconomic Status.

Purpose: Drawing upon the cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use (PIU) and tunnel effect, this study aimed to construct a moderated mediation model from the perspective of social ecology. Specifically, the model investigated the relationship between perceived social mobility and smartphone dependence, with a focus on the mediating role of hope and the moderating effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) underlying this relationship. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 718 Chinese university students (Mage = 19.19, 70.2% female) from Beijing, Henan, and Tianjin, who anonymously filled out the Perceptions of Socioeconomic Mobility Scale, Mobile Phone Addiction Index Scale, Openness to the Future Scale, and family socioeconomic status questionnaire. Preliminary data analysis was executed using SPSS 22.0, and the moderated mediation effect was tested using the latent moderated structural equations approach in Mplus 8.3. Results: The results showed that (a) less perceived social mobility was linked with greater smartphone dependence; (b) hope mediated the aforementioned relationship; and (c) family SES moderated the first-stage path of the indirect effect through hope. For university students with low (rather than high) family SES, their level of hope increased with the improvement of perceived social mobility, and in turn, that of smartphone dependence decreased. Conclusion: These findings suggest that positive perceptions of upward social class mobility and hopeful attitudes toward future opportunities and personal development among disadvantaged university students may alleviate their reliance on smartphones. Researchers and policymakers should pay attention to the role of individuals' perceptions of the macro environment in motivating specific risky behaviors among university students. Future interventions are essential to mitigate pessimistic environmental perceptions and foster a sense of hope among university students.

Social Mobility Across the Pacific: An Analysis of Japanese Americans in the Continental United States.

The impact of immigrant parents' premigration family background on their second-generation children residing in destination countries remains underexplored in the literature on historical social mobility. Using multigenerational historical survey records from the Japanese American Research Project, this study investigates the influence of premigration socioeconomic and cultural background of Japan-born grandparents and parents on the social mobility of second-generation Japanese Americans born in the continental United States in the early twentieth century. The analysis reveals the enduring effects of family premigration socioeconomic status, as indicated by occupation and education, and culture conducive to upward mobility, proxied by samurai ancestry, on second-generation Japanese Americans' educational and income levels. These effects may extend back to their nonmigrant grandparents and possibly contrast with their European second-generation immigrant counterparts, who typically experienced upward mobility regardless of their family background. The results point to the critical role of origin-country socioeconomic status and culture in immigrant social mobility research, particularly for populations whose negative reception has hindered their resource access in their new countries.

Structural and functional brain correlates of socioeconomic status across the life span: A systematic review.

It is well-established that higher socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with improved brain health. However, the effects of SES across different life stages on brain structure and function is still equivocal. In this systematic review, we aimed to synthesise findings from life course neuroimaging studies that investigated the structural and functional brain correlates of SES across the life span. The results indicated that higher SES across different life stages were independently and cumulatively related to neural outcomes typically reflective of greater brain health (e.g., increased cortical thickness, grey matter volume, fractional anisotropy, and network segregation) in adult individuals. The results also demonstrated that the corticolimbic system was most commonly impacted by socioeconomic disadvantages across the life span. This review highlights the importance of taking into account SES across the life span when studying its effects on brain health. It also provides directions for future research including the need for longitudinal and multimodal research that can inform effective policy interventions tailored to specific life stages.

Regional variation in intergenerational social mobility in Britain.

We present the first comprehensive set of estimates of variation in intergenerational social mobility across regions of Great Britain using data from the UK Labour Force Survey. Unlike the Social Mobility Index produced by the Social Mobility Commission, we focus directly on variation in measures of intergenerational social class mobility between the regions in which individuals were brought up. We define regions using the NUTS classification and we consider three levels, from 11 large NUTS1 regions, to 168 NUTS3 regions, across England, Wales, and Scotland. We investigate whether it is possible to form an index of social mobility from these measures and we address a neglected question: how much does the region in which someone was raised matter in comparison with the social class in which they were raised?

Social Mobility and Health-Related Quality of Life Trajectory Classes Among Older Women and Men.

OBJECTIVES: Changes in socioeconomic status (SES) during life may impact health in old age. We investigated whether social mobility and childhood and adulthood SES are associated with trajectories of health-related quality of life (HrQoL) over a 17-year period. METHODS: We used data from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (n = 2003, 46% men, mean age 61.5 years). Social mobility was derived from childhood SES, obtained from healthcare records, and register-based adulthood SES. RESULTS: Logistic regression models showed that lower adulthood SES was associated with lower physical HrQoL trajectories. Among men low (OR 3.95, p < .001), middle (OR 2.20, p = .006), and declining lifetime SES (OR 2.41, p = .001) were associated with lower physical HrQoL trajectories compared to men with high SES. Socioeconomic status was not associated with mental HrQoL trajectories. DISCUSSION: Declining SES during life course may have negative health consequences, while improving SES is potentially as beneficial as high SES to later-life health among men.

