3.1 Introductory remarks
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 sudden rise of a man or his sudden fall is a favorite subject. folk tales: a cunning beggar suddenly becomes a rich man, a poor prince becomes a king, and a hardworking Cinderella marries a prince, thereby increasing her status and prestige.
However, the history of mankind is made up not so much of individual destinies as of the movement of large social groups. The landed aristocracy is being replaced by the financial bourgeoisie, low-skilled professions are being squeezed out of modern production representatives of the so-called white collars - engineers, programmers, operators of robotic systems. 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 October revolution 1917. They are still happening today, when the party elite is replaced by the business elite.
There is a certain 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, while descent is forced.
Research shows that those with higher status prefer high positions for themselves and their children, but those with lower status want the same for themselves and their children. This is how it turns out in human society: everyone is striving upward and no one is downward.
In this chapter, we will consider the essence, causes, typology, mechanisms, channels of social mobility, as well as factors influencing it.
3.2 Mobility classification
There are two main types of social mobility - intergenerational and intragenerational, and two main types - vertical and horizontal. They, in turn, fall into subspecies and subtypes that are closely related to each other.
Intergenerational mobility implies that children achieve a higher social position or fall to a lower rung than their parents. Example: A miner's son becomes an engineer.
Intragenerational mobility takes place where the same individual, beyond comparison with his father, changes social positions several times throughout his life. Otherwise, it is called a social career. Example: a turner becomes an engineer, and then a shop manager, plant director, 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 - the movement from the sphere of physical labor to the sphere of mental labor.
Vertical mobility implies moving from one stratum (estate, class, caste) to another.
Depending on the direction of movement, there is upward mobility (social ascent, upward movement) and downward mobility (social descent, downward movement).
Promotion is an example of upward mobility, dismissal, demolition 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.
An example is the movement 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.
Geographical mobility is a variation of horizontal 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 a city to a village and back, moving from one enterprise to another.
If a change of status is added to a change of place, then geographic mobility turns into migration.
If a villager comes to the city to visit relatives, then this is geographic mobility. If he moved to the city for permanent residence and found a job here, then this is migration. He changed his profession.
It is possible to classify social mobility according to other criteria. So, for example, they distinguish:
individual mobility, when moving down, up or horizontally occurs for each person independently of others, and
group mobility, when movement occurs collectively, for example, after a social revolution old class gives way to the dominant position of the new class.
Individual mobility and group mobility are connected in a certain way with assigned and achieved status. Do you think individual mobility is more in line with assigned or achieved status? (Try to figure this out on your own first, and then read the chapter to the end.)
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 should include the so-called socialist organizational recruitment, public calls for Komsomol construction projects, etc. Involuntary organized mobility can be attributed to the repatriation (resettlement) of small peoples and dispossession during the years of Stalinism.
Structural mobility must be distinguished from organized mobility. It is caused by changes in the structure of the national economy and occurs against the will and consciousness of individual individuals. For example, the disappearance or reduction of industries or professions leads to the displacement of large masses of people. In the 1950s and 1970s, small villages were reduced and enlarged in the USSR.
The main and non-main types (types, forms) of mobility differ as follows.
The main views characterize all or most societies in any historical era. Of course, the intensity or volume of mobility is not the same everywhere.
Non-principal types of mobility are inherent in some types of society and are not inherent in others. (Look for concrete examples in support of this thesis.
The main and non-main types (types, forms) of mobility exist in three main areas of society - economic, political, professional. Mobility practically does not occur (with rare exceptions) in the demographic sphere and is quite limited in the religious sphere. Indeed, it is impossible to migrate from a man to a woman, and the transition from childhood to adolescence does not apply to mobility. Voluntary and forced change of religion in human history occurred repeatedly. Suffice it to recall the baptism of Russia, the conversion of the Indians to the Christian faith after the discovery of America by Columbus. However, such events do not occur regularly. They are of interest to historians rather than sociologists.
Let us now turn to specific types and types of mobility.
3.3 Group mobility
It occurs there and then, where and when the social significance of an entire class, estate, caste, rank, or category rises or falls. The October Revolution led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, who previously did not have a recognized high position. Brahmins became the highest caste as a result of a long and stubborn struggle, and earlier they were on an equal footing with the kshatriyas. V Ancient Greece after the adoption of the constitution, most people were freed from slavery and climbed the social ladder, and many of their former masters went down.
The transition of power from a hereditary aristocracy to a plutocracy (an aristocracy based on the principles of wealth) had the same consequences. In 212 AD almost the entire population of the Roman Empire received the status of Roman citizenship. Thanks to this, huge masses of people who were previously considered to be deprived of their rights have increased their social status. The invasion of the barbarians (Huns and Goths) disrupted the social stratification of the Roman Empire: one by one, the old aristocratic families disappeared, and they were replaced by new ones. Foreigners founded new dynasties and new nobility.
As P. Sorokin showed on a huge historical material, the following factors served as the reasons for group mobility:
social revolutions;
foreign interventions, invasions;
interstate wars;
civil wars;
military coups;
change of political regimes;
replacing the old constitution with a new one;
peasant uprisings;
internecine struggle of aristocratic families;
creation of an empire.
Group mobility takes place where there is a change in the very system of stratification.
