Social Mobility. In the movie Maid in Manhattan, Jennifer Lopez plays the lead in a modern-day Cinderella story, rising from the lowly status of chambermaid in a big-city

In the movie Maid in Manhattan, Jennifer Lopez plays the lead in a modern-day Cinderella story, rising from the lowly status of chambermaid in a big-city hotel to become a company supervisor and the girlfriend of a well-to-do politician. The ascent of a person from a poor background to a position of prestige, power, or financial reward is an example of social mobility. The term

Social mobility refers to the movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another. But how significant - how frequent, how dramatic - is mobility in a class society?

Open versus Closed Stratification Systems

Sociologists use the terms open stratification system and closed stratification system to indicate the degree of social mobility in a society. An open system implies that the position of each individual is influenced by his or her achieved status. Such a system encourages competition among members of society.

At the other extreme of social mobility is the closed system, which allows little or no possibility of individual social mobility. The slavery and caste systems of stratification are examples of closed systems. In such societies, social placement is based on ascribed statuses, such as race or family background, which cannot be changed.

Types of Social Mobility

An airline pilot who becomes a police officer moves from one social position to another of the same rank. Each occupation has the same prestige ranking. Sociologists call this kind of movement horizontal mobility. However, if the pilot were to become a lawyer, he or she would experience vertical mobility, the movement of an individual from one social position to another of a different rank. Vertical mobility can also involve moving downward in a society's stratification system, as would be the case if the airline pilot became a bank teller. Pitirim Sorokin was the first sociologist to distinguish between horizontal and vertical mobility. Most sociological analysis, however, focuses on vertical rather than horizontal mobility. One way of examining vertical social mobility is to contrast intergenerational and intragenerational mobility. Intergenerational mobility involves changes in the social position of children relative to their parents. Thus, a plumber whose father was a physician provides an example of downward intergenerational mobility. A film star whose parents were both factory workers illustrates upward intergenerational mobility.

Intragenerational mobility involves changes in social position within a person's adult life. A woman who enters the paid labor force as a teacher's aide and eventually becomes superintendent of the school district experiences upward intragenerational mobility. A man who becomes a taxicab driver after his accounting firm goes bankrupt undergoes downward intragenerational mobility.

References:

1.Черныш М.Ф. Социальная мобильность. // Социологический журнал, № 2, 1994.

2.Руткевич М.Н., Филиппов Ф.Р. Социальные перемещения. М., 1970.

3.Сорокин П.А. Человек. Цивилизация. Общество. М., 1992.

4.Аженов М.С., Садырова М.С. Социология социальной структуры общества. – Алматы, 2002

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