LONG-TERM SOCIAL-MOBILITY - RESEARCH AGENDA AND A CASE-STUDY (BERLIN,1825-1957)

A review of sociological and historical research into long-term social mobility shows a common research agenda linking total mobility, relat ive mobility, and stratification to industrialization, as well as powe rful methods to test hypotheses on widely available historical data. T o demonstrate the viability of such a historical approach, social mobi lity and stratification in Berlin between 1825 and 1957 are analyzed. Intergenerational as well as marital total mobility rates show no corr elation with industrialization. However, with respect to relative inte rgenerational mobility, the Berlin data corroborate the hypothesis of a gradual growth in 'openness' more than the hypotheses of no change, or of a one-time increase during early industrialization. For marital mobility no trend in relative mobility is evident.