3.4 Individual mobility: comparative analysis
Social mobility in the USA and the former USSR has both similar and distinctive features. The similarity is explained by the fact that both countries are industrialized powers, and the differences are explained by the peculiarity of the political regime of government. Thus, studies by American and Soviet sociologists, covering approximately the same period (70s), but carried out independently of each other, gave the same figures: up to 40% of employees in both the USA and Russia come from workers ; in both the US and Russia, more than two-thirds of the population is involved in social mobility.
Another regularity is also confirmed: social mobility in both countries is most influenced not by the profession and education of the father, but by the son's own achievements in education. The higher the education, the more chances to move up the social ladder.
In both the US and Russia, another curious fact has been discovered: a well-educated son of a worker has just as much chance of promotion as a poorly educated person from the middle classes, in particular employees. Although the second can help parents.
The peculiarity of the United States lies in big stream immigrants. Unskilled workers - immigrants who come to the country from all parts of the world, occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder, displacing or hastening the advancement of Native Americans. Rural migration has the same effect, not only in the US, but also in Russia.
In both countries, upward mobility has so far averaged 20% more than downward mobility. But both types of vertical mobility were inferior to horizontal mobility in their own way. This means the following: in two countries, the level of mobility is high (up to 70-80% of the population), but 70% of it is horizontal mobility - movement within the boundaries of the same class and even layer (stratum).
Even in the United States, where, according to popular belief, every sweeper can become a millionaire, the conclusion made by P. Sorokin back in 1927 remains valid: most people start their working careers on the same social level as their parents, and only a very few manage to make significant progress. In other words, the average citizen moves one rung up or down in his life, rarely anyone manages to step several steps at once.
Thus, 10% of Americans, 7% of Japanese and Dutch, 9% of British, 2% of French, Germans and Danes, 1% of Italians rise from workers to the upper middle class. To the factors of individual mobility, i.e. reasons that allow one person to achieve greater success than another, sociologists in both countries include:
the social status of the family;
level of education;
nationality;
physical and mental abilities, external data;
receiving education;
location;
profitable marriage.
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 in terms of the standards of another class. Often adaptation to new conditions remains very superficial. A typical example is a Molière tradesman in the nobility. (Think of other literary characters who would illustrate the superficial assimilation of manners when moving from one class, layer to another.)
In all industrialized countries, it is more difficult for women to move up than for men. Often they increase their social status only through an advantageous marriage. Therefore, getting a job, women of this orientation choose those professions where it is most likely to find a "suitable man." What do you think these professions or places of work are? Give examples from life or literature when marriage acted as a "social lift" for women of humble origin.
During the Soviet period, our society was the most mobile society in the world along with America. A free education available to all strata offered everyone the same opportunities for advancement that existed only in the United States. Nowhere in the world did the elite of society literally form from all strata of society in a short time. At the end of this period, mobility slowed down, but increased again in the 1990s.
The most dynamic Soviet society was not only in terms of education and social mobility, but also in terms of industrial development. For many years, the USSR held the first place in terms of the pace of industrial progress. All these are signs of a modern industrial society that have made the USSR, as Western sociologists have written, one of the world's leading countries in terms of social mobility.
3.5 Structural mobility
Industrialization opens new vacancies in vertical mobility. The development of industry three centuries ago required the transformation of the peasantry into a proletariat. In the late stage of industrialization, the working class became the largest part of the employed population. The main factor of vertical mobility was the education system.
Industrialization is associated not only with interclass but also with intraclass changes. At the stage of conveyor or mass production at the beginning of the 20th century, unskilled and unskilled workers remained the predominant group. Mechanization and then automation required an expansion of the ranks of skilled and highly skilled workers. In the 1950s, 40% of workers in developed countries were poorly or unskilled. In 1966, 20% of such people remained.
As unskilled labor was reduced, the need for employees, managers, and businessmen grew. The sphere of industrial and agricultural labor narrowed, while the sphere of service and management expanded.
In an industrial society, the structure of the national economy determines mobility. In other words, professional mobility in the USA, England, Russia or Japan does not depend on individual features people, but from structural features economy, the relationship of industries and the shifts taking place here.
Changing the structure of the activity of the US population
Number of people employed in agriculture The USA decreased from 1900 to 1980 by 10 times. The small farmers became the respectable petty bourgeois class, and the agricultural laborers were added to the ranks of the working class. The stratum of professionals and managers doubled over that period. The number of trade workers and clerks increased by 4 times.
Such transformations are characteristic of modern societies: from farm to factory in the early stages of industrialization and from factory to office in the later stages. Today, in developed countries, over 50% of the workforce is engaged in knowledge work, compared with 10-15% at the beginning of the century.
During this century, vacancies in industrialized countries declined in the working professions and expanded in the field of management. But managerial vacancies were filled not by representatives of the workers, but by the middle class. Nevertheless, the number of managerial occupations grew faster than the number of children in the middle class able to fill them. The vacuum formed in the 50s was partly filled by working youth.
This was made possible by the availability of higher education for ordinary Americans.
In the developed capitalist countries, industrialization was completed earlier than in the former socialist countries (USSR, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc.). The lag could not but affect the nature of social mobility: in the capitalist countries, the share of leaders and intelligentsia - who come from workers and peasants - is one-third, and in the former socialist countries-- three quarters. In countries such as England, which have long passed the stage of industrialization, the proportion of workers of peasant origin is very low, there are more so-called hereditary workers. On the contrary, in Eastern European countries this share is very high and sometimes reaches 50%.
