Social Mobility | Korea Inequality Research Network

Past colloquium

Premarital Pregnancy in South Korea: Socioeconomic Disparities and Children’s Early Developmental Trajectories

Colloquium in November 2024 Won-tae Koh (CLIO Institute for Social Development Studies, Yonsei University) This study explores the possibility that the recent increase in premarital pregnancies may reflect differential demographic behaviors across social strata and examines whether this serves as a pathway for intergenerational inequality reproduction. Analysis using The Panel Read more…

By KIRN, 3 weeks ago

Past colloquium

Effects of Social and Geographical Mobility across Generations on Life Satisfaction

Colloquium in April 2024 Keunbok Lee (Researcher, Gyeonggi Research Institute, South Korea) In South Korea, the belief that children cannot achieve the same level of socioeconomic success as their parents’ generation has been widely spread. The sense of helplessness stemming from entrenched inequalities in life opportunities, coupled with the belief Read more…

By KIRN, 8 months ago

Past colloquium

The Limited Role of Personal Goal Striving in Status Attainment (Joint Work with Jani Erola)

Colloquium in Feb. 2023 Hye Won Kwon (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Turku, Finland) Despite evidence of declining intergenerational mobility, recent studies have shown a rising trend of meritocratic belief (e.g., hard work pays off) among American adults. However, as scholarly attention has been focused on the power of adolescent beliefs Read more…

By KIRN, 2 years ago

Past colloquium

Geography and Social Mobility in the UK (Joint Work with Richard Breen)

Colloquium in Nov. 2021 In, Jung (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Nuffield College at the University of Oxford, UK) In 2014 Raj Chetty and his colleagues’ study of the U.S. tax data finds geographic differences in intergenerational social mobility in the US, and has been succeeded by similar studies of social mobility Read more…

By KIRN, 3 years ago

Past colloquium

Intergenerational Social Mobility in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan: A Descriptive Analysis

Colloquium in Mar. 2021 Chung, Inkwan (Professor, Department of Information Sociology at Soongsil Univ.) This research is a cross-national study of changes in intergenerational social mobility in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. With social survey data on these countries in the early 1990s through the early 2010s, the study analyzes changes in Read more…

By KIRN, 4 years ago

Recent Studies

Inequality of Educational Opportunity

Have you heard of the “spoon class theory”, a term widely used among online communities in South Korea? It refers to the idea that individual’s success in life solely depends on being born into parents of high socioeconomic status. According to this ‘theory’, the influence of parents’ socioeconomic status on Read more…

By KIRN, 6 years6 years ago

Past colloquium

Qualitative Longitudinal Analysis of the Family and Education System in Korea (2016-2019)

Colloquium in Mar. 2018 Cho, Eunjoo (Professor, Myongji Univ.) This research is part of a qualitative longitudinal study conducted since 2016, as to analyze how parents’ socio-economic status and residential characteristics can influence children’s possibility of social mobility. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observations with 15 students in a Read more…

By KIRN, 7 years ago

Past colloquium

Special Seminar with David Grusky (I): “Inequality and the American Dream”

Special seminars with Professor Grusky (Professor of Sociology; Director, Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford Univ.) were held at Yonsei Univ. on Nov. 13-14, 2017 by KIRN and ‘BK21 Plus: Social Solidarity & Coexistence’ from Sociology Department at Yonsei Univ. With the topic of “Inequality and the American Dream” Read more…

By KIRN, 7 years7 years ago

Past colloquium

Intergenerational Economic Mobility and Marriage

Colloquium in Oct. 2017 Choi, Seongsoo (Professor, Department of Sociology at Sungkyunkwan Univ., South Korea) Based on the data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this research analyzes the role of marriage in intergenerational economic mobility among the group born in the U.S. in 1950 to 1975. The research Read more…

By KIRN, 7 years ago

Past colloquium

The Multi-Generational Approach of Social Mobility Research

Colloquium in May. 2017 Kye, Bongoh (Professor, Department of Sociology at Kookmin Univ., South Korea) This study introduces some methodological issues of the multi-generational approach in social mobility research.

By KIRN, 7 years7 years ago