social mobility

[ soh-shuhl moh-bil-i-tee ]

noun

1. Sociology. the movement of people in a population, as from place to place, from job to job, or from one social class or level to another.

social mobility

1. The ability of individuals or groups to move upward or downward in status based on wealth, occupation, education, or some other social variable.

Notes

American society operates on the principle that an individual's achievements can be rewarded by upward social mobility.

Word History and Origins

Origin of social mobility¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Shanley Breese, a law student who founded the Scottish Social Mobility Society, said that when she arrived at the university she had never heard of private schools.

From BBC

The guidance was issued after the newly-formed Scottish Social Mobility Society complained lecturers and students regularly mocked and mimicked individuals from north of the border.

From BBC

Graham, who wrote the play Dear England and TV's Sherwood, referred to class as "everyone’s least favourite diversity and representation category" and said more attention should be paid to social mobility.

From BBC

One thing I've been reminded of during the current Springfield situation is the response of Black anti-lynching crusaders to the lynching scourge of the post-Reconstruction era, that at its deepest level, it represented not whites' fear of Black crime or sexual transgression, which was sensationalized and exaggerated, so much as the opposite, white resentment of the political and economic progress Black people had made, along with their increased social mobility.

From Salon

“Historically, beauty pageants have been an amazing tool for social mobility for women,” says Prof Friedman.

From BBC