It is due to structural mobility that the two opposite poles of the professional pyramid turned out to be the least mobile. In the former socialist countries, the two layers were the most closed - the layer of top managers and the layer of auxiliary workers located at the bottom of the pyramid - layers that fill the most prestigious and the most unprestigious spheres of activity. (Try to answer the question "why?")
3.6 Volume and distance of mobility
Social mobility is measured using two main indicators.
Mobility distance is the number of steps that individuals managed to climb or had to descend.
The normal distance is considered to be moving one or two steps up or down. Most social transitions happen this way. Abnormal distance - an unexpected rise to the top of the social ladder or fall to its bottom.
The volume of mobility is understood as the number of individuals who have moved up the social ladder in a vertical direction over a certain period of time.
If the volume is calculated by the number of displaced individuals, then it is called absolute, and if the ratio of this number to the entire population, then it is relative 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 one determines the number of movements across individual strata, layers, and classes. The fact that in an industrial society two-thirds of the population is mobile refers to the total volume, and 37% of the children of workers who have become employees belongs to the differentiated volume.
The scale of social mobility is defined as the percentage of those who have changed, in comparison with their fathers, their social status. When Hungary was capitalist, i.e. in the 1930s, the scale of mobility was 50%. In socialist Hungary (60s) it rose to 64%, and in 1983 to 72%. As a result of socialist transformations, Hungarian society became as open as the developed capitalist countries.
With good reason this conclusion is applicable to the USSR. Western European and American scholars who conducted comparative studies found that mobility in Eastern European countries is higher than in developed capitalist countries.
The change in mobility for individual layers is described by two indicators. The first is the coefficient of mobility of leaving 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. It indicates from which strata, for example, the stratum of intellectuals is replenished. It reveals the social origin of people.
3.7 Demographic drivers of mobility
Vertical and horizontal mobility are influenced by gender, age, birth rate, death rate, population density. 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.
Professional mobility is typical for the young, economic mobility for adults, and political mobility for the elderly.
The birth rate is unevenly 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 the footsteps of his father, voids are still formed on the upper steps of the social pyramid, which are filled by people from the lower classes. In no class do people plan for the exact number of children needed to replace parents. The number of vacancies and the number of applicants for certain social positions in different classes different.
Professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) and skilled employees do not have enough children to fill their jobs in the next generation. On the contrary, farmers and agricultural workers, if we are talking about the USA, have 50% more children than they need for self-replacement. It is not difficult to calculate in which direction the social mobility in modern society.
High and low birth rates in different classes have the same effect on vertical mobility as population density has on horizontal mobility. different countries. Strata, like countries, can be overpopulated or underpopulated.
3.8 Mobility in the USSR
Soviet sociologists in the 1960s and 1980s quite actively studied inter- and intra-generational, as well as inter- and intra-class mobility. The main classes were considered to be workers and peasants, and the intelligentsia was considered a class-like stratum.
The transition between these three groups is called interclass transfers, and the transition within a group is called intraclass. If a worker, peasant or intellectual raised the level of education and moved from a low-skilled position to a medium or highly qualified position, while remaining a worker, peasant or intellectual, then he made an intra-class movement.
When the workers, the peasantry and the intelligentsia are replenished mainly by those who come from their own class, one speaks of the self-reproduction of the class or its reproduction on its own basis. According to large-scale studies (they cover the country, entire regions or cities) conducted in different years by F.R. Filippov, M.Kh. Titmoy, L.A. Gordon, V.N. Shubkin, 2/3 of the intelligentsia is replenished by people from this group. This proportion is even higher among the workers and peasants. The children of workers and peasants pass into the category of intellectuals more often than the children of intellectuals become peasants and workers.
The transition from peasants and workers to the intelligentsia is called vertical interclass mobility. She was especially active in the 1930s and 1950s. The old intelligentsia was destroyed, its place was taken by immigrants from the workers and peasants. A new social community was formed - the "people's intelligentsia". The Bolshevik Party nominated for leading positions in industry, agriculture, and the state apparatus ordinary people. They were called "red directors", "promoted". But in the 1960s and 1980s, interclass mobility slowed down. A period of stabilization has begun.
Intra-class mobility came to the fore; in the 1970s and 1980s, it accounted for up to 80% of all movements. Intra-class mobility is also called the transition from simple to complex labor. The worker remains a worker, but his qualifications are constantly growing.
Interesting data on the demographic composition of the migrants. In general, women are more mobile than men, the young are more mobile than the elderly. But men are more likely than women to jump several steps in their careers. The latter prefer to move gradually. From low-skilled workers to highly skilled and specialists, men advance several times more often than women, for whom the transition from highly skilled workers to specialists is a common thing.
People survey and analysis work books convinces that 90% of all movements occur in the first decade of employment, 9% in the second, 1%
For the third. The initial period accounts for up to 95% of the so-called return movements, when people return to the position they left. Such data only confirm what everyone knows at the level of common sense: young people are looking for themselves, trying different professions, leaving and returning.
3.9 Upward mobility channels
The most complete description of vertical mobility channels is given by P. Sorokin. Only he calls them "vertical circulation channels". He believes that since vertical mobility exists to some extent in any society, even in primitive ones, there are no impassable boundaries between strata. Between them there are various "holes", "elevators", "membranes" through which individuals move up and down.
Of particular interest are social institutions
Army, church, school, family, property, which are used as channels of social circulation. P. Sorokin gives the following data.
