3 ms·
> It seems like we've created a system where the straight-and-narrow is increasingly narrow, and the cliffs around it are increasingly high. It's still worth fi
by 77pt77 9y ago
> It seems like we've created a system where the straight-and-narrow is increasingly narrow, and the cliffs around it are increasingly high. It's still worth finding one's own path, but in both social and purely-practical terms it's gotten steadily harder.
On the one hand yes, on the other hand mobility at every level has never been greater, even if still not at the optimal level.
- dota_fanatic 9y agoCan you provide some evidence for this claim? Inequality has grown pretty systematically since the '70s, and though I don't have the link, there was a study recently demonstrating that it's harder to move up than it was for our parent's parents...
- goldfeld 9y agoThe lottery doesn't care about your class. Still doesn't mean many people get mobility out of it.
- Bartweiss 9y ago"Mobility at every level has never been greater" is a completely unfamiliar claim to me. I literally can't find a single plausible source saying that about socioeconomic mobility - they all say it's been flat or falling for at least 20 years. Are we maybe talking about different forms of mobility? From Wikipedia: "In recent years, several studies have found that vertical intergenerational mobility is lower in the US than in some European countries.[1] US social mobility has either remained unchanged or decreased since the 1970s.[2]" "A study published in 2008 showed that economic mobility in the U.S. increased from 1950 to 1980, but has declined sharply since 1980.[3]" "A 2013 Brookings Institution study found income inequality was increasing and becoming more permanent, sharply reducing social mobility.[4]" [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-lower-rungs.html?sq=mobility&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-t... [2] http://www.economist.com/node/3518560?story_id=3518560 http://www.economist.com/node/3518560?story_id=3518560 [3] http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/43/1/139.refs http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/43/1/139.refs [4] http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/bpea/latest-conference/2013-spring-permanent-inequality-panousi http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/bpea/latest-conferen...
- meebs 9y ago> On the one hand yes, on the other hand mobility at every level has never been greater, even if still not at the optimal level. Source?