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Social mobility is a hot political topic because it is seen as a key indicator of equality of opportunity and social justice. Informed by reflection on and discussion of our personal trajectories from our own social origins to our current social position, we begin by examining the empirical evidence about patterns of social mobility. Particular attention is given to the UK but you are welcome to draw on resources concerning other societies.

We consider how best to explain existing patterns of social mobility and immobility – whether in terms of rational choices, through processes of cultural reproduction or by the intergenerational transmission of genetic material - and to what extent they might reflect meritocratic processes.

We then consider and evaluate various principles of justice that might regulate the distribution of education: equality of opportunity; adequacy (what matters is that everybody's education is good enough); and benefiting the least advantaged (education should be distributed in ways that best serve the worst off).

We then look at the role of the family in reproducing social inequality across generations. We consider the arguments for and against allowing parents to choose elite private schools for their children, before broadening and deepening the agenda to cover normative assessment of the full range of mechanisms – conscious and unconscious - by which parents confer advantage, and disadvantage, on their children.

The module involves engagement with both empirical (mainly sociological) research and normative philosophical research in the field of social justice. No prior knowledge of either field is needed, but you should not choose this module unless you are willing to read and think about both, including some topics that are entirely philosophical. If you are in doubt, look at the detailed week-by-week course outline and associated readings.

The module aims to:
• encourage you to reflect on your personal social mobility trajectory to date;
• expose you to a variety of scholarly debates about the relation between social justice and social mobility;
• help you understand how to combine empirical and normative considerations in the assessment of social mobility patterns;
• provide you with an informed understanding of how social scientists conceive, measure, and explain social mobility while enabling you to interrogate the key critiques and defences of current levels of social mobility from a social justice perspective;
• promote your understanding of what would count as a just distribution of education;
• promote your understanding of the role of the family in reproducing inequality across generations;
• promote your understanding of the the basis of, and limits on, parents’ rights to confer advantage on their children;
• develop your capacity to reason rigorously and critically, and present your views persuasively and clearly – both orally and on paper - on these topics.