Types of social mobility: vertical, horizontal, individual. Types of mobility

People are in constant motion, and society is in development. The totality of social movements of people in society, i.e. changes in their status, is called social mobility. This topic has interested humanity for a long time. The unexpected rise of a person or his sudden fall is a favorite plot of folk tales: a cunning beggar suddenly becomes a rich man, a poor prince becomes a king, and the hardworking Cinderella marries a prince, thereby increasing her status and prestige.

However, human history consists not so much of individual destinies as of the movements of large social groups. The landed aristocracy is being replaced by the financial bourgeoisie, low-skilled professions are being forced out of modern production by representatives of the so-called “white collar” workers - engineers, programmers, operators of robotic complexes. Wars and revolutions reshaped the social structure of society, raising some to the top of the pyramid and lowering others. Similar changes took place in Russian society after the October Revolution of 1917. They are still happening today, when the business elite is replacing the party elite.

Between ascent and descent there is a well-known asymmetry: everyone wants to go up and no one wants to go down the social ladder. Usually, ascent - the phenomenon is voluntary, and descent - forced.

Research shows that those with higher statuses prefer high positions for themselves and their children, but those with low statuses also want the same for themselves and their children. This is how it works in human society: everyone strives upward and no one strives downward.

In this chapter we will look at essence, reasons, typology, mechanisms, channels And factors, influencing social mobility.

Exist two main types social mobility - intergenerational and intragenerational, and two main types - vertical and horizontal. They, in turn, break down into subspecies And subtypes, which are closely related to each other.

Intergenerational mobility suggests that children achieve a higher social position or fall to a lower level than their parents. Example: a miner's son becomes an engineer.

Intragenerational mobility occurs where the same individual, without comparison with his father, changes social positions several times throughout his life. Otherwise it is called social career. Example: a turner becomes an engineer, and then a workshop manager, a plant director, and a minister of the engineering industry.

The first type of mobility refers to long-term, and the second - to short-term processes. In the first case, sociologists are more interested in interclass mobility, and in the second, in the movement from the sphere of physical labor to the sphere of mental labor.

Vertical mobility implies movement from one stratum (estate, class, caste) to another. Depending on the direction of movement, there are upward mobility (social rise, upward movement) and downward mobility (social descent, downward movement). Promotion is an example of upward mobility, dismissal, demotion is an example of downward mobility.

Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another located at the same level. Examples include moving from an Orthodox to a Catholic religious group, from one citizenship to another, from one family (parental) to another (one’s own, newly formed), from one profession to another. Such movements occur without a noticeable change in social position in the vertical direction.

A type of horizontal mobility is geographic mobility . It does not imply a change in status or group, but a movement from one place to another while maintaining the same status. An example is international and interregional tourism, moving from city to village and back, moving from one enterprise to another.

If a change of location is added to a change of status, then geographic mobility becomes migration. If a villager came to the city to visit relatives, then this is geographical mobility. If he moved to the city for permanent residence and found work here, then this is already migration. He changed his profession.

Vertical and horizontal mobility are influenced by gender, age, birth rate, death rate, and population density. In general, young people and men are more mobile than older people and women. Overpopulated countries are more likely to experience the effects of emigration than immigration. Where the birth rate is high, the population is younger and therefore more mobile, and vice versa.

Young people are characterized by professional mobility, adults - economic mobility, and older people - political mobility. Fertility rates are not equally distributed across classes. The lower classes tend to have more children, while the upper classes tend to have fewer. There is a pattern: the higher a person climbs the social ladder, the fewer children he has. Even if every son of a rich man follows in his father's footsteps, there will still be voids at the top of the social pyramid that are filled by people from the lower classes. In no class do people plan the exact number of children needed to replace parents. The number of vacancies and the number of applicants for occupying certain social positions in different classes is different.

Professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) and skilled employees do not have enough children to fill their jobs in the next generation. In contrast, farmers and agricultural workers in the US have 50% more children than they need to replace themselves. It is not difficult to calculate in which direction social mobility should occur in modern society.

High and low fertility in different classes has the same effect on vertical mobility as population density in different countries has on horizontal mobility. Strata, like countries, can be overpopulated or underpopulated.

It is possible to propose a classification of social mobility according to other criteria. So, for example, they distinguish:

· individual mobility, when movement down, up or horizontally occurs in each person independently of others, and

· group mobility, when movements occur collectively, for example, after a social revolution, the old class cedes its dominant position to a new class.

