Occupational Dark Matter: How Occupations Shape Intergenerational Mobility Beyond Social Class and Status

Existing models of intergenerational mobility often fail to adequately capture the associations between parents’ and children’s occupations, leaving a substantial share of detailed mobility unexplained. This article systematically examines off-diagonal occupational mobility patterns beyond big social class effects and gradational affinities. We investigate whether micro-class mobility is primarily determined by origin-specific aspirations or similarities in human, cultural, and social capital between micro-classes. Drawing on data from the General Social Surveys in the United States and Germany, we employ a new structural modelling approach that integrates log-linear models and network methodology. Our findings reveal distinct micro-class mobility patterns shaped by institutionalized “mobility corridors,” with concentrated mobility along specific origin-destination paths after accounting for big-class and gradational characteristics. These patterns are asymmetrical, with elevated mobility rates from micro-class A to B not reciprocated from B to A. This asymmetry indicates that individuals target specific micro-classes based on origin-specific aspirations rather than relying on symmetric resource transferability. Thus, we demonstrate the mechanisms by which micro-classes shape intergenerational mobility beyond gradational affinities and big-class effects.