The government’s social mobility strategy is based on a flawed understanding of the available evidence, according to a think-tank report. Britain is not a meritocracy but it does no worse than the average internationally.

The Civitas report disputes much of what political parties commonly say on the issue of social mobility.

Key points

• Social mobility is the norm in Britain, not the exception. And it happens in both directions across the entire range of the occupational class structure.
• If the population is divided into three main social classes, more than half are in a different class from the one they were born into.
• Studies of class mobility place Britain around the middle of the international rankings, not the bottom.
• More can be done to promote social mobility. But it is personal characteristics, such as talent and hard work, that make the main difference in determining life-chances in today’s Britain.

Source: Peter Saunders, Social Mobility Delusions: Why So Much of what Politicians Say about Social Mobility in Britain is Wrong, Misleading or Unreliable, Civitas

Links: Report | Press release.