Individual mobility and group mobility are in a certain way connected with ascribed and achieved statuses. Individual mobility corresponds more to the achieved status, while group mobility corresponds more to the ascribed status.

Individual mobility occurs where and when the social significance of an entire class, estate, caste, rank, or category increases or decreases. The October Revolution led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, who previously had no recognized high position. The Brahmins became the highest caste as a result of a long and persistent struggle, and previously they were on a par with the Kshatriyas. In Ancient Greece, after the adoption of the constitution, most people were freed from slavery and rose up the social ladder, while many of their former masters fell down.

The transition from a hereditary aristocracy to a plutocracy (an aristocracy based on the principles of wealth) had the same consequences. In 212 AD e. Almost the entire population of the Roman Empire received the status of Roman citizens. Thanks to this, huge masses of people, previously considered inferior, increased their social status. The invasion of barbarians (Huns, Lobards, Goths) disrupted the social stratification of the Roman Empire: one after another, the old aristocratic families disappeared, and they were replaced by new ones. Foreigners founded new dynasties and new nobility.

Mobile individuals begin socialization in one class and end in another. They are literally torn between dissimilar cultures and lifestyles. They do not know how to behave, dress, talk from the point of view of the standards of another class. Often adaptation to new conditions remains very superficial. A typical example is Molière's tradesman among the nobility.

These are the main types, types and forms (there are no significant differences between these terms) of social mobility. In addition to them, organized mobility is sometimes distinguished, when the movement of a person or entire groups up, down or horizontally is controlled by the state a) with the consent of the people themselves, b) without their consent. Voluntary organized mobility includes the so-called socialist organizational set, public calls for Komsomol construction sites, etc. Involuntary organized mobility includes repatriation (resettlement) of small peoples and dispossession during the years of Stalinism.

It is necessary to distinguish from organized mobility structural mobility. It is caused by changes in the structure of the national economy and occurs beyond the will and consciousness of individuals. For example, the disappearance or reduction of industries or professions leads to the displacement of large masses of people. In the 50-70s, the USSR carried out the reduction of small villages and their consolidation.

The concept of social mobility characterizes social structure in a dynamic aspect. The theory of social mobility has been comprehensively developed P. Sorokin in his work “Social Mobility” (1927) and other studies.

Social mobility is the movement of an individual (or social group) between different positions in the system of social stratification. Social mobility takes many forms. In particular, researchers distinguish between individual (when the movement of one person occurs independently of other people) and group (when movements occur collectively due to an increase or decrease in the social significance of an entire class, estate, etc.) social mobility. As P. Sorokin showed using historical material, social revolutions can be factors of group social mobility; foreign interventions, invasions; interstate wars; civil wars; military coups; change of political regimes; creation of an empire, etc. Social mobility can be organized from above, when movements are controlled by the state. Such organized social mobility can be voluntary (in connection with public calls) and involuntary (for example, the repatriation of small nations).

Structural or forced mobility should be distinguished from organized social mobility, when movement from one social category to another is caused by changes in the professional structure itself (the reduction or creation of new jobs, the emergence or disappearance of entire sectors of the economy). The reasons for these changes may lie in economic growth, political and economic transformations, technical revolutions, and differences in birth rates within specific social groups.

On the contrary, circular or exchange social mobility, sometimes also called true, consists in the mutual “exchange” of individuals between strata. It characterizes social movements that occur due to the personal achievements or failures of individuals, as well as the emergence of new systemic opportunities (political, legal, educational). For example, in the USSR, mobility between strata of workers and engineers had a one-way direction: a worker, having received the appropriate education, could become an engineer, but not vice versa.

It is important to distinguish Vertical and horizontal social movements. The concept of social movement is broader than the concept of social mobility. It also includes labor mobility and geographic mobility (migration).

The concept of “social mobility” is usually associated with vertical movements - from one stratum (class) to another, but mobility can also be horizontal.

Horizontal social mobility is a transition from one social group to another No change in social status. If the movement is associated with a change of job (without changing status), we speak of horizontal labor mobility, if with a change of place of residence (without changing the status of the locality), we speak of horizontal migration.

