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Surnames and social mobility in England, 1170–2012

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  • Clark, Gregory
  • Cummins, Neil

Abstract

Using educational status in England from 1170 to 2012, we show that the rate of social mobility in any society can be estimated from knowledge of just two facts: the distribution over time of surnames in the society and the distribution of surnames among an elite or underclass. Such surname measures reveal that the typical estimate of parent–child correlations in socioeconomic measures in the range of 0.2–0.6 are misleading about rates of overall social mobility. Measuring education status through Oxbridge attendance suggests a generalized intergenerational correlation in status in the range of 0.70–0.90. Social status is more strongly inherited even than height. This correlation is unchanged over centuries. Social mobility in England in 2012 was little greater than in preindustrial times. Thus there are indications of an underlying social physics surprisingly immune to government intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Clark, Gregory & Cummins, Neil, 2014. "Surnames and social mobility in England, 1170–2012," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60593, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:60593
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60593/
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Stéphane Benveniste, 2023. "Like Father, Like Child: Intergenerational Mobility in the French Grandes Écoles throughout the 20 th Century," AMSE Working Papers 2318, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    2. Simson, Rebecca & Harris, J. Andrew, 2022. "Diversity and liberalisation reforms: Evidence from the University of Nairobi," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Christophe Lévêque, 2020. "Political connections, political favoritism and political competition: evidence from the granting of building permits by French mayors," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 135-155, July.
    4. Paweł Bukowski & Gregory Clark & Attila Gáspár & Rita Pető, 2022. "Social Mobility and Political Regimes: Intergenerational Mobility in Hungary, 1949–2017," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1551-1588, October.
    5. Clark, Gregory & Cummins, Neil, 2013. "Surnames and social mobility: England 1230-2012," Economic History Working Papers 54515, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    6. Bhupatiraju,Sandeep & Chen,Daniel Li & Joshi,Shareen & Neis,Peter Konstantin, 2021. "Who Is in Justice? Caste, Religion and Gender in the Courts of Bihar over a Decade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9555, The World Bank.
    7. Jinping Lin & Jun Lei & Zhen Yang & Jiangang Li, 2019. "Differentiation of Rural Development Driven by Natural Environment and Urbanization: A Case Study of Kashgar Region, Northwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-21, December.
    8. Colagrossi, Marco & d’Hombres, Béatrice & Schnepf, Sylke V, 2020. "Like (grand)parent, like child? Multigenerational mobility across the EU," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    9. Neil Cummins, 2022. "The hidden wealth of English dynasties, 1892–2016," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 667-702, August.
    10. Korom, Philipp & Lutter, Mark & Beckert, Jens, 2015. "The enduring importance of family wealth: Evidence from the Forbes 400, 1982 to 2013," MPIfG Discussion Paper 15/8, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    11. Paul A. Longley & Justin Dijk & Tian Lan, 2021. "The geography of intergenerational social mobility in Britain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social mobility; intergenerational correlation; status inheritance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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