Social mobility
What Social mobility means in History GCSE, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Social mobility
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Social mobility in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
Social structures evolved as a growing "middling sort" of merchants and professionals challenged traditional hierarchies.
The opportunity towns offered, such as the rule that a villein who lived in a town for a year and a day became a freeman.
Topics that use Social mobility
- Option 13: c1500–c1700: Migration in early modern England - 1 The context for migration (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
- Option B2: Key topic 1: Life and government in England, 1189–1216 - 4 English society (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Related terms
- Charters
- Economic transformation
- Everyday life
- Feudal obligations
- Global expansion
- Markets and fairs
- Religious change
- Royal finance and exploitation
Using Social mobility in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
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