The army functions most intensively as such a channel not in peace, but in war time. Large losses among the command staff lead to the filling of vacancies from lower ranks. In wartime, soldiers advance through talent and bravery. Having risen in rank, they use the received power as a channel for further advancement and accumulation of wealth. They have the opportunity to rob, loot, seize trophies, take indemnities, take away slaves, surround themselves with pompous ceremonies, titles, and transfer their power by inheritance.
Of the 92 Roman emperors, 36 are known to have achieved this, starting from the lowest ranks. Of the 65 Byzantine emperors, 12 advanced through military careers. Napoleon and his entourage - marshals, generals and the kings of Europe appointed by him - came from commoners. Cromwell, Grant, Washington and thousands of other commanders have risen to the highest positions thanks to the army.
The Church as a channel of social circulation has moved a large number of people from the bottom to the top of society. Gebbon, archbishop of Reims, was a slave in the past, Pope Gregory VII is the son of a carpenter. P. Sorokin studied the history of 144 Roman Catholic popes and found that 28 came from the lower classes, and 27 from the middle strata. The institution of celibacy (celibacy), introduced in the 11th century by Pope Gregory VII, obliged the Catholic clergy not to have children. Thanks to this, after the death of officials, the vacant positions were filled with new people.
In addition to the upward movement, the church was a channel for the downward movement. Thousands of heretics, pagans, enemies of the church were brought to justice, ruined and destroyed. Among them were many kings, dukes, princes, lords, aristocrats and nobles of high ranks.
School. The institutions of education and upbringing, no matter what concrete form they take, have served in all ages as a powerful channel of social circulation. The USA and the USSR belong to societies where schools are available to all members. In such a society, the "social elevator" moves from the very bottom, passes through all the floors and reaches the very top.
The USA and the USSR are the most striking example of how one can achieve impressive success, become the great industrial powers of the world, adhering to opposite political and ideological values, but equally providing their citizens with equal opportunities for education.
Britain represents the other pole, where the privileged schools are accessible only to the upper classes. The "social elevator" is short: it moves only along the upper floors of the social building.
An example of a "long lift" is Ancient China. During the era of Confucius, schools were open to all classes. Examinations were held every three years. The best students, regardless of their family status, were selected and transferred to higher schools, and then to universities, from where they got to high government posts. Under the influence of Confucius, the government of the mandarins was reputed to be the government of Chinese intellectuals exalted through the school "mechanism". The educational test performed, as it were, the role of universal suffrage.
Thus, the Chinese school constantly uplifted the common people and prevented the automatic advancement of the representatives of the higher strata if they did not meet the professional requirements. As a result, official duties in the government were carried out quite skillfully, and positions were filled based on personal talents.
Large competitions for colleges and universities in many countries are explained by the fact that education is the fastest and most accessible channel of vertical mobility.
Property most clearly manifests itself in the form of accumulated wealth and money. They are one of the simplest and effective ways social promotion. In the XV-XVIII centuries, money began to rule European society. Achieved a high position only those who had money, and humble origin. Such were the last periods of the history of Ancient Greece and Rome.
P. Sorokin found that not all, but only some occupations and professions contribute to the accumulation of wealth. According to his calculations, in 29% of cases this allows the occupation of a manufacturer, in 21% - a banker and a stockbroker, in 12% - a trader. The professions of artists, artists, inventors, statesmen, miners and some others do not provide such opportunities.
Family and marriage become channels of vertical circulation in the event that representatives of different social statuses enter the union. In European society, the marriage of a poor, but titled partner with a rich, but ignoble one, was common. As a result, both moved up the social ladder, each getting what he wanted.
Example downward mobility we find in antiquity. According to Roman law, a free woman who married a slave became a slave herself and lost the status of a free citizen.
Even primitive societies were interested in being ruled by the most gifted. But how to discover innate talents if there are no special methods and techniques? The ancients found a very simple way. Through empirical observation, they found that smart parents are more likely to have smart children, and vice versa. The thesis about the inheritance of the qualities of parents was firmly established in the minds of our ancestors. It is he who underlies the prohibition of inter-caste marriages. The lower social status, the fewer virtues parents have and their children inherit, and vice versa. Thus, the institution of inheritance of the social status of parents by children gradually arose: a person born in a family with a high social rank also deserves a high rank.
The family has become the main mechanism of social selection, determination and inheritance of social status.
The origin of a noble family does not automatically guarantee a good heredity and a decent education. Parents cared about the best possible upbringing of children; this became a mandatory norm for the aristocracy. In poor families, parents could not give proper education and upbringing. Therefore, it was from noble families that the administrative elite was recruited. The family has become one of the institutions for the distribution of members of society by strata.
Ancient societies were more concerned about the stability of the family, because for them it was at the same time a school, a center for vocational training, and a production association, and much more. When the family began to lose its significance, the aura of holiness, marriages began to break up easily, and divorces became an everyday event, society had to take on all these functions. Schools emerged outside the family, production outside the family, service outside the family.
Now the children remain in the family, only while they are minors. In fact, they grow up outside the family. The meaning of purity of blood, inherited qualities has been lost. People are increasingly beginning to be judged not by their family origin, but by personal qualities.
3.10 Group closure
The erection of social barriers and partitions, the restriction of access to another group or the closure of the group in itself is called a social clause (social closure). M. Weber wrote about this phenomenon. This problem is actively discussed in modern sociology. A clause designates a process and a result at the same time.
In a young, rapidly developing society, vertical mobility is very intensive. Russia of the era of Peter I and Soviet Russia in the 20-30s, Russia of the era of perestroika (90s of the XX century) are examples of such a society. People from the lower classes, thanks to fortunate circumstances, hard work or resourcefulness, quickly moved up. There were many vacancies for them here.