Vertical social mobility is a transition from one stratum to another With a change in social status. Depending on the direction of movement, vertical mobility can be upward or downward. Upward mobility- this is an individual’s transition to a higher layer, downward mobility is a movement to a lower social position. There are channels or “elevators” through which individuals make these movements. P. Sorokin identified as such: the army, the church, government groups, political organizations and political parties, school, professional organizations, family. Thus, characterizing the school in this capacity, Sorokin writes: “In a society where schools are available to all its members, the school system is a “social elevator” moving from the very bottom of society to the very top. In societies where privileged schools are available only to the upper classes, the school system is an elevator moving only through the upper floors of social knowledge, carrying up and down only the residents of the upper floors. However, even in such societies, some individuals from the lower strata still managed to get into this school elevator and, thanks to it, rise to the top.”

Depending on the starting point, intergenerational and intragenerational mobility are distinguished. Intergenerational mobility means a change in the status of children compared to the status of their parents. The status of the parents is taken as the starting point. Intragenerational (career) mobility means a change in the status of an individual throughout life, his career. In this case, the starting point is the status that the individual had at his first job.

Back in the late 90s. XX century in Russia, according to many researchers, the trend of downward social mobility of the majority of the population dominated in Russian society. Contradictions between social groups and strata of society have intensified and continue to intensify, and conditions have arisen for conflicts between them. One indicator of these contradictions is Marginalization a significant part of the country's population.

Social control

The efforts of society aimed at preventing deviant behavior, punishing and correcting deviants are defined by the concept of “social control”.

Social control is a mechanism for regulating relations between an individual and society in order to strengthen order and stability in society.

In the broad sense of the word, social control can be defined as the totality of all types of control that exist in society*, moral, state control, etc., in the narrow sense, social control is the control of public opinion, publicity of results and assessments of people’s activities and behavior.

Social control includes two main elements: social norms and sanctions.

Sanctions are any reaction from others to the behavior of a person or group.

There is the following classification of sanctions.

Types of sanctions

Formal:

Negative - punishment for breaking the law or violating an administrative order: fines, imprisonment, etc.

Positive - encouragement of a person’s activity or behavior by official organizations: awards, certificates of professional, academic success, etc.

Informal:

Negative - condemnation of a person for an action by society: an offensive tone, scolding or reprimand, demonstrative ignoring of a person, etc.

Positive - gratitude and approval of unofficial persons - friends, acquaintances, colleagues: praise, approving smile, etc., etc.

Sociologists distinguish two main forms of social control.

Social control

Internal (self-control)

A form of social control in which the individual independently regulates his behavior, coordinating it with generally accepted norms

A set of institutions and mechanisms that guarantee compliance with generally accepted norms of behavior and laws

Informal (intra-group) - based on approval or condemnation from a group of relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, as well as from public opinion, which is expressed through traditions and customs or through the media

Formal (institutional) - based on the support of existing social institutions (army, court, education, etc.)

In the process of socialization, norms are internalized so firmly that people, violating them, experience a feeling of awkwardness or guilt, pangs of conscience. Conscience is a manifestation of internal control.

Generally accepted norms, being rational prescriptions, remain in the sphere of consciousness, below which lies the sphere of the subconscious, or unconscious, consisting of spontaneous impulses. Self-control means restraining the natural elements; it is based on volitional effort.

In traditional society, social control was based on unwritten rules; in modern society, it is based on written norms: instructions, decrees, regulations, laws. Social control gained institutional support. Formal control is exercised by such institutions of modern society as the court, education, army, production, media, political parties, and government. The school controls thanks to exam grades, the government - thanks to the system of taxation and social assistance to the population, the state - thanks to the police, the secret service, state channels of radio, television, and the press.

In the Russian Federation, special bodies have been created to exercise social control. These include the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, the Federal Security Service, various financial control bodies, etc. Deputies of various levels are also vested with control functions. In addition to state control bodies, various public organizations are playing an increasingly important role in Russia, for example, in the field of consumer protection, in monitoring labor relations, monitoring the state of the environment, etc.

Detailed (minor) control, in which the manager intervenes in every action, corrects, pulls back, etc., is called supervision. Supervision is carried out not only at the micro, but also at the macro level of society. The state becomes its subject, and it turns into a specialized public institution.

The more self-control the members of a society develop, the less that society has to resort to external control. And vice versa, the less self-control is developed in people, the more often institutions of social control come into play, in particular the army, the court, and the state. The weaker the self-control, the stricter the external control should be. However, strict external control and petty supervision of citizens inhibit the development of self-awareness and expression of will, and muffle internal volitional efforts.

