ABSTRACT
Ever since the classical texts of Marx, Pareto and Weber, social mobility has been of central interest in the study of industrial societies. A mass of data has been collected for this purpose and the most advanced techniques of statistical analysis have been developed and applied in the field of social mobility research. Many claims have been made that the scholarly returns on these endeavours have been limited (Mayer and Müller, 1971; Coser, 1975; Sørensen, 1986). However, such general criticisms can no longer be sustained. In a state of the art review Kurz and Müller (1987) observe that comparative social mobility research has now achieved a state of maturity. It is no exaggeration, in the light of the specific aim of this chapter (to argue pro John Goldthorpe), if I claim that John Goldthorpe is the person to whom the breakthrough and the new synthesis are due. The attentive reader of our earlier article (Kurz and Müller, 1987) will already have recognized this assessment.