But now all the places are filled, the upward movement is slowing down. New class the rich is blocked from society by many social barriers. Getting into it is now incredibly difficult. The social group is closed.
In the USA and Japan only 7-10% of workers rise to the upper class. The children of businessmen, politicians, lawyers have 5-8 times more opportunities to follow their fathers than it could be if society were completely open. The higher the social class, the more difficult it is to penetrate it. The rich send their children to privileged schools and universities that are expensive but provide excellent education.
A good education is a necessary condition for obtaining a highly prestigious profession or position: diplomat, minister, banker, professor. It is the upper class that makes laws that are beneficial to itself and disadvantageous to others.
Modern society is becoming more immobile and closed to movement. Senior positions, which at an early stage were elective, at later stages become hereditary. In ancient Egypt, only in the later stages did a strict custom of succession to official posts appear. In Sparta, at the earliest stages, foreigners were allowed to the rank of full-fledged citizens, later this became an exception. In 451 BC Pericles introduced a law according to which the privilege of free citizenship was granted only to those whose both parents were natives of Attica and free (full) citizens. In the Roman Empire, towards the end of its existence, all social strata and groups became completely closed.
In Venice in 1296 the layer of the aristocracy was open, and from 1775, when the aristocracy lost its former importance, the ranks become closed. The rank of royal nobility in early feudal Europe was available to anyone, but subsequently becomes impenetrable to new people.
In England after the 16th century, and in France after the 17th century, the desire for caste isolation began to manifest itself among the bourgeoisie as well.
Thus, the tendency towards social closeness is inherent in all societies. It characterizes the stabilization of social life, the transition from an early to a mature stage of development, as well as an increase in the role of attributed status and a decrease in the role of achieved.
social closure upper class in Russia, it began to be observed already in 1993. Before that, i.e. between 1989 and 1992, opportunities to enrich themselves and move up were open to all Russians, albeit unequally. It is known that the capacity of the upper class is objectively limited and amounts to no more than 3-5% of the population. The ease with which large capitals were made in 1989-1992 has disappeared. Today, access to the elite requires capital and capabilities that most people do not have. There is a kind of closure of the upper class, it passes laws that restrict access to its ranks, creates private schools. The entertainment sphere of the elite is no longer available to other categories. It includes not only expensive salons, boarding houses, bars, clubs, but also holidays in world resorts.
At the same time, access is open to the rural and urban middle class. The stratum of farmers is extremely small and does not exceed 1%. The middle urban strata have not yet formed. But their replenishment depends on how soon the "new Russians" and the country's leadership will pay for skilled mental labor not at the subsistence level, but at its market price.
In stable societies - the USA, England, France, Germany and some others - the upper class has long since become hereditary. The accumulation of wealth began within kindred clans, created by mutual marriages several centuries ago. In the United States, the upper class has maintained family continuity through time since the 18th century and dates back to settlers from Northern Ireland. The socialization of children in boarding schools and then practice in parenting fields, corporations and companies isolates the upper class from the rest of society. He forms his own system of values, social norms, etiquette, rules of conduct and lifestyle. T. Veblen called it demonstratively wasteful. In modern Russian society, the upper class has a second feature - demonstrative luxury, but not the first - heredity. But it also begins to actively form due to the closure of the highest stratum.
3.11 Migration
Migration is the movement of people from country to country, from district to district, from city to village (and vice versa), from city to city, from village to village. In other words, migration is territorial movements. They are seasonal, i.e. depending on the season (tourism, treatment, study, agricultural work), and pendulum - regular movement from a given point and return to it. Such types of migration are temporary and returnable.
There are also immigration and emigration.
Migration is the movement of people within one country.
Emigration - leaving the country for permanent residence or long-term residence.
Immigration - entry into a given country for permanent residence or long-term residence.
So, immigrants are moving in, and emigrants are moving out (voluntarily or involuntarily).
Emigration reduces the population. If the most talented and qualified residents leave, then not only the number decreases, but also qualitative composition population. Immigration increases the population.
The arrival of a highly skilled labor force in the country increases the qualitative composition of the population, while the arrival of a low-skilled labor force has the opposite effect.
Thanks to emigration and migration, new cities, countries arose, entire continents were settled. It is known that in cities the birth rate is low and constantly decreasing. Therefore, all big cities, especially million-plus cities, arose through migration.
After the discovery of America by Columbus, thousands and millions of immigrants moved here from Europe. North America, Latin America and Australia have become states thanks to large migration processes. Siberia was mastered by migration.
In total in the XVIII century. two powerful streams of migration emanated from Europe - to America and to Russia. In Russia, the Volga region was especially actively populated. In 1762, the famous decree of Catherine II was published on the invitation of foreigners to civil service and settlement. Mostly Germans from Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, and Germany responded. The first stream of visitors were artisans, the second - peasants. They formed agricultural colonies in the steppe zone of Russia.
Emigration occurs where living conditions worsen and opportunities for upward mobility narrow. The peasants fled to Siberia and the Don, where the Cossacks had developed, because of the strengthening of serfdom. It was not aristocrats who left Europe, but social outsiders: ruined peasants, fugitives, unemployed, adventurers. In America, they built a new society and quickly moved up the social ladder.
