The son also rises : surnames and the history of social mobility / Gregory Clark [and 11 others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark, Gregory, 1957-

Series:

Princeton economic history of the Western world

The Princeton economic history of the Western world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social mobility--History.

Social mobility.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 364 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2014]

Summary:

How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does this influence our children? More than we wish to believe! While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique -- tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods -- renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies. The good news is that these patterns are driven by strong inheritance of abilities and lineage does not beget unwarranted advantage. The bad news is that much of our fate is predictable from lineage. Clark argues that since a greater part of our place in the world is predetermined, we must avoid creating winner-take-all societies. -- Taken from the book jacket.

Contents:

Preface

Introduction: of ruling classes and underclasses : the laws of social mobility

Social mobility by time and place

Sweden : mobility achieved?

The United States : land of opportunity

Medieval England : mobility in the feudal age

Modern England : the deep roots of the present

A law of social mobility

Nature versus nurture

Testing the laws of mobility

India : caste, endogamy, and mobility

China and Taiwan : mobility after Mao

Japan and Korea : social homogeneity and mobility

Chile : mobility among the oligarchs

The law of social mobility and family dynamics

Protestants, Jews, gypsies, Muslims, and copts : exceptions to the law of mobility?

Mobility anomalies

The good society

Is mobility too low? : mobility versus inequality

Escaping downward social mobility

Appendix 1: Measuring social mobility

Appendix 2: Deriving social mobility rates from surname frequencies

Appendix 3: Discovering the status of your surname lineage

Data sources for figures and tables

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 333-348) and index.

ISBN:

9780691162546

0691162549

OCLC:

861542619