Intergenerational social mobility in Cameroonian cities: the impact of socioeconomic and demographic factors on the family of origin

Samuel Nouetagni, Institut de Formation et de Recherche Demographiques (IFORD)
Mathias Kuepie, DIAL-Paris et CEPS/INTEAD (Luxembourg)

If social mobility depends on macro factors such as the social and economic organisation, economical and social policies, individual strategies can also play a significant role. In fact, a family with numerous descendants through a thinning down of economic resources and assets, can reduce the chances of intergenerational mobility, especially in the context of economic difficulties. On the contrary, a family with small descendant, through the concentration of economic resource and heritage on few persons, may increase the chances of the offspring social mobility, according to the thesis of social capillarity of Arsene Dumont. The objective of this study is first of all to describe the social mobility of two generations: The one that was witnessed by the pivot generation and that witnessed by the children of the later. We will test the hypothesis of social capillarity, that is the impact of the sibling size on the two successive motilities.