Methods of social control:

Insulation

Establishing impenetrable barriers between the deviant and the rest of society without any attempts to correct or re-educate him

Separation

Limiting the deviant’s contacts with other people, but not completely isolating him from society; this approach allows for the correction of deviants and their return to society when they are ready to once again fulfill generally accepted norms

Rehabilitation

The process by which deviants can prepare to return to normal life and correctly fulfill their social roles in society

Introduction

2.2 Structural mobility

4. Open and closed mobility

5. Second mobility indicator system

5.1 Intergenerational mobility

5.2 Intragenerational mobility

6. Channels of vertical mobility

7. Migration

7.1 Labor migration

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Sociology as a whole (i.e. general sociology) is a science that studies the relationships between groups of people occupying different positions in society, taking unequal participation in economic, social and political life, differing not only in the level, but also in the source of their income, structure consumption, image, quality and lifestyle, as well as the structure of value orientations, motives and type of behavior.

Society is the totality of all methods of interaction and forms of association of people, having a common territory, common cultural values ​​and social norms. Society is a term that denotes the collectivist integrity of the population of a particular country.

People are in constant motion, and society is in development. The totality of social movements of people in society, i.e. changes in one's status is called social mobility.

Social mobility refers to the movement of an individual or group up, down or horizontally. Social mobility is characterized by the direction, type and distance of social movements of people in society (individually and in groups).

1. Vertical and horizontal mobility

The following types of social mobility are distinguished: vertical and horizontal mobility.

Moving up and down is called vertical mobility, and there are two types: downward (top to bottom) and upward (bottom to top). Horizontal mobility is a movement in which an individual changes his social position or profession to one of equal value. A special type is intergenerational, or intergenerational, mobility. It refers to the change in the status of children compared to that of their parents. Intergenerational mobility was studied by A.V. Kirch, and in the global historical aspect - A. Pirenne and L. Febvre. One of the founders of the theories of social stratification and social mobility was P. Sorokin. Foreign sociologists usually connect these two theories.

There are two main types of social mobility - intergenerational and intragenerational, and two main types - vertical and horizontal. They, in turn, are divided into subspecies and subtypes.

Vertical mobility involves moving from one stratum to another. Depending on the direction of movement, they speak of upward mobility (social ascent, upward movement) and downward mobility (social descent, downward movement). There is a well-known asymmetry between ascent and descent: everyone wants to go up and no one wants to go down the social ladder. As a rule, ascent is a voluntary phenomenon, and descent is forced.

Promotion is an example of an individual's upward mobility; dismissal or demotion is an example of downward mobility. Vertical mobility is a person’s change during his life from high to low status or vice versa. For example, the movement of a person from the status of a plumber to the position of president of a corporation, as well as the reverse movement, serves as an example of vertical mobility.

Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same level. Examples include moving from an Orthodox to a Catholic religious group, from one citizenship to another, from one family (parental) to another (one’s own, newly formed), from one profession to another. Such movements occur without a noticeable change in social position in the vertical direction. Horizontal mobility involves a person changing one status to another that is approximately equivalent throughout his life. Let's say a person was first a plumber and then became a carpenter.

A type of horizontal mobility is geographic mobility. It does not imply a change in status or group, but a movement from one place to another while maintaining the same status. An example is international and interregional tourism, moving from city to village and back, moving from one enterprise to another.

If a change of location is added to a change of status, then geographic mobility turns into migration. If a villager came to the city to visit relatives, then this is geographical mobility. If he moved to the city for permanent residence and got a job here, then this is already migration.

2. Individual and group mobility

The classification of social mobility can be carried out according to other criteria. For example, a distinction is made between individual mobility, when downward, upward or horizontal movements occur in an individual independently of others, and group mobility, when movements occur collectively, for example, after a social revolution, the old ruling class gives way to a new ruling class. Individual mobility is inherent in democratic civilized states. Group mobility is a painful process, a consequence of social catastrophes.

2.1 Spontaneous and organized mobility

On other grounds, mobility can be classified, say, as spontaneous or organized. An example of spontaneous mobility is the movement of residents of neighboring countries to large cities in Russia for the purpose of earning money. Organized mobility (the movement of individuals or entire groups up, down or horizontally) is controlled by the state. These movements can be carried out: a) with the consent of the people themselves, b) without their consent. An example of organized voluntary mobility in Soviet times is the movement of young people from different cities and villages to Komsomol construction sites, the development of virgin lands, etc. An example of organized involuntary mobility is the repatriation (resettlement) of Chechens and Ingush during the war with German Nazism.