'Levelling up' social mobility? Comparing the social and spatial mobility for university graduates across districts of Britain.

Social and spatial mobility have been subject to substantial recent sociological and policy debate. Complementing other recent work, in this paper we explore these patterns in relation to higher education. Making use of high-quality data from the higher education statistics agency (HESA), we ran a set of multilevel models to test whether the local authority areas where young people grow up influence social and spatial mobility into a higher professional or managerial job on graduation. We found entry to these patterns reflect pre-existing geographies of wealth and income, with more affluent rural and suburban areas in South-East England having higher levels of entry to these occupations. Graduates clustered from major cities tended to be spatially immobile and those from peripheral areas further away from these cities show a higher density of long-distance moves following graduation. We also explored the intersection between social and spatial mobility for graduates with the economic geography of Britain, showing that access to high-class occupations is not necessarily associated with long-distance moves across most British districts. Our evidence further suggests that the 'London effect', where working-class students have higher school attainment than their peers elsewhere, may not continue through to graduate employment.

How are romantic cross-class relationships sustained?

How are romantic relationships across class maintained under broader conditions of class inequality? This article draws on in-depth interviews with 38 people who have partnered across class in Australia. It examines the emotional and interpersonal labour required to preserve such relationships within a highly differentiated class structure that is widely obscured in public and political life. We find, first, that for people in committed cross-class relationships where this difference was openly acknowledged, class difference was acutely felt and described in highly emotional, imprecise terms. Second, this heightened awareness of class difference stimulated elevated levels of class friction and class dissonance within these relationships. We detail these experiences, as they were narrated to us, before examining certain interviewees' efforts to understand and resolve these complexities. We highlight the collaborative work undertaken by one couple in particular to navigate feelings of class discomfort and class dissonance. Third, by focussing on the emotional terrain of intimate cross-class negotiations, we stress moments which have the potential to disrupt assumptions about class hierarchies and modes of moral distinction that take place within these relationships. Proceeding to tentatively valorise different forms of value-making and recognition within cross-class relationships, we also pay attention to the role of class in enabling this very capacity for adaptation.

Longitudinal Trajectories of Social Mobility Beliefs among Chinese Adolescents: The Protective Roles of Parental Academic Involvement and Adolescent Future Orientation.

Social mobility beliefs play a significant role in shaping adolescents' adaptive developmental outcomes, including well-being and academic functioning. Nevertheless, existing research may not cast light on the distinct trajectories and potential protective factors of social mobility beliefs. The present study aims to identify heterogeneity in trajectory patterns of social mobility beliefs among Chinese adolescents (Mage = 12.45, SDage = 2.60; 55.1% boys; 40.0% rural adolescents) in a four-wave (i.e., fall 2017, fall 2018, spring 2019, and fall 2019) longitudinal design, and examines the protective roles of parental academic involvement and adolescent future orientation. Three distinct trajectories of social mobility beliefs were identified: high-increasing (35.1%; a positive trajectory with the best developmental outcomes, including the lowest problem behaviors and depression symptoms, and the highest life satisfaction and academic competence), moderate-stable (49.8%), and low-decreasing (15.1%; a negative trajectory with the worst developmental outcomes, including the highest problem behaviors and depression symptoms, and the lowest life satisfaction and academic competence). Apart from the main effects of parental academic involvement and future orientation, a significant interaction effect of these two protective factors and adolescent group was detected, and only rural adolescents who reported both high levels of parental academic involvement and future orientation have a greater chance of being placed in the high-increasing trajectory than the low-decreasing trajectory. These findings highlight the significance of clarifying individual differences in the dynamic process of social mobility beliefs during adolescence, and elucidate rural-urban disparities in the influences of protective factors on social mobility beliefs trajectories, and inform individualized intervention strategies.

Who gets left behind by left behind places?

We document that children growing up in places left behind by today's economy experience lower levels of social mobility as adults. Using a longitudinal database that tracks over 20,000 places in the USA from 1980 to 2018, we identify two kinds of left behind places: the 'long-term left behind' that have struggled over long periods of history; and 'recently left-behind' places where conditions have deteriorated. Compared to children of similar baseline household income levels, we find that exposure to left behind places is associated with a 4-percentile reduction in adult income rank. Children fare considerably better when exposed to places where conditions are improving. These outcomes vary across prominent social and spatial categories and are compounded when nearby places are also experiencing hardship. Based on these findings, we argue that left behind places are having 'scarring effects' on children that could manifest long into the future, exacerbating the intergenerational challenges faced by low-income households and communities. Improvements in local economic conditions and outmigration to more prosperous places are, therefore, unlikely to be full remedies for the problems created by left behind places.

