ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates some of the leading quantitative approaches to social mobility in order to identify the sorts of weaknesses and blind spots which qualitative research might be able to remedy. It offers a brief introduction to some of the main trends in quantitative social mobility research since 1945. The chapter considers the problem of studying atypical or unusual groups within survey research. It examines the differing conceptions of causality implicit in different quantitative approaches and argues that researchers face the choice either of examining many variables superficially or a few variables in depth. The chapter considers the conceptions of temporality and historicity implicit in survey research. It discusses how subjectivity and the complex relationship between structure and agency is handled. The chapter indicates at various points there are many points of contact between quantitative and qualitative approaches.
