steve wrote:
Im hoping some of our European friends will comment here. I know the US is
famous for class mobility, but I was under the impression that class
immobility was a thing of the past even in Europe... especially after the
two world wars shook up the social structure. Bob obviously disagrees..and
he's been there, which gives him a big advantage over me (a "dumbass", no
doubt).

What do our European friends think? Rigid class structure and social
pressure to stay put? Or is social mobility now the norm?

Actually, the US is not as class-mobile as it is famous for, depending
on how you define class. The US is (or should be) famous for the
_appearance_ of mobility because class is more linked to income
than strict heredity, but actual measures of income mobility from
generation to generation often show that the US is _less_ income-mobile
than a number of European countries. This is all speaking about
the postwar era.

Here's a recent article that suggests Brits define class more by birth
than by income:
http://www.economist.com/world/brita...ory_id=7289005

(FWIW, as an American, the class jape in the headline about
"did they buy their own furniture" was quite inexplicable. I had to
read the article to find out that the opposite is inheriting one's
furniture, from the previous Lord of Woolshirt-Dundersnipe, presumably.
My American co-worker who has lived in Britain figured it out
immediately, though.)

A bunch of Times poll results for the US (which shows that most
Amis think it's easier to move up in the US than Europe):
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html.../index_04.html

And a comparison of income-mobility among countries, which
suggests the opposite:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site...8OVF&b=1579981

Unfortunately, none of these really studied whether bike racers
are definitively working-class no matter how much they make,
which is sort of the substance of your question, I guess.

Ben