Economic returns to reproducing parents' field of study.

Research on the influence of family background on college graduates' earnings has not considered the importance of the match between parents' and children's field of study. Using a novel design based on within-family comparisons, I examine long-term earnings returns to reproducing parents' field of study in Denmark. I find that individuals whose field of study matches that of a parent have earnings that are 2 percent higher than those of their siblings with college degrees in different fields, on average. Earnings returns to field inheritance are highest in the fields of law (9 percent), medicine (6 percent), and engineering (4 percent) and are driven mainly by income from self-employment. I find no direct evidence of nepotism as the earnings advantage does not arise from inheritance of parents' firms or employment in parents' occupational network. My findings indicate that, although a college degree generally equalizes family background differences in economic outcomes, there are additional payoffs to field inheritance, particularly in traditional fields characterized by a high degree of social closure and self-employment.

The Assemblage and Dismantling of Access Barriers in Administrative Bureaucracies: Constructing the Problem of Diversity in the German Welfare State.

The article extends the literature on the construction of "diversity management" by personnel managers in corporate America. Such research has highlighted that Human Resource (HR) specialists draw heavily on social-scientific thinking in implementing various remedies against discrimination. However, it has paid less attention to how such esoteric views of reality, comprising such "things" as "structural barriers" impeding occupational advancement and "diversity sensitivity," have been successfully established as a self-evident reality in the workplace. In order to more thoroughly investigate how the world of diversity management is established outside the circle of academic specialists, the article employs perspectives from science and technology studies on the ways in which sociotechnical assemblages, i.e., networks of human actors and material devices, enact scientific ontologies. It applies such perspectives to a German case of diversity management, a program of "intercultural opening" that seeks to make bureaucracies of the welfare state more accessible to immigrants. The article delineates the specific ontology behind this version of diversity management, rooted in sociological perspectives on social mobility, and explores the various techniques and instruments through which officers of intercultural opening establish this ontology as a visible reality in municipal administrations.

Can Social Mobility Impact Frailty Trajectories of Chinese Adults in Later Life? A Nationwide Longitudinal Study.

Background and Objectives: Evidence remains unclear on the impact of life-course socioeconomic position (SEP) mobility on frailty trajectories in later life. We aim to examine the longitudinal effects of social mobility on frailty trajectories among Chinese middle-aged and older populations. Research Design and Methods: A total of 13 239 participants aged 45 and older from the 2011-2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were analyzed. Based on changes in SEP from childhood to adulthood, 5 patterns of social mobility were established. A 32-item deficit cumulative frailty index (FI) was developed to evaluate frailty trajectories at each follow-up. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine the longitudinal association of the 5 social mobility patterns with the frailty trajectory. Results: The trajectory of late-life FI increased across all 5 social mobility groups during the follow-up. The FI trajectory had the largest disparity between stable high SEP and stable low SEP, with a faster increase in FI of 0.489 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.327-0.650, p < .001) in the stable low versus stable high SEP group. The FI trajectories of individuals in the upward and downward mobility groups fall between those in the stable high SEP and low SEP groups. Specifically, compared to the stable high SEP group, the increase in FI was 0.229 (95% CI: 0.098-0.360, p = .001) faster in the downward mobility group, and 0.145 (95% CI: 0.017-0.273, p = .03) faster in the upward mobility group. The impact of social mobility on frailty trajectories was more pronounced among middle-aged adults and women. Discussion and Implications: These findings emphasize that policies to identify vulnerable populations and reduce frailty inequalities should focus on the socioeconomic environment across the life course, with particular attention paid to those with consistently low SEP and downward mobility.

Corrigendum: Social mobility and perinatal depression in Black women.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/frhs.2023.1227874.].

A roadmap to SDGs-emergence of technological innovation and infrastructure development for social progress and mobility.

The goal of this study was to conduct a thorough investigation on understanding how infrastructure growth and technological innovation affect social mobility and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study aimed to illuminate the underlying mechanisms by exploring the mediating function of psychological empowerment and the moderating impact of community satisfaction. The study carefully chose a sizeable sample of 370 connected to the mega project CPEC. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire-based approach. Notably, the study confirmed the large and favorable influence of technical innovation and infrastructural development on both the SDGs-13 (climate change) and social mobility. Furthermore, this study provided light on the critical function of environmental impacts identifying it as an important mediating mechanism that magnifies the effects of innovation and infrastructure on long-term development outcomes. It gives decision-makers in government, business, international organizations, and local communities useful information by offering empirical data and insights. This study offers a novel perspective and explores the relationship between infrastructure growth, technological innovation, social mobility, and SDGs-13-climate change. It uncovers the pivotal roles of psychological empowerment and community satisfaction, offering fresh insights into global development strategies influencing SDGs.

