The Myth Of Social Mobility

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis

Tuesday October 31, 2006 00:21

by W. - Anarchist Youth

Is our social-status is purely the product of our own actions. How true is this idea and what purpose does it serve?

Social mobility is the amount which an individual in a given society can change their social status, or class, throughout their life. Under modern western capitalism we are told that through hard work, study and dedication we can all become wealthy and successful. Some even go so far as to say that we no longer live under a class system, as our social-status is purely the product of our own actions. How true is this idea and what purpose does it serve?

Social mobility is the amount which an individual in a given society can change their social status, or class, throughout their life. Under modern western capitalism we are told that through hard work, study and dedication we can all become wealthy and successful. Some even go so far as to say that we no longer live under a class system, as our social-status is purely the product of our own actions. How true is this idea and what purpose does it serve?

Everyone has the right to free education in western capitalist democracies and this is the starting point of the social-mobility myth. Surely if they work
hard at school a working class student has the same opportunities as a bourgeois one. This ignores the fact that the class system is reproduced throughout the entire education system. While students from wealthy backgrounds attend fee-paying primary and secondary schools that can afford smaller classes with better staff and facilities, others are forced to attend run down state schools, which are often overcrowded and understaffed. Add to this the social background of wealthy students which allows them access to more resources and who have less financial and social worries which allows them to focus on their education.

On a practical level if you take a look around the plush campus of St. Andrews in Booterstown or Blackrock College (2 of the most expensive secondary schools in Dublin) and compare them to Colaiste Dhuilaigh or Darndale SNS the differences are blatant. Is it a coincidence that the best schools are located in the wealthiest areas? Add to this the fact that the fee paying secondary schools are sending up to 90% of their pupils on to third level compared to the small amount of pupils from working class areas who even go on to finish their leaving cert. The ruling class have better funded schools, which in turn means they get the best education, which gets them the best jobs and continues the cycle.

Many people hold up examples of supposedly working class people who rose to wealth but these people are an exception to rather than proof of social mobility. Tony O Reilly, multi-millionaire media monopolist, is held up as a self-made man, yet he attended the expensive Belvedere college secondary school. The nature of the class system is such that it is set up to perpetuate itself and the class education system is just one of many facets which keeps the workers in their place. Even the most idiotic members of the ruling class who no amount of money can educate still stand to inherit their families wealth and can usually be assured of a decent job working through their school chums or family contacts.

It is at school that we are first introduced to strict hierarchy and rules. The idea is to make us internalise these ideas while we are young so that we grow up to become obedient self-policing citizens. Uniformity and strict routines help us to prepare for the workplace while most of the subjects studied serve little practical purpose in our day-to-day lives. Compulsory free state education was introduced for this purpose and in Ireland we suffer the added misery of having the Catholic Church run most of our schools.

Social mobility sells us the myth that we are poor because we are lazy and makes us feel guilty for our position in society. This serves to distract people from the real problem - that the bourgeois live off the wealth we produce and that we have no real power over our own lives.

For more information check out - "a primer of libertarian education" available in Ireland from www.wsm.ie