Social Mobility, a family affair?

The son of a poor family could one day become the founder of a multi-million financial empire – or, who knows, the scientist who discovers a cure for cancer.

Sociology has devoted some time to the study of the phenomenon called ‘social mobility’ (in which an individual from a determined group on a certain social level evolves to another level). And the cinema has used many excellent screenplays to demonstrate this premise.

But this article comes as a result of a new study by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation) which makes up part of the annual report «Going for Growth», to be launched on 10th March. It’s entitled «Intergenerational Social Mobility: a family affair?» and is already available on the Internet.

In a nutshell, the study shows that despite the fact that economic growth over the past three decades has opened up new opportunities for thousands of Portuguese to change their status quo, citizens’ social mobility in general continues to be much lower than that in other developed countries.

According to the study, there’s a pattern that comes from the past that continues to repeat itself from generation to generation. This is because the difference between the salaries of people whose parents completed higher education, and those whose parents only completed the obligatory schooling of their time, is far greater in Portugal than in any other OECD-member country.

One of the conclusions of the study is that the economic context of the family has an important social impact on scholastic results. And this effect is stronger in countries with the most socially unequal societies (like Portugal), and doesn’t help ‘turn round’ the social lottery.

Theoretically, Portugal has political policies (?) that allow all individuals the same access to education – an education that, in future, will be instrumental in gaining a good job.

However, in practice, what happens is that the lower social status inherited from one’s parents defines a destiny that almost certainly impells people into the same, or very similar, life-patterns of their origins.

In the final analysis, the OECD study shows that Portugal continues to be a country that favours the elite.