Intra-generational social mobility and mortality among older men in the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project: A cohort study.

Objectives: We examined associations between intra-generational social mobility (reflected in life-course socioeconomic trajectories) and mortality, among older men. Methods: Data came from a prospective Australian community-based cohort of older men. Social mobility was defined by socioeconomic indicators from three points in the life-course: educational attainment (late adolescence-early adulthood), occupation (mid-life), and current sources of income (older age). We defined indicators of social mobility trajectory (6 categories; reflecting the direction of social mobility) and social mobility status (2 categories; mobile or non-mobile). We used Cox regression to examine associations with mortality, adjusting for age, country of birth, and living arrangement. Results: We followed 1568 men (mean age 76.8, SD 5.4) for a mean duration of 9.1 years, with 797 deaths recorded. Moving upward was the predominant social mobility trajectory (36.0%), followed by mixed trajectories (25.1%), downward (15.1%), stable low (12.2%), stable high (7.6%), and stable middle (4.0%). Men with downward (Hazard ratio 1.58, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.19) and stable low socioeconomic trajectories (1.77, 1.25 to 2.50) had higher mortality risks than men with stable high socioeconomic trajectories, while men with upward trajectories had similar risks to those with stable high trajectories. 76.2% of the participants were classified as having mobile status; no associations were evident between binary social mobility status and mortality. Discussions: These findings suggest cumulative and persistent exposure to disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions across the life-course, rather than social mobility, is associated with increased mortality. For each stage of the life-course, addressing socioeconomic disadvantage may reduce inequities in mortality.

Individual values predict desiring more economic inequality: The moderator role of social mobility.

Attitudes towards economic inequality are crucial to uphold structural economic inequality in democratic societies. Previous research has shown that socioeconomic status, political ideology, and the objective level of economic inequality associated with individuals' attitudes towards economic inequality. However, some have suggested that people are aware of the individual and social features that are more functional according to the level of economic inequality. Therefore, individual predispositions such as cultural values could also predict these attitudes. In the current research, we expand previous results testing whether cultural variables at the individual level predict attitudes towards economic inequality. After analysing survey data including samples from 52 countries (N = 89,565), we found that self-enhancement values predict positively, and self-transcendence negatively, attitudes towards economic inequality as the ideal economic inequality measures. This result remained significant even after controlling by socioeconomic status, political ideology, and objective economic inequality. However, this effect is only true in high and middle social mobility countries, but not in countries with low social mobility. The present research highlights how cultural values and country social mobility are crucial factors to addressing attitudes towards economic inequality.

Family background consistently affects economic success across the life cycle: A research note on how brother correlations overlap over the life course.

Scholars of social mobility increasingly study the role of family background in shaping attainment throughout the entire life course. However, research has yet to establish whether the family characteristics influencing early career attainment are the same as those influencing late career attainment. In this research note, I apply an extended sibling correlation approach to analyze brothers' life cycle earnings and family income, using data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. My analysis reveals a near-perfect correlation in the family characteristics that affect attainment at early, mid, and late career stages. This finding has significant implications for how mobility scholars conceptualize the impact of family background across a career. It suggests that family background forms a single, consistent dimension in determining attainment throughout the life course. Further analysis also indicates that the imperfect relationship between current and lifetime income is exclusively driven by within-family processes.

The heterogeneous well-being effects of intergenerational mobility perceptions.

Individuals make comparisons with their parents which determine their intergenerational mobility perceptions, yet very little is known about the areas used for intergenerational comparison and whether these matter for individuals' well-being. In 2021 we commissioned a nationally representative survey in Georgia in which we explicitly asked 1159 individuals an open-ended question on the most important areas in their intergenerational comparisons. More than 170 types of answers were provided by respondents and many of these responses went beyond the standard indicators of intergenerational mobility. We show that the areas of intergenerational comparison significantly differ between those who perceive themselves as being downwardly and upwardly mobile or immobile using the measure of mobility previously validated in cross-national research. Using, among other statistical approaches, treatment effects estimators, we demonstrate that some areas of intergenerational comparison, particularly in terms of income attainment, are significantly and consistently associated with internationally validated measures of well-being.