Horizontal mobility in such cases acts as a means to solve the problems that arise in the field of vertical mobility. The fugitive serfs who founded the Don Cossacks became free and prosperous, i.e. raised their political and economic status at the same time. Although the professional status could remain unchanged: the peasants continued to engage in arable farming on the new lands.
Migration does not always take massive forms. In calm times, it affects small groups or individuals. Their movement occurs, as a rule, spontaneously. Demographers identify two main flows of migration within one country: city-rural and city-city. It has been established that until the industrialization is completed in the country, people move mainly from the village to the city. After its completion, and this is typical for the United States and Western Europe, people move from the city to suburban areas and rural areas.
A strange regularity is revealed: the flows of migrants are directed to those places where social mobility is the highest. And one more thing: those who move from city to city arrange their lives easier and achieve greater success than those who move from village to city, and vice versa. (Try to explain the reasons for this phenomenon yourself.)
Major migration phenomena include the so-called migrations of peoples.
These are both ethnic and economic processes. The Great Invasion is called the invasion of barbarian tribes in the 5th century into different countries of Europe.
Society is developing at a fast pace these days. This leads to the emergence of new positions, significant growth the number of social movements, their speed and frequency.
What's happened
Sorokin Pitirim was the first to study such a concept as social mobility. Today, many researchers continue the work he started, since its relevance is very high.
Social mobility is expressed in the fact that the position of a person in the hierarchy of groups, in relation to the means of production, in the division of labor and in general in the system of production relations is significantly transformed. This change is associated with the loss or acquisition of property, the transition to a new position, education, mastery of a profession, marriage, etc.
People are in constant motion, and society is constantly evolving. This means the variability of its structure. The totality of all social movements, that is, changes in an individual or groups, is included in the concept of social mobility.
Examples in history
Since ancient times, this topic has been relevant and aroused interest. For example, the unexpected fall of a person or his rise is a favorite plot of many folk tales: a wise and cunning beggar becomes a rich man; the industrious Cinderella finds a rich prince and marries him, thereby increasing her prestige and status; the poor prince suddenly becomes king.
However, the movement of history is determined mainly not by individuals, not by their social mobility. Social groups - that's what is more important to her. The landed aristocracy, for example, was replaced at a certain stage by the financial bourgeoisie; people with low-skilled professions are being squeezed out of modern production by "white-collar workers" - programmers, engineers, operators. Revolutions and wars were redrawn to the top of the pyramid, raising some and lowering others. Such changes in Russian society took place, for example, in 1917, after the October Revolution.
Let us consider various grounds on which social mobility can be divided, and its corresponding types.
1. Social mobility intergenerational and intragenerational
Any movement of a person between or layers means his mobility down or up inside social structure. Note that this may concern both one generation and two or three. The change in the position of children in comparison with the positions of their parents is evidence of their mobility. On the contrary, social stability takes place when a certain position of generations is preserved.
Social mobility can be intergenerational (intergenerational) and intragenerational (intragenerational). In addition, there are 2 main types - horizontal and vertical. In turn, they break up into subtypes and subspecies, closely related to each other.
Intergenerational social mobility means an increase or, on the contrary, a decrease in the status in society of representatives of subsequent generations in relation to the status of the current one. That is, children reach a higher or lower position in society than their parents. For example, if a miner's son becomes an engineer, one can speak of intergenerational upward mobility. A downward trend is observed if the son of a professor works as a plumber.
Intragenerational mobility is a situation in which the same person, beyond comparison with his parents, changes his position in society several times throughout his life. This process is otherwise referred to as a social career. A turner, for example, can become an engineer, then a shop manager, then he can be promoted to a factory director, after which he can take the post of minister of the engineering industry.
2. Vertical and horizontal
Vertical mobility is the movement of an individual from one stratum (or caste, class, estate) to another.
Allocate, depending on what direction this movement has, upward mobility (upward movement, social ascent) and downward mobility (downward movement, social descent). For example, a promotion is an example of an ascending position, and a demolition or dismissal is an example of a descending one.
The concept of horizontal social mobility means that an individual moves from one social group to another, which is at the same level. Examples include moving from a Catholic to an Orthodox religious group, changing citizenship, moving from a family of origin to one's own, from one profession to another.
Geographic mobility
Geographic social mobility is a kind of horizontal. It does not mean a change in group or status, but a move to another place while maintaining the same social status. An example is the interregional and international tourism, moving and back. Geographical social mobility in modern society is also a transition from one company to another while maintaining status (for example, an accountant).
Migration
We have not yet considered all the concepts related to the topic of interest to us. The theory of social mobility also highlights migration. We speak of it when a change of status is added to a change of place. For example, if a villager comes to the city to visit his relatives, then there is geographic mobility. However, if he moved here for permanent residence, started working in the city, then this is migration.
Factors affecting horizontal and vertical mobility
Note that the nature of the horizontal and vertical social mobility of people is influenced by age, gender, mortality and birth rates, and population density. Men, and also young people in general, are more mobile than the elderly and women. In overpopulated states, emigration is higher than immigration. Places with a high birth rate have a younger population and are therefore more mobile. For young people, professional mobility is more characteristic, for the elderly - political, for adults - economic.
The birth rate is distributed unevenly across classes. As a rule, the lower classes have more children, while the upper classes have fewer. The higher a person climbs the social ladder, the fewer children are born to him. Even in the event that each son of a rich man takes the place of his father, in the social pyramid, on its upper steps, voids still form. They are filled by people from the lower classes.