2.2 Structural mobility

Structural mobility should be distinguished from organized mobility. It is caused by changes in the structure of the national economy and occurs beyond the will and consciousness of individuals. For example, the disappearance or reduction of industries or professions leads to the displacement of large masses of people.

3. Social mobility indicator system

Social mobility can be measured using two indicator systems. In the first system, the unit of account is the individual, in the second, status. Let us first consider the first system.

The volume of mobility refers to the number of individuals who have moved vertically up the social ladder over a certain period of time. If the volume is calculated by the number of individuals who moved, then it is called absolute, and if it is the ratio of this quantity throughout the entire population, then it is relative volume and is indicated as a percentage.

The total volume, or scale, of mobility determines the number of movements across all strata together, and the differentiated volume - across individual strata, layers, classes. The fact that in an industrial society two thirds of the population are mobile refers to the aggregate volume, and 37% of the children of workers who become employees refers to the differentiated volume.

The scale of social mobility is defined as the percentage of those who changed their social status in comparison with their fathers.

Changes in mobility across individual strata are described by two indicators. The first is the coefficient of mobility of exit from the social stratum. It shows, for example, how many sons of skilled workers became intellectuals or peasants. The second is the coefficient of mobility of entry into the social stratum, which indicates from which strata, for example, the stratum of intellectuals is replenished. He discovers the social background of people.

The degree of mobility in a society is determined by two factors: the range of mobility in a society and the conditions that allow people to move.

The range of mobility (amountmobiliti) that characterizes a given society depends on how many different statuses exist in it. The more statuses, the more opportunities a person has to move from one status to another.

In a traditional society, the number of high-status positions remained approximately constant, so there was moderate downward mobility of offspring from high-status families. Feudal society is characterized by very few vacancies for high positions for those who had low status. Some sociologists believe that, most likely, there was no upward mobility here.

Industrial society has expanded the range of mobility. It is characterized by a much larger number of different statuses. The first decisive factor in social mobility is the level of economic development. During periods of economic depression, the number of high-status positions decreases and low-status positions expand, so downward mobility dominates. It intensifies during periods when people lose their jobs and at the same time new layers enter the labor market. On the contrary, during periods of strong economic development, many new high-status positions appear: Increased demand for workers to fill them is the main reason for upward mobility.

The main trend in the development of industrial society is that it simultaneously increases wealth and the number of high-status positions, which in turn leads to an increase in the size of the middle class, whose ranks are replenished by people from lower strata.

Essay
Topic: Social mobility of people and its main types.

Checked by: K.E.N., Associate Professor
Chupina I.P.
Performer: Shabtdinova A.F.
II year, I group

Ekaterinburg 2008

Content

I. Introduction.
II. Social mobility of people and its main types.

Definition of social mobility.
Types of social mobility.
The nature of social mobility and its problems.

Introduction

As a test in Sociology and Political Science during the winter session, we were told to write an essay. For some time I thought about what topic to choose. From the list of topics given, there was plenty to choose from. So I hesitated for a while. And I chose this particular topic precisely because it seemed to me the most interesting and used in everyday life. I'm sure I made the right choice. We all, in one way or another, face the problem of moving and changing status in society. This problem seemed most relevant to me in particular.
After all, what is social mobility? And why is this problem always so important and relevant? Yes, because throughout his life a person changes social groups, statuses and much more - this is all social mobility.
In addition, social mobility has variations. And even if not everyone knows by what criteria and into what groups it is divided, everyone has a so-called “common deal” with it.
In this work, I will consider in detail the concept of social mobility, types of social mobility, for clarity of information I will give examples, talk about the consequences of an individual’s movement across social strata and changes in his status, consider status instability, the nature of social mobility and many other interesting and educational facts about social mobility .
Accordingly, my main goal is to consider in detail social mobility, its structure, types and much more.
Since this topic interested me very much, I turned to several Internet sources to search for information, and was surprised how much information there was on this topic. But unfortunately, the information was often repeated and what I was looking for in one search engine, on one site, turned out to be exactly the same as on the previous and subsequent ones.
When examining sociology in detail, you will notice that sociology has three branches: social structure, social composition and social stratification, which I will also discuss in detail in the chapters of my essay.
We know that in real life, human inequality plays a huge role. inequality is the criterion by which we can place some groups above or below others. So, stratification is a certain “oriented” composition of the population.
I can’t wait to tell you about my wonderful topic, tell you the whole truth, and at the end of my essay I will write what new things I learned from this topic and whether my attitude towards it has changed.

