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The Son Also Rises

Surnames and the History of Social Mobility
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Son Also Rises by Gregory Clark explores the persistence of social status across generations, revealing that social mobility has remained remarkably low over the past eight centuries. By tracing family names to measure movement up and down the social ladder across different countries and eras, Clark demonstrates that inherited advantage strongly determines fate, challenging modern assumptions about social equality.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$6000

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This compelling economic history will appeal to readers fascinated by social mobility, inequality, economics, and history, including academics, policymakers, and informed general readers interested in the forces shaping society.

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How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe.

While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favour of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique—tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods—renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies.

Clark examines and compares surnames in such diverse cases as modern Sweden and Qing Dynasty China. He demonstrates how fate is determined by ancestry and that almost all societies have similarly low social mobility rates.

Challenging popular assumptions about mobility and revealing the deeply entrenched force of inherited advantage, The Son Also Rises is sure to prompt intense debate for years to come.

Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World

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  • The Son Also Rises
    How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favour of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Winner of multiple prestigious awards, including the 2015 Gyorgy Ranki Prize and recognition as one of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014, this book has garnered high praise. The New Yorker highlights Clark's finding that economic elites remain stable over centuries, while the Wall Street Journal calls it an "epic feat" that disrupts ideas of social fluidity. Barbara Kiser in Nature describes the work as "audacious," and economists such as Diane Coyle and Tyler Cowen strongly recommend it for anyone interested in inequality.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691168371

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 25 August 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Illustration: 7 Maps

Contributors:

  • Contributions by Neil Cummins
  • Contributions by Yu Hao
  • Contributions by Daniel Diaz Vidal

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 312g

Pages: 384

About the Author

Gregory Clark is professor of economics at the University of California, Davis.

Also by Gregory Clark

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