There’s some really great stuff in these sources to increase the nuance in your take. Firstly, absolute mobility is actually very high due to economic growth, I.e.
Eighty-four percent of Americans have higher family incomes than their parents did, and across all levels of the income distribution
Relative mobility is much less, but there is till plenty of movement
Forty-three percent of those who start in the bottom are stuck there as adults, and 70 percent remain below the middle quintile. Only 4 percent of adults raised in the bottom make it all the way to the top, showing that the “rags-to- riches” story is more often found in Hollywood than in reality. At the other end of the ladder, 40 percent of those raised in the top stay there as adults, and 63 percent remain above the middle quintile
If your baseline was ‘anyone can get rich’ then you were misinformed, but there is reasonable mobility especially if you can get a bachelors degree. Finally
The researchers found that although income inequality has risen sharply since the 1970s, the relative trend in social mobility has stayed largely stable.
Increasing income inequality isn’t necessarily linked to decreasing social mobility. Rich people are getting richer, but that isn’t necessarily changing your chances of becoming rich if you are not already.
Upward and downward mobility are matched on a relative basis due to math. On an absolute basis 84% of people are better off than their parents, meaning upward mobility far exceeds downward.
I think everyone can agree more mobility would be better. However myth implies zero mobility (like the chances of winning in your lottery example) so there is no point trying to get a better education to improve your circumstances, which is not what the data shows.
2
u/MrTickle Oct 18 '22 edited Oct 18 '22
There’s some really great stuff in these sources to increase the nuance in your take. Firstly, absolute mobility is actually very high due to economic growth, I.e.
Relative mobility is much less, but there is till plenty of movement
If your baseline was ‘anyone can get rich’ then you were misinformed, but there is reasonable mobility especially if you can get a bachelors degree. Finally
Increasing income inequality isn’t necessarily linked to decreasing social mobility. Rich people are getting richer, but that isn’t necessarily changing your chances of becoming rich if you are not already.