II. Social mobility of people and its main types.

1.Definition of social mobility.

2. Types of social mobility
Exist two main types social mobility - intergenerational and intragenerational, and its two main types - vertical and horizontal. They in turn break down into subspecies And subtypes, which are closely related to each other.

Intergenerational mobility suggests that children achieve a higher social position or fall to a lower level than their parents.
Intragenerational mobility occurs where the same individual, unlike his father, changes social positions several times throughout his life. Otherwise this mobility is called social career. The first type of mobility refers to long-term, and the second - to short-term processes. In the first case, sociologists are more interested in interclass mobility, and in the second, in the movement from the sphere of physical labor to the sphere of mental labor.
Vertical mobility implies movement from one stratum to another. Depending on the direction of movement, there are upward mobility(social uplift) and downward mobility(downward movement).
Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one stratum to another, located at the same level (from the Orthodox to the Catholic religious group). Such movements occur without a noticeable change in social position in the upright position.

The nature of social mobility.

Talented individuals are undoubtedly born in all social strata and social classes. If there are no barriers to social achievement, one can expect greater social mobility, with some individuals quickly rising to higher statuses and others falling into lower statuses. But between layers and classes there are barriers that prevent the free transition of individuals from one status group to another. One of the most important barriers arises from the fact that social classes have subcultures that prepare the children of each class to participate in the class subculture in which they are socialized. An ordinary child from a family of representatives of the creative intelligentsia is less likely to acquire habits and norms that will help him later work as a peasant or worker. The same can be said about the norms that help him in his work as a major leader. Nevertheless, ultimately he can become not only a writer, like his parents, but also a worker or a major leader. It’s just that for advancement from one layer to another or from one social class to another, “the difference in starting opportunities” matters. For example, the sons of a minister and a peasant have different opportunities for obtaining high official status. Therefore, the generally accepted official point of view, which is that to achieve any heights in society you only need to work and have the ability, turns out to be untenable.

The above examples indicate that any social movement does not occur unimpeded, but by overcoming more or less significant barriers. Even moving a person from one place of residence to another presupposes a certain period of adaptation to new conditions.

All social movements of an individual or social group are included in the process of mobility. According to P. Sorokin’s definition, “social mobility is understood as any transition of an individual, or a social object, or a value created or modified through activity, from one social position to another.”

P. Sorokin distinguishes two types of social mobility: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal mobility is the transition of an individual or social object from one social position to another, lying at the same level. In all these cases, the individual does not change the social stratum to which he belongs or his social status. The most important process is vertical mobility, which is a set of interactions that facilitate the transition of an individual or social object from one social layer to another. This includes, for example, a career promotion, a significant improvement in well-being, or a transition to a higher social stratum, to a different level of power.

Society can elevate the status of some individuals and lower the status of others. And this is understandable: some individuals who have talent, energy, and youth must displace other individuals who do not have these qualities from higher statuses. Depending on this, a distinction is made between upward and downward social mobility, or social ascent and social decline. Upward currents of professional, economic and political mobility exist in two main forms: as individual ascent, or the infiltration of individuals from their lower stratum into a higher one, and as the creation of new groups of individuals with the inclusion of groups in the upper stratum next to or instead of existing groups of that stratum. Similarly, downward mobility exists in the form of both pushing individuals from high social statuses to lower ones and lowering the social statuses of an entire group. An example of the second form of downward mobility can be the decline in the social status of a group of engineers, which once occupied very high positions in our society, or the decline in the status of a political party that is losing real power, according to the figurative expression of P. Sorokin, “the first case of decline resembles the fall of a man from a ship; the second is a ship that sank with all on board.”

The mechanism of infiltration in vertical mobility. In order to understand how the process of ascension occurs, it is important to study how an individual can overcome barriers and boundaries between groups and rise upward, that is, increase his social status. This desire to achieve a higher status is due to the achievement motive, which every individual has to one degree or another and is associated with his need to achieve success and avoid failure in the social aspect. The actualization of this motive ultimately gives rise to the force with which the individual strives to achieve a higher social position or to maintain his current position and not slide down. The realization of the power of achievement depends on many reasons, in particular on the situation in society. It is useful to consider the analysis of problems that arise when implementing the achievement motive, using the terms and ideas expressed by K. Levin in his field theory.

