CORE PHILOSOPHICAL DIRECTIONS FOR STUDYING SOCIAL MOBILITY

Abstract

Social mobility is usually measured with statistical indicators—income elasticity, transition matrices, rank-rank regressions—but the meaning and desirability of “moving up” (or down) is ultimately a philosophical question. This article systematises eight normative and analytic directions through which philosophers interrogate mobility: (1) liberal theories of justice, (2) Marxian & Critical Theory, (3) communitarian perspectives, (4) virtue-ethical and moralpsychological approaches, (5) social ontology of status groups, (6) epistemology of inequality, (7) phenomenological / existential accounts, and (8) applied-policy ethics. By mapping the central questions, conceptual tools and tensions within each direction, the paper shows why mobility cannot be treated as a purely economic “indicator,” but rather a multi-layered phenomenon entwined with notions of freedom, recognition, solidarity and human flourishing.