Changing flux, persisting barriers: assessing the career mobility regime changes in France

Abstract Recent empirical research has shown a modest increase in career complexity throughout 20th century Europe. Little is known, however, about the career class mobility, despite the fact that social class is recognized as one of the main career boundaries. Modernization theory provides conflicting expectations regarding how social mobility should evolve over the life course as contemporary societies converge towards education-based meritocracies. Drawing on the French survey Formation-Qualification Professionnelle (Insee, 1970; 1977; 1985; 1993; 2003; 2014–2015) and using the EGP schema, I analyse both the absolute and relative measures of career class mobility, and I rely on the latter to define career class regimes, that I qualify in terms of the strength of the association between class positions held at different career stages and its structure (i.e., qualitative patterns). The findings of this article point to increasing career fluidity across cohorts, which implies a greater permeability of class barriers to career mobility. They also show, however, that these changes have not been associated with any significant modification in mobility patterns, meaning that the social distance and proximity of different social classes remain largely intact over time. Overall, the transformation in contemporary life courses and careers was not only slight but also partial when it comes to career class regimes in France: there is a changing flux, but persisting barriers to career mobility. Therefore, it seems not only exaggerated, but also misleading to speculate on a fundamental change in career dynamics, as most variants of modernization theory tend to do.