ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I outline the key factors that enabled the social mobility of nineteenth-century Finnish students. How exactly did a university education help upward social mobility become a reality? How was an improved social status secured? How did one’s family background affect one’s later career? The society of the estates in Finland still had a strong influence on the social mobility of nineteenth‑century students, and it set limits on their future careers. Upward social mobility was usually only possible at a pace of a single step per generation, and it was very hard to even conceive of any upward mobility unless the family had at least some economic or cultural capital available. Family background was strongly linked to horizontal mobility as well since students from the gentry had in practice a much greater choice. Modern professions and commercial activities mostly recruited students with such a background, while the newcomers had to follow more established and traditional routes.