3. Social mobility group and individual
There are also group and individual mobility. Individual - is the movement of a particular individual up, down or horizontally on the social ladder, regardless of other people. Group mobility - movement up, down or horizontally along the social ladder of a certain group of people. For example, the old class after the revolution is forced to give way to the new dominant positions.
Group and individual mobility are connected in a certain way with the achieved and ascribed statuses. At the same time, the achieved status corresponds to the individual to a greater extent, and the status assigned to the group corresponds.
Organized and structured
These are the basic concepts of the topic of interest to us. Considering the types of social mobility, sometimes organized mobility is also singled out, when the movement of an individual or groups down, up or horizontally is controlled by the state, both with the consent of the people, and without it. Organized voluntary mobility includes socialist organizational recruitment, calls for construction projects, etc. To involuntary - dispossession and resettlement of small peoples during the period of Stalinism.
Organized mobility should be distinguished from structural mobility, caused by changes in the very structure of the economy. It occurs outside the consciousness and will of individual people. For example, the social mobility of a society is great when professions or industries disappear. In this case, large masses of people move, and not just individual individuals.
For clarity, let us consider the conditions for raising the status of a person in two subspaces - professional and political. Any ascent of a civil servant up the career ladder is reflected as a change in rank in the state hierarchy. You can also increase political weight by increasing the rank in the party hierarchy. If the official is one of the activists or functionals of the party that became ruling after the parliamentary elections, then he is much more likely to take a leadership position in the municipal or state government. And, of course, the professional status of an individual will increase after he receives a diploma of higher education.
Mobility intensity
The theory of social mobility introduces such a concept as the intensity of mobility. This is the number of individuals who change their social positions in a horizontal or vertical direction over a certain period of time. The number of such individuals in is the absolute intensity of mobility, while their share in the total number of this community is relative. For example, if we count the number of people under 30 who are divorced, then there is an absolute intensity of mobility (horizontal) in this age category. However, if we consider the ratio of the number of divorced people under the age of 30 to the number of all individuals, this will already be relative mobility in the horizontal direction.
Thanks to social mobility, members of society can change their status within society. This phenomenon has many features and characteristics. The nature of social mobility varies depending on the characteristics of a particular country.
The concept of social mobility
What is social mobility? This is a change by a person of his place in the structure of society. An individual can move from one social group to another. Such mobility is called vertical. At the same time, a person can change his position within the same social stratum. This is another mobility – horizontal. The movement takes many forms - the rise or fall of prestige, changes in income, career advancement. Such events have a serious impact on a person's behavior, as well as his relationships with others, attitudes and interests.
The types of mobility described above took on modern forms after the emergence of industrial society. The ability to change one's position in society is an important sign of progress. The opposite case is represented by conservative and estate societies where castes exist. As a rule, a person is assigned to such a group from his very birth until his death. The Indian caste system is best known. With reservations, such orders existed in medieval feudal Europe, where there was a great social gap between the poor and the rich.
The history of the phenomenon
The emergence of vertical mobility became possible after the start of industrialization. About three hundred years ago, the industrial development of European countries accelerated significantly, which led to the growth of the proletarian class. At the same time, the states of the whole world (with varying degrees success) began to introduce a system of accessible education. It has become and still is the main channel of vertical social mobility.
At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the population of any country were unskilled workers (or with the beginnings of a general education). At the same time, mechanization and automation of production took place. The new type of economy demanded more and more highly qualified personnel. It is this need that explains the increase in the number of educational institutions and thus opportunities for social growth.
Mobility and economy
One of the features of an industrial society is that mobility in it is determined by the structure of the economy. In other words, the possibilities for climbing the social ladder depend not only on the personal qualities of a person (his professionalism, energy, etc.), but also on how the different sectors of the country's economy are interconnected.
Mobility is not possible everywhere. It is an attribute of a society that has given its citizens equal opportunities. And although there are no absolutely equal conditions in any country, many modern states continue to move towards this ideal.
Individual and group mobility
In each country, the types and types of mobility are presented differently. Society can selectively raise some individuals up the social ladder and lower others. This is a natural process. For example, talented and professional people must necessarily replace the more mediocre and receive their high status. Rise can be individual and group. These types of mobility differ in the number of individuals changing their status.
In an individual case, a person can increase his prestige in society due to his talents and hard work (for example, become a famous musician or receive a prestigious education). Group mobility is associated with much more complex processes, covering a significant part of society. A striking example of such a phenomenon can be changes in the prestige of the profession of engineers or a fall in the popularity of the party, which will necessarily affect the position of the members of this organization.
Infiltration
In order to achieve a change in his position in society, the individual must make certain efforts. Vertical mobility becomes possible only if a person is able to overcome all the barriers that lie between different social strata. As a rule, climbing the social ladder occurs due to the ambitions and the individual's need for his own success. Any kind of mobility is necessarily associated with the vigor of a person and his desire to change his status.
The infiltration that exists in every society weeds out people who have made insufficient efforts to change the social stratum. The German scientist Kurt Lewin even came up with his own formula, with which you can determine the likelihood of a particular person ascending in the social hierarchy. In the theory of this psychologist and sociologist, the most important variable is the energy of the individual. Vertical mobility also depends on the social conditions in which a person lives. If he meets all the requirements of society, then he will be able to undergo infiltration.
The inevitability of mobility
There are at least two reasons for the existence of the phenomenon of social mobility. First, any society invariably changes in the course of its historical development. New features may appear gradually, or they may appear instantly, as happens in the case of revolutions. One way or another, but in any society, new statuses undermine and replace the old ones. This process is accompanied by changes in the distribution of labor, benefits and responsibilities.
