One of the defining features of the “American dream” is the aspiration that children have a higher standard of living than their parents. When children are asked to assess their economic progress, they frequently compare their own standard of living to that of their parents. Such measures of “absolute income mobility”—the fraction of children earning […]
Welfare regimes and social stratification
When I was told of the plan to bring out a special issue of the Journal of European Social Policy to revisit my Three Worlds on its 25th birthday, I felt more honoured than at any other moment in my life. But then elation gave place to panic: what meaningful contribution could I possibly deliver? […]