The Great Gatsby Curve from a multidisciplinary perspective

The Great Gatsby Curve (GGC) has become a well-known depiction of contemporary inequality patterns. The GGC is the graphical representation of the linear relationship between inequality of resources and intergenerational mobility at the country-level. Its powerful message is that greater resource inequality is associated with lower intergenerational mobility. The GGC thus refutes the notion that equality of opportunity can counterbalance higher levels of inequality. In this chapter, we review existing research on the GGC in sociology and economics and summarize its theoretical explanations and methodological foundations. We identify disciplinary commonalities as well as differences and discuss the role of different measurement strategies for inequality and mobility therein. The contribution emphasizes the complementarities and thus the utility of a multidisciplinary perspective on the relationship between inequality and mobility and concludes with suggestions for future areas of study of the GGC that may go well beyond the mostly descriptive accounts.