Equal Lives research using Finnish data shows that measures of social mobility that concentrate on final outcomes are at risk of underestimating the association between social origin and destination because social inequalities are formed across the life course, not just at the end of specific life phases.
The research by Aleksi Karhula, Jani Erola, Marcel Raab and Anette Fasang is published in Advances in life Course Research, shows:
- A pronounced similarity in the early socioeconomic trajectories of siblings.
- Focusing only on outcomes underestimates the full similarity in the sibling’s trajectories.
- Sibling similarity is strongest in disadvantaged and advantaged trajectories.
- Focusing on outcomes, risks underestimating the full extent of the social origin effects.