Abstract
Much previous research has found that a common relative mobility pattern describes mobility in various countries, but most of this research adopted a “traditional approach,” by which I mean class origin was measured only by fathers' occupation. However, more recent research utilized models that incorporate both fathers' and mothers' occupation, and these models provide a better fit. This “new approach” contradicts the findings of much previous research on intergenerational social mobility in the U.S. In this paper, I tested which model better explained mobility in East Asia. My three main findings are that (1) models using the “traditional approach” adequately explain the mobility patterns of Japanese men, (2) the “new approach” models fit better than did the conventional models in Japan, and (3) only in regard to women did reanalyzing mobility patterns in East Asian societies using the “new approach” model show differences between countries in the region. In conclusion, differences in characteristics of mothers' occupation might bring heterogeneity into the structure of women's intergenerational mobility in East Asia.
