upward mobility

noun

1. sociol the movement of an individual, social group, or class to a position of increased status or power Compare downward mobility See also horizontal mobility vertical mobility

upward mobility

1. Rising from a lower to a higher social class or status. (See also social mobility.)

Example Sentences

But for a brief window when the “forgotten generation” was reaching college age, student loans conveyed all of the promise of American upward mobility with none of the pitfalls.

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“I’ve done some research since the book and found that 89% of people living in public and subsidized housing live there more than five years, and 65% more than 10 years. In New York City, 10% of public housing residents have been there for more than 40 years. This is so antithetical to upward mobility.”

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He began driving but has spent the past 16 years guarding buildings, a job that offers some security but little upward mobility.

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While that’s yet to be definitively proven, we’re certainly at the end of a previous epoch in which upward mobility felt more achievable.

Read more on Salon

While that’s yet to be definitively proven, we’re certainly at the end of a previous epoch in which upward mobility felt more achievable.

Read more on Salon