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I think using professions ("lawyer") as a proxy for privilege is a little bit problematic. I'm sure I could have been a lawyer, but I never considered it becaus

I think using professions ("lawyer") as a proxy for privilege is a little bit problematic. I'm sure I could have been a lawyer, but I never considered it because I'd never met a lawyer. It just wasn't on my radar. Instead, I became an engineer. My grandfather & father had been engineers, so working in industry, making things was something that I could conceive. I'm sure I didn't suffer financially - I'm better off than all the lawyers I know. So, to reiterate my point: Using a particular career as a proxy for social mobility is problematic, because life choices can be "sticky" between generations.

varjag 13y ago
Well this is highly anecdotal: none of my parents or grandparents were engineers, yet here I am. The lawyer practice is structured differently though: there's limited supply of positions at law firms where the money are, and without connected family the chance of fresh grad getting there is slim. Same with banking in Scandinavia: certain banks' departments annual retreats can feel more like family reunions.
- antocv 13y ago
  Yea my dad a carpenter, mom cleaning lady, grandparents farmers without iron tools until their middle ages, myself saw a computer first time at age 14. Yet Im software engineer and siblings too have master degrees in medicine and philosophy. Heh. just another small anecdote.
  - lepukowsky 13y ago
    The first comment on the actual article (Econmist) page is thus: "I suspect that looking at incomes (or genes) rather misses the root of social mobility or lack of it. I think the more major difference is simply cultural." Maybe you should give credit where credit is due? Perhaps you are being sarcastic but it seems like everyone in your family has noble professions, at least by my standards...
  - JoeAltmaier 13y ago
    Agree. I'n N'th generation dirt-farmer, so are my siblings. We're 5 computer professionals and one research nurse. All college-educated; all of our children are college-educated. Our upcoming generation will outstrip us all in achievement. So if culture were the determinant factor, shouldn't all Iowa farm kids be economically rising? Yet few are; in our neighborhood the rest of our generation are working clerical, farm-services or trades. I guess that's upward too, farmer is pretty much the bottom. However, the fact that nearly none of my generation took up farming has less to do with social mobility than it does with the changes in the farming landscape. All farms are corporate now; the family farm is largely a myth. It takes $1M+ to get into farming. Maybe its observer bias; my family is certainly not typical. But who's is?
saraid216 13y ago
> because life choices can be "sticky" between generations. Isn't that the very definition of social immobility, though?

varjag 13y ago

Well this is highly anecdotal: none of my parents or grandparents were engineers, yet here I am. The lawyer practice is structured differently though: there's limited supply of positions at law firms where the money are, and without connected family the chance of fresh grad getting there is slim. Same with banking in Scandinavia: certain banks' departments annual retreats can feel more like family reunions.

antocv 13y ago
Yea my dad a carpenter, mom cleaning lady, grandparents farmers without iron tools until their middle ages, myself saw a computer first time at age 14. Yet Im software engineer and siblings too have master degrees in medicine and philosophy. Heh. just another small anecdote.
- lepukowsky 13y ago
  The first comment on the actual article (Econmist) page is thus: "I suspect that looking at incomes (or genes) rather misses the root of social mobility or lack of it. I think the more major difference is simply cultural." Maybe you should give credit where credit is due? Perhaps you are being sarcastic but it seems like everyone in your family has noble professions, at least by my standards...
- JoeAltmaier 13y ago
  Agree. I'n N'th generation dirt-farmer, so are my siblings. We're 5 computer professionals and one research nurse. All college-educated; all of our children are college-educated. Our upcoming generation will outstrip us all in achievement. So if culture were the determinant factor, shouldn't all Iowa farm kids be economically rising? Yet few are; in our neighborhood the rest of our generation are working clerical, farm-services or trades. I guess that's upward too, farmer is pretty much the bottom. However, the fact that nearly none of my generation took up farming has less to do with social mobility than it does with the changes in the farming landscape. All farms are corporate now; the family farm is largely a myth. It takes $1M+ to get into farming. Maybe its observer bias; my family is certainly not typical. But who's is?

saraid216 13y ago

> because life choices can be "sticky" between generations. Isn't that the very definition of social immobility, though?