Did social mobility increase during the industrialization process? A micro-level study of a transforming community in southern Sweden 1828–1968

•We study the link between industrialization and intergenerational social mobility.•We use longitudinal individual-level data for the period 1830–1968 for Sweden.•Log-linear models and multinomial logit models are used.•Industrialization was associated with increasing absolute and relative mobility.•It became easier to move from lower classes to the non-agricultural middle class.

This article studies class attainment and mobility in a long-term perspective, covering the entire transition from a preindustrial to a mature industrial society. Using longitudinal individual-level data for men in a community of southern Sweden, we test different hypotheses linking changing patterns of social mobility and status attainment to the industrialization process. The data allows an analysis of Sweden's complete transition from an agrarian to an industrialized society, and thus to comprehensively address core hypotheses in the stratification literature. Both absolute and relative mobility increased, mainly explained by upward mobility becoming more prevalent. By looking at status attainment into different segments of the middle class and elite, we also see the increasing role played by formal education and meritocracy for the opportunities of people from low-class origin to advance socially. However, this development is more connected with the maturing of industrial society than with industrialization as such.