In order to achieve a higher status, an individual located in a group with lower statuses must overcome barriers between groups or strata. An individual striving to get into a higher status group has a certain energy aimed at overcoming these barriers and spent on crossing the distance between the statuses of higher and lower groups. The energy of an individual striving for a higher status is expressed in the force F with which he tries to overcome barriers to a higher stratum. Successful passage of the barrier is possible only if the force with which the individual strives to achieve a high status is greater than the repulsive force. By measuring the force with which an individual strives to penetrate the upper layer, it is possible to predict with a certain probability that he will get there. The probabilistic nature of infiltration is due to the fact that when assessing the process, one should take into account the constantly changing situation, which consists of many factors, including the personal relationships of individuals.

Characteristics of social mobility. To quantify mobility processes, indicators of the speed and intensity of social mobility are usually used. The speed of mobility is understood as “the vertical social distance or the number of strata - economic, professional or political - that an individual passes through in his upward or downward movement in a certain period of time.” For example, within three years after graduating from institute and starting work in his specialty, a certain individual manages to take the position of head of a department, and his colleague, who graduated from institute with him, manages to take the position of senior engineer. It is obvious that the speed of mobility is higher for the first individual, since during the specified period of time he has overcome more status levels. On the other hand, if an individual, as a result of prevailing circumstances or personal weakness, slides from a high social position to the bottom of society, then they say that he has a high rate of social mobility, but directed downward along the status hierarchy.

The intensity of mobility refers to the number of individuals changing social positions in a vertical or horizontal direction over a certain period of time. The number of such individuals of any social community gives the absolute intensity of mobility, and their share in the total number of this social community shows relative mobility. For example, if we take into account the number of individuals under the age of 30 who are divorced and move into other families, then we will be talking about the absolute intensity of horizontal mobility in this age category. If we consider the ratio of the number of people who moved to other families to the number of all individuals under the age of 30, then we are talking about relative social mobility in the horizontal direction.

There is often a need to consider the process of mobility from the point of view of the relationship between its speed and intensity. In this case, the aggregate mobility index for a given social community is used. In this way, it is possible, for example, to compare one society with another in order to find out in which of them or in which period mobility is higher in all respects. Such an index can be calculated separately for economic, professional or political areas of activity.

Problems of social mobility.

Classes and castes. The nature of mobility processes in many societies and social groups is different and depends on the characteristics of the structure of the society or group. Some societies have established social structures that prevent various types of social mobility, while others more or less freely allow both social ups and downs. In open class societies, each member can rise and fall through the statuses that make up the structure based on his own efforts and abilities. In closed class societies, each social position is assigned to the individual from birth, and no matter what efforts he makes, society excludes him from achieving social rise or social fall.

Obviously, both of these societies represent ideal types of structures and do not currently exist in real life. However, there are social structures that are close to ideal open and closed class societies. One of the societies that was close to closed was the caste society in Ancient India. It was divided into a number of castes, each of which had its own social structure and occupied a strictly defined place among other castes.

Castes refer to social systems in which individuals' positions are based on descent and any possibility of achieving higher status is excluded, with strict rules prohibiting marriage between members of different castes. These rules are fixed in the mind with the help of religious beliefs. In Ancient India, social barriers between castes were very significant; transitions of individuals from one caste to another were observed extremely rarely. Each caste had specific types of professions, used separate roads for movement, and also created its own types of internal connections. The rank place of caste in society was strictly observed. Thus, representatives of the highest caste, the Brahmins, as a rule, had wealth and a high level of education. However, even if a member of this upper caste became bankrupt or for some reason remained illiterate, he still could not descend into the lower caste.

Modern societies as a whole cannot be organized according to the caste type for a number of social and economic reasons, which include, first of all, the needs of society for qualified and competent performers, for people capable of solving the problems of managing complex social, political and economic processes.

But even in modern societies there are social groups of a “closed” type, very reminiscent of castes. Thus, in many countries, such a relatively closed group is the elite - the upper layer of the social structure, which has advantages in occupying the highest social statuses and advantages in the distribution of the social product, power, receiving the best education, etc.

In societies, there are some social status groups in which vertical mobility is extremely difficult due to isolation and barriers created in the way of representatives of other social groups. At the same time, no matter how closed a group is, there is still at least a small number of members of other groups penetrating into it. Apparently, there are certain paths of vertical social mobility that are almost impossible to block, and representatives of the lower strata always have a chance to penetrate into the upper strata.

Social mobility channels.

