Son Also Rises - Surnames and the History of Social Mobility

How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique - tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods - renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies

About the author

Gregory Clark

Summary

How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries.

Additional text

"In a fascinating and extraordinary use of historical data, Clark and his 11 collaborators, including Neil Cummins, Yu Hao, and Daniel Diaz, creatively correlate surnames with wealth, educational attainment, and class in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. . . . The author’s use of rare surnames among the elite and the non-elite to measure mobility in occupation, income, and education is both a novel and a creative use of names and naming practices to derive data-driven conclusions."---Beth DiNatale Johnson, Names: A Journal of Onomastics

Product details

• Authors: Gregory Clark, Neil Cummins, Yu Hao, Daniel Diaz Vidal
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.2015
• EAN: 9780691168371
• ISBN: 978-0-691-16837-1
• No. of pages: 384
• Series: Princeton Economic History of the Western World; The Princeton Economic History of the Western World; Princeton Economic History of
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; History, HISTORY / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Economic history, Medieval History, c 1000 CE to c 1500, Social and cultural history, c 500 to c 1000 CE, Social classes, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity