Social Mobility in U.S. is a Myth, Study Claims

http://www.counselheal.com/articles/2778/20120905/social-mobility-u-s-myth-study-claims.htm

The rhetoric is as classic as it is cliché: The American Dream is achievable with enough hard work and more than enough determination. Famously known as the "Land of Opportunity," America has made a reputation as that soil from which a single seed can spring a garden.

But the reality, according to researchers from the University of Michigan, is that the inequality gap between socioeconomic statuses is so pervasive that upward social mobility is very improbable.

"In the United States, people underestimate the extent to which your destiny is linked to your background," says Fabian Pfeffer, a sociologist at the U-M institute for Social Research (ISR). "Research shows that it's really a myth that the U.S. is a land of exceptional social mobility."