Sociology Optional, Paper-1, Chapter-7
Social Mobility
Syllabus- Types of mobility-open and closed models; intra-and intergenerational mobility; vertical and horizontal mobility; social mobility and social change.
Social mobility
According to Wallace and Wallace, social mobility is the movement of a person or persons from one social position to another. It normally entails changes in life chances and lifestyles. Social mobility may not just be limited to class. For example, simply adapting to a new language or mannerisms may also increase the mobility of a person in a relatively open structure.
Implicit in invoking the concept of social mobility is the recognition of social hierarchy and gradation in society. This gradation is usually in terms of power, wealth, and prestige.
Strata sub-cultures tend to be particularly distinctive when there is little opportunity to move from one stratum to another. This opportunity to move decides whether a system of stratification is open or closed. Mobility is an indicator of a meritocratic society and the stability of class architecture in society.
Open and Closed Systems
Weber talks of social closure by different status groups. For example caste endogamy in Hindus.
In a closed system, individuals are assigned their place in the social structure on the basis of ascriptive criteria like age, birth, and sex. This system emphasizes the associative character of the hierarchy. It justifies the inequality in the distribution of wealth, status, and power and discourages or even suppresses any attempt to change it. Considerations of functional suitability or ideological notions of equality of opportunity are irrelevant in this society.
In an open system, the norms prescribe and encourage mobility. There are independent principles of ranking like status, class, and power. Individuals are assigned to different positions in the social structure based on their merit or achievement. The system is characterized by occupational diversity, flexible hierarchy, and rapidity of change. The hold of ascription-based groups like caste, kinship, or family is insignificant. The dominant values in such a system emphasize equality and freedom of the individual and change and innovation. Industrialization and urbanization are the contributing factors.
Very little vertical mobility is possible in a closed society. Pre-modern India was a closed system to a great extent. In contrast, an open society allows for greater vertical social mobility.
However, even in open societies, people cannot move from one stratum to another without resistance.
Blau and Duncan in their study on mobility observe that most while open societies have a fairly high degree of vertical social mobility, the social distance traveled is not very long.
Every society has established criteria - which might be proper manners, family lineage, education, racial affiliation, etc., which must be satisfied before people can move to a higher social level.
A study by Willmott and Young in London revealed that 83% of the managing directors in the 1970s were the sons of professionals and managers. A recent survey by Stanworth and Giddens designed to investigate the social origins of company chairmen revealed a high degree of elite self-recruitment.
Lipset and Bendix’s study on social mobility confirms that the rate of mobility displays a basic similarity across industrial societies. But they also point out that the high mobility of industrial societies is less an effect of greater openness of these societies. Instead, they consider the high mobility primarily caused by structural change in these societies.
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https://www.hemunda.com/2022/05/social-mobility-for-oas-sociology-optional.html
Social Mobility
Syllabus- Types of mobility-open and closed models; intra-and intergenerational mobility; vertical and horizontal mobility; social mobility and social change.
Social mobility
According to Wallace and Wallace, social mobility is the movement of a person or persons from one social position to another. It normally entails changes in life chances and lifestyles. Social mobility may not just be limited to class. For example, simply adapting to a new language or mannerisms may also increase the mobility of a person in a relatively open structure.
Implicit in invoking the concept of social mobility is the recognition of social hierarchy and gradation in society. This gradation is usually in terms of power, wealth, and prestige.
Strata sub-cultures tend to be particularly distinctive when there is little opportunity to move from one stratum to another. This opportunity to move decides whether a system of stratification is open or closed. Mobility is an indicator of a meritocratic society and the stability of class architecture in society.
Open and Closed Systems
Weber talks of social closure by different status groups. For example caste endogamy in Hindus.
In a closed system, individuals are assigned their place in the social structure on the basis of ascriptive criteria like age, birth, and sex. This system emphasizes the associative character of the hierarchy. It justifies the inequality in the distribution of wealth, status, and power and discourages or even suppresses any attempt to change it. Considerations of functional suitability or ideological notions of equality of opportunity are irrelevant in this society.
In an open system, the norms prescribe and encourage mobility. There are independent principles of ranking like status, class, and power. Individuals are assigned to different positions in the social structure based on their merit or achievement. The system is characterized by occupational diversity, flexible hierarchy, and rapidity of change. The hold of ascription-based groups like caste, kinship, or family is insignificant. The dominant values in such a system emphasize equality and freedom of the individual and change and innovation. Industrialization and urbanization are the contributing factors.
Very little vertical mobility is possible in a closed society. Pre-modern India was a closed system to a great extent. In contrast, an open society allows for greater vertical social mobility.
However, even in open societies, people cannot move from one stratum to another without resistance.
Blau and Duncan in their study on mobility observe that most while open societies have a fairly high degree of vertical social mobility, the social distance traveled is not very long.
Every society has established criteria - which might be proper manners, family lineage, education, racial affiliation, etc., which must be satisfied before people can move to a higher social level.
A study by Willmott and Young in London revealed that 83% of the managing directors in the 1970s were the sons of professionals and managers. A recent survey by Stanworth and Giddens designed to investigate the social origins of company chairmen revealed a high degree of elite self-recruitment.
Lipset and Bendix’s study on social mobility confirms that the rate of mobility displays a basic similarity across industrial societies. But they also point out that the high mobility of industrial societies is less an effect of greater openness of these societies. Instead, they consider the high mobility primarily caused by structural change in these societies.
For More Click the Below Link
https://www.hemunda.com/2022/05/social-mobility-for-oas-sociology-optional.html
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