Research using Finnish register data shows that measures of social mobility that concentrate solely on final outcomes are at risk of underestimating the importance of the similarities across the pathways they follow. The research by Aleksi Karhula, Jani Erola, Marcel Raab and Anette Fasang, looked at the socio-economic trajectories of nearly 22,000 Finns aged 17-35 by comparing outcomes not just at a single point but at various points in their lives.
The findings show a pronounced similarity in the early socioeconomic trajectories of siblings, particularly for same-sex siblings and more so for brothers than sisters. They also show that similarities don’t just boil down to a single outcome but to similar pathways across the siblings’ lives leading to those outcomes. Social class was an important factor, following a U-shaped pattern, with similarities proving strongest among the most and least advantaged and appearing weakest among young adults from a middle class background.
The research, undertaken as part of the NORFACE-funded Equal Lives project, concludes that taking a life course perspective is key to examining issues of social mobility because inequalties are formed across people’s lives, not just at the end of specific life phase. The researchers add that treating destination as a process can help generate new insights into how processes of attainment unfold over time.