Featherman–Jones–Hauser hypothesis
Featherman–Jones–Hauser hypothesisThis states that there exists a cross-national similarity of social mobility rates at the level of underlying ‘relative mobility chances’, such that in all societies having a nuclear family system and market economy, the mobility pattern will be ‘basically the same’ (see D. L. Featherman, F. L. Jones, and R. M. Hauser, ‘Assumptions of Social Mobility Research in the US: The Case of Occupational Status’, Social Science Research, 1975). The argument has since been much disputed (see R. Erikson and J. H. Goldthorpe, The Constant Flux, 1992).
The manner in which the thesis is formulated raises two problems for the researcher who attempts to subject it to empirical testing. The first is the gap between the loose verbal formulation of the argument and the strict ‘common social fluidity model’ against which it is conventionally tested.
The former refers to a...
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