5th Annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography

The Multigenerational Demography of Social Mobility

Presented by Robert Mare, current President of the Population Association of America and Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Statistics at UCLA will present, "The Multigenerational Demography of Social Mobility."

Most demographic research on intergenerational processes focuses on the associations between the numbers and characteristics of individuals in successive generations, and ignores multigenerational (“Non-Markovian”) aspects of intergenerational mobility. These aspects include both the net effects of grandparents and early ancestors on individuals and also other types of “path-dependent” sequences of family characteristics. The importance of multigenerational effects may be greatest among the very poor and the very wealthy, and raises the possibility that our standard approaches to the study of social mobility are excessively governed by the perspective of the late 20th Century middle class. Both Markovian and Non-Markovian views of social mobility are further complicated by the interdependence of mobility and differential fertility, mortality, migration, and marriage. Dr. Mare will review potential social, economic, demographic, and biological mechanisms of multigenerational influence; empirical evidence for these effects; and their implications for how we study social mobility and population change.

Discussants:

Herbert Smith, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Population Studies Center at University of Pennsylvania

Molly Martin, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography at Penn State

Agenda:

8:00 Check-in; coffee and pastries

8:50 Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:00 Robert Mare, "The Multigenerational Demography of Social Mobility"

9:50 Break

10:00 Discussants: Herbert Smith, Molly Martin

10:50 Floor Discussion

11:30 Reception in Alumni Lounge

Lecture Sponsors

The De Jong Lecture is supported by the Gordon F. and Caroline M. De Jong Lectureship in Social Demography Endowment, administered jointly (and supplemented as necessary) by the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Institute at Penn State.

View Previous De Jong Lectures

Gordon F. De Jong is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Demography, Director of the Graduate Program in Demography, and Senior Scientist with the Population Research Institute at Penn State. Caroline M. De Jong, a former middle school teacher, has been involved in numerous community, church, and university related organizations including the American Association of University Women, Stay-and-Play Nursery School, Presbyterian Women, and the Centre County Board of Elections.