I'm not sure anyone needed to go to the trouble to explode the myth that the UK is 'meritocratic' - one look at the new government would have shot that theory to pieces.
But Social Mobility Myths, a report published by think tank Civitas today, tells the political establishment: "we cannot hope to develop good policies if we ignore the key influence on the phenomenon we are hoping to change."
According to report author Peter Saunders, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Sussex, four social mobility myths distort political debate and policy:
1. Britain is a 'closed shop society', in which life chances are heavily shaped by the class you were born into
2. Social mobility is getting worse, or has even 'ground to a halt'
3. Differences of ability between individuals are irrelevant in explaining the differential rates of success they achieve
4. Governments can increase mobility by top-down engineeering of the education system and forcing more income redistribution.
Much as I would like to agree with all of the above, I'm not sure I can. I have a horrible feeling that some people would prefer to see what they consider their 'social superiors' in certain jobs - particularly those involving government.
