Determinants and perceptions of social mobility in Poland, 1992-2008

Abstract

Vizja Press&IT www.ce.vizja.pl 89The purpose of this article is to analyse the factors affecting social mobility in Poland, based on results obtained from the estimation of logit models for the years 1992-2008 as well as from interviews asking about the necessary conditions to achieve success in life. Data used in this work come from the Polish General Social Survey carried out by the Institute of Social Studies of the University of Warsaw on a representative sample of adult household members. This set contains interviews conducted in the years 1992-2008 and includes 16,234 respondents. Studies using logit models to answer the question posed in the present study show that the probability of success in life in Poland is determined by both ability and level of education; interview responses to the same question, however, show that family origins, parents' level of education and connections are just as important. Most interestingly, the percentage of people indicating the importance of these factors was higher in 2002 than it was in 1992. IntroductionThe concept of social mobility (Saunders, 2010, p. 1-2; Social mobility, 2008) concerns an individual or social group's ability to change his or her position in the social system. In the case of intragenerational mobility, movement is measured in relation to the life of a single person. If a person's current position is discussed in reference to the position held by his or her parents at the same age, it is described as intergenerational mobility. Profession, income level, education, and other measures of class or socio-economic status can be compared. When a person moves from a lower to a higher social position, he or she achieves social promotion, whereas when a person moves from a higher to a lower position, he or she undergoes social degradation. The factors influencing social mobility are a subject of research in many scientific disciplines, including sociology, psychology, epidemiology, and social medicine.In fact, the social status achieved in adulthood is an important indicator of access to material goods and health status (Adams et al, 2004;Boyle, Norman & Popham, 2009;Smith et al., 1998). The existence of social mobility also has consequences for social cohesion, equality, economic stability and happiness (Aldridge, 2003). Therefore, it is important to isolate the factors that facilitate mobility as well as those that may pose a barrier to it in order to target material resources that will support the former (Forrest et al., 2011). Most of the research on this subject shows that social, educa-

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