FAMILIES

Study Finds -  Fresh research from Britain reveals that children from elite backgrounds have an almost supernatural ability to avoid significant downward mobility, with 90% managing to stay clear of working-class occupations. For those born into elite households – the children of doctors, lawyers, and executives – the path ahead usually leads to similarly prestigious or high-paying positions, with nearly seven in 10 maintaining their elevated social position into adulthood.

This revelation comes from new research by Dr. Robert de Vries at the University of Kent, published in Social Science Research. The study challenges our previous understanding of social mobility by showing that even when children from privileged backgrounds don’t maintain their parents’ exact economic position, they often preserve their social status through prestigious if sometimes less lucrative, careers.

Traditional research on social mobility has focused primarily on economic measures – essentially, whether children end up in jobs with similar pay and conditions to their parents. But this approach missed an important piece of the puzzle: social status, or how much respect and prestige different occupations command in society.