4) Things Can Only Get Better

Government is claiming to have increased social mobility in the UK over the past few years http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7705444.stm and

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/03/socialexclusion-gordonbrown-social-mobility-labour This report follows an OECD report which found that ‘The gap between rich and poor in Britain narrowed "remarkably" between 2000 and 2005” However, government has been less keen to quote the second half of the sentence “but the country remained one of the most unequal in the developed world’. I have a copy of the full report that I will put in the London Bridge library. The following article visits the main findings of the report http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/oct/22/equality-wealth-uk-social-mobility In my opinion, the evidence for increased social mobility is thin. For example, much of the evidence is anecdotal http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5063029.ece

There are at least two dimensions to this debate, which are already being confused. There is the dimension of the distribution of wealth across society and there is the dimension of social mobility i.e. the possibility of individuals moving up and down the wealth scale. This is in turn is nuanced by what is understood by class, in particular whether class categorisation is a simple relationship to personal wealth.

I think the evidence produced so far is very thin and when you read the report it is cautious in its language "These findings suggest that family background will have less of an impact…”. However, this is a debate we should welcome and look forward to the government’s White Paper.