Structural barriers of social mobility. A micro-macro-transition based on Boudon's model

In 1973 Raymond Boudon presented a formal model of the relationship between educational and social mobility. He demonstrated an "effect of neutralizat ion": a constant level of social mobility despite a continuously increasing level of educational attainment, because social strata are limited in the number of positions. This approach can be generalized to a model of "matchi ng"-processes, that is special micro-macro-transitions. A calculation with this generalized model explains, why mobility rates are dynamically constan t over time: they are the maximally possible rates under the conditions of individual choices of educational attainment and given micro-macro-transfor mation rules. Empirical social mobility rates based on the cumulative ALLBU S-data-set show that such a process may be at work in Germany.