social mobility

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the movement of individuals, families, or groups between different positions in a society's hierarchy of income, wealth, occupation, and social status; upward mobility describes movement to higher positions while downward mobility describes movement to lower ones; intragenerational mobility refers to changes within a single lifetime and intergenerational mobility to changes across generations; high social mobility is considered a marker of a fair and open society, while low mobility indicates that social position is largely determined by birth rather than individual effort or ability