The study of intergenerational mobility was once viewed as a quintessentially sociological topic that was widely investigated using occupational mobility tables. However, the popularity of that approach has been dwindling. This decline is associated with the increasing use of the economics model which is not encumbered by the shortcomings of occupational mobility tables. The first limitation of the latter is the contextual nature of occupation which provides an imprecise indicator of an individual’s earnings. The second limitation is the focus on cross-sectional data in an era of increased labor market volatility. The third limitation is the dubious practice of distinguishing between structural mobility and circulation mobility. The fourth limitation is the failure of occupational studies to discern important empirical trends about rising inequality. The fifth limitation is that occupation is an inaccurate indicator of non-pecuniary rewards for individual jobs. The recognition of these limitations helps to explain why sociologists are abandoning occupational mobility tables—despite their once great popularity—in favor of the economics approach.

代际流动性研究曾经被视为一个典型的社会学主题，使用职业流动性表进行了广泛研究。但是，这种方法的受欢迎程度一直在下降。这种下降与经济学模型的使用增加有关，而职业迁移表的缺点并没有妨碍经济学模型的使用。后者的第一个限制是职业的背景性质，它提供了个人收入的不精确指标。第二个限制是在劳动力市场波动加剧的时代，重点放在横截面数据上。第三个限制是区分结构流动性和循环流动性的可疑做法。第四个局限性是职业研究未能发现有关不平等加剧的重要经验趋势。第五个局限性是职业是个体工作非金钱报酬的不准确指标。对这些局限性的认识有助于解释为什么社会学家抛弃了职业流动性表格，尽管它们曾经一度很受欢迎，却转而采用经济学方法。