IntroductionThere are 2 varieties of social mobility. The first is absolute mobility which is the aggregate of an individual's movement through socio-economic structures of society. Absolute mobility is determined by comparing the origin of social class (that of ones parents) against their social class as an adult. This kind of mobility can increase or decrease depending on ones occupational structure. The other variety of mobility is relative. Relative mobility looks at the chance of being socially mobile varies according to a beginning position. In society the chance of attaining a place in occupational class structure is not determined by a person's social class origin.Education is a clear-cut determinant of whether or not a person is upwardly mobile. In today's society a person cannot advance rapidly in social class without going to school. Unless otherwise raised in a wealthy family, there is little chance of a person advancing in occupation status or living in the high class society.When social mobility is high, people are more able to move around within the income distribution from generation to generation and year to year depending on their own efforts (working hard, achieving a good education, saving for future, and making wise investments. It also depends on external factors such as health, luck, and changing of family composition.When social mobility is low, most people are stuck on the income distribution scale year after year and pass down through generations. Only with enormous effort and/or luck this can change.In my paper I will look at my grandparents and their social mobility and how it changed with my own parents and then again with my immediate family. Our family history starts out with very low social mobility and through marriage and hard work my parents were able to climb the social ladder. I chose not to go to college when I was younger and this caused my own social mobility to decrease once again. It is just now through marriage and work that I have been able to increase on the social ladder and now am back in the working middle class.My maternal grandparents were married in 1922. My grandmother went only to the 8th grade and worked in a laundry in the hospital and my grandfather with a 12th grade education was a Chicago police officer. They did not have much money and lived paycheck to paycheck. My grandparents owned their own house, and always had money for meat and other necessities for their children. My paternal grandparents lived a much more comfortable life, my grandmother came from a higher social class family, and my grandfather owned a restaurant in Mexico City and several businesses in Cuba. My grandfather however was considered a philanderer. He would succeed in business only to lose it all several years later. After 5 years of marriage my grandparents divorced.My father grew up with his maternal grandparents and then went to...
