ABSTRACT
In its earliest appearances as a topic for sociological investigation, social mobility took two main forms: the study of the changing composition of ruling groups—in particular, the ‘circulation of elites’—and the study of groups and individuals in general during times of rapid social upheaval. This second view, exemplified by the work of Sorokin, did not exclude the analysis of power and inequality: instead it placed them in a wider context of many types of mobility (Sorokin, 1927). The vertical dimension of this social space was subdivided into such subclasses as wealth, occupation and political power, each of which implied the examination of particular social institutions as the ‘channels’ through which individuals moved up and down. Despite the evident attractions of this comprehensive model, British mobility research has drawn more on the other source for inspiration, focusing narrowly on class inequality and power.
