Mobility In America

Economic mobility and social mobility in America is a person having been born in one social or economic class to move out of that class and into another class. Mobility is complex because of the large variability of ways in which a person can move up or down the social and economic food chain. Mobility varies among different groups of people, that will be discussed further throughout the course of this essay. Ideally, people think that everyone has equal opportunity to change ranks and maybe thats how it should be, but the fact of the matter is that there are several factors that can lead to a person not being able to change their rank. Debt is one factor that has an impact on mobility. Most reading that would think that debt negatively hinders one’s ability to shift from one class to another, but on the contrary as Diana Elliot of pew research says “Our findings show that debt can also be an important component of overall financial health, provided it is sustainable and is used to support investments in families’ futures.” (Pew Research 1). Interestingly, it was discovered that debt isn't all bad and …show more content…
To name a couple of examples race, education have shown to have high variance in mobility statistics. For example as the Brookings video explained, high school dropouts starting at the bottom class statistically have a very low chance at achieving economic and social mobility. However, people born into the lower class but manage to attain a four year college education statistically have a better chance to move up than to stay in the lower class. Another example was race, unfortunately though it be, the research showed that black Americans have had a lower chance at mobility than white Americans. These can also be attributed to the growing problem of inequality in the United States. Inequality has always and continues to be a big problem in this