The availability of pathways for social mobility depends both on the individual and on the structure of the society in which he lives. Individual ability matters little if society distributes rewards based on prescribed roles. On the other hand, an open society is of little help to an individual who is not prepared to struggle for advancement to higher statuses. In some societies, the ambitions of young people may find one or two possible channels of mobility open to them. At the same time, in other societies, youth can take a hundred paths to achieve higher status. Some paths to achieving higher status may be closed due to ethnic or social-caste discrimination, others due to the fact that the individual, due to individual characteristics, is simply not able to apply his talents.

However, in order to completely change their social status, individuals often face the problem of entering a new subculture of a group with a higher status, as well as the related problem of interactions with representatives of the new social environment. To overcome the cultural and communication barriers, there are several methods that individuals resort to in one way or another in the process of social mobility.

1. Lifestyle changes. It is not enough to simply earn and spend a lot of money in the case when an individual is equal in income to representatives of a higher social stratum. To assimilate a new status level, he needs to accept a new material standard corresponding to this level. Setting up an apartment, buying books, a TV, a car, etc. - everything must correspond to a new, higher status. Material everyday culture is not very noticeable, but a very significant way of joining a higher status level. But the material way of life is only one of the moments of familiarization with a new status and in itself, without changing other components of culture, means little.
etc.................

7.4. Social mobility and its types

Certain social movements and changes are constantly taking place in society. These social movements lead to changes in the social structure of society, as well as changes in the social stratification of society. Such social movements in sociology are called social mobility.

Social mobility(Latin Mobile - movement, mobility) is the transition of people from one social group and layer to another.

P. Sorokin is considered to be the founder of the theory of social mobility. By social mobility, the scientist understands any transition of an individual or social object from one social position in social space to another. Social space according to Sorokin (the concept of “social space” is understood primarily as the social structure of society) has two main classes of coordinates - horizontal (for example, social groups of Catholics, democrats, industrialists) and vertical (for example, a bishop is a parishioner, a party leader is an ordinary party member, manager - worker), which are parameters of social space. Therefore, there are two main types of social mobility: horizontal and vertical. A social subject can advance both within one and the second parameter, and therefore there are two main forms of social mobility - horizontal and vertical. Horizontal social mobility means the transition of an individual (social object) from one social group to another located at the same level (for example, from one citizenship to another, from one family to another, from one organization to another, etc.). Vertical social mobility refers to the relationships that arise when an individual (social subject) moves from one social layer to another. Depending on the direction of movement, there are, according to P. Sorokin, two types of vertical mobility: upward and downward, in modern terminology, according to social ascent and social degradation. Ascending and descending currents exist in two forms: the penetration of an individual from a lower stratum into a higher one, or the creation by individuals of a new group and the penetration of the entire group into a higher social stratum (for example, the Bolsheviks in Russia), and vice versa. P. Sorokin summarizes the situation as a whole as shown in Fig. 3.

Thus, vertical mobility is the starting point for the social stratification of society, because let us recall that Sorokin identified three types of it - economic, political and professional, and therefore each of these forms of stratification has its own form of vertical mobility.

Rice. 3. Types of social mobility

Since vertical mobility is observed in any society, and between layers there must be some paths along which individuals move up or down from one layer to another, according to P. Sorokin, there are channels of social circulation, the most important of which the scientist considers the following: army, church, school, political, economic and professional organizations.

Recently, mobility between generations has also been distinguished, the essence of which is a change in the social position of children in relation to their parents, as well as mobility within one generation, which is associated with the personal success of an individual or his fall through social “steps”. Studying the parameters of intergenerational mobility is very important for establishing the factor of openness - closedness of society. In closed societies, mobility between generations is almost unacceptable, because there are rigid barriers between layers that are very difficult to overcome. Such societies, based on Giddens’ theory, include slave, caste and class societies. As for class society, intergenerational mobility is very common in it, since movement from one social group to another is open and desirable. However, as P. Sorokin points out, revealing the basic principles of vertical mobility, there are no absolutely closed societies that would not allow vertical mobility at all, and there are no absolutely open societies.

Questions for self-test and control

1. Define the social structure of society.

2. Describe the main elements of the social structure of society.

3. What is the essence of social class theory?

4. What factors influence the formation of classes?

5. What is social stratification and social stratum? What are the main reasons for the emergence of the theory of social stratification?

6. Name the main executions of Ukrainian society.

7. Name the general and distinctive features of social class theory and the theory of social stratification.

8. What is social mobility? What types of social mobility do you know?

9. Name examples of social mobility that have taken place in your life.

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