Secondly, even in the most inert and stagnant societies, no power can control the natural distribution of abilities and talents. This principle continues to operate even if the elite or the authorities have monopolized and limited the accessibility of education. Therefore, there is always a possibility that the top layer will be at least periodically replenished with worthy people “from below”.
Mobility across generations
Researchers identify another feature by which social mobility is determined. Generation can serve as this measure. What explains this pattern? The history of the development of very different societies shows that the position of people of different generations (for example, children and parents) can not only differ, but, as a rule, is different. Data from Russia supports this theory. On average, with each new generation, the inhabitants of the former USSR and the Russian Federation have gradually risen and are climbing up the social ladder. This pattern also takes place in many other modern countries.
Thus, when listing the types of mobility, one should not forget about intergenerational mobility, an example of which is described above. In order to determine progress on this scale, it is enough to compare the position of two people at a certain point in their career development at approximately the same age. The measure in this case is the rank in the profession. If, for example, a father at the age of 40 was a shop manager, and a son at that age became a factory director, then this is intergenerational growth.
Factors
Slow and gradual mobility can have many factors. An important example in this series is the migration of people from rural areas to cities. International migration has played a serious role in the history of all mankind, especially since the 19th century, when it swept the whole world.
It was in this century that huge masses of the peasant population of Europe moved to the United States. You can also give an example of the colonial expansion of some empires of the Old World. The capture of new territories and the subjugation of entire nations were fertile ground for the rise of some people and the slide down the social ladder of others.
Consequences
If lateral mobility mostly affects only a particular individual or group of people, then vertical mobility entails much larger consequences that are difficult to measure. There are two opposing points of view on this.
The first says that any examples of mobility in the vertical direction destroy the class structure of society and make it more homogeneous. This theory has both supporters and opponents. On the other hand, there is a point of view according to which a high level of social mobility only strengthens the system of social strata. This happens for the simple reason that people who find themselves on a higher rung of their position become interested in maintaining class differences and contradictions.
Speed
According to sociological science, the main types of social mobility have an indicator of their own speed. With its help, experts give a quantitative assessment of this phenomenon in each case. Speed is the distance that an individual travels in a certain period of time. It is measured in professional, political or economic strata.
For example, one university graduate managed to become the head of a department at his enterprise in four years of his career. At the same time, his classmate, who graduated with him, became an engineer by the end of the same term. In this case, the speed of social mobility of the first graduate is higher than that of his friend. This indicator can be influenced by a variety of factors - personal aspiration, the qualities of a person, as well as his environment and circumstances associated with working in a company. The high rate of social mobility can also be inherent in processes opposite to those described above, if we are talking about a person who has lost his job.
Intensity
Considering 2 types of mobility (horizontal and vertical), one can determine the number of individuals who change their position in society. In different countries, this figure gives different figures. The larger the number of these people, the higher the intensity of social mobility. Like speed, this indicator demonstrates the nature of internal transformations in society.
If we are talking about the actual number of individuals, then the absolute intensity is determined. In addition, it can also be relative. This is the name of the intensity, determined by the proportion of individuals who have changed their position, from total number members of society. modern science gives different estimates of the importance of this indicator. The combination of the intensity and speed of social mobility determines the overall mobility index. With it, scientists can easily compare the state of different societies.
The future of mobility
Today, in Western and economically developed societies, horizontal mobility is gaining significant proportions. This is due to the fact that in such countries (for example, in Western Europe and the USA), society is becoming more and more classless. The differences between layers are blurred. This is facilitated by a developed system of accessible education. In rich countries, anyone can learn, regardless of their background. the only important criterion becomes his interest, talent and ability to acquire new knowledge.
There is another reason why the former social mobility is no longer relevant in the modern post-industrial society. Moving up becomes more and more conditional if income and financial well-being are taken as the determining factor. Today, a stable and wealthy society can introduce social benefits (as is done in the Scandinavian countries). They smooth out contradictions between people on different rungs of the social ladder. So the boundaries between the usual classes are erased.
Vertical social mobility is a change by the subject (individual, or group) of his social status, in which there is an increase in the level of income, education, prestige and power. We talked in more detail about social mobility in the course "Social science: USE for 100 points" .
Examples of vertical social mobility
There have always been people in society who made a career very quickly, or became multimillionaires. How did they do it? Is vertical social mobility only related to income?
Here is a kind of hit parade of such people.
Natalya Kasperskaya - born in 1966, co-founder of the Kaspersky Lab campaign.
Natalya began her life's journey like all Soviet guys: from entering the institute. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering with a degree in Applied Mathematics. Became a salesperson in 1993 software. Then - a manager in the same company. Then she put pressure on her husband - Evgeny Kaspersky - to open her own company - Kaspersky Lab.
She became a co-founder. However, its share was not specified in the company's charter documents. As a result, in 2011, she divorced her husband and resigned as chairman of the board of directors of Kaspersky Lab. Natalya devoted all her time to her company InfoWatch. The company today is a leader in corporate information security.
Well, for example, do you not like that your employees are work time use their mail, not corporate. Who knows, maybe they leak information to a competitor? This is where you need InfoWatch services to ensure information security Your company.
Thus, Natalia Kasperskayacmade dizzying vertical social mobility in all four dimensions: income (wealth $ 230 million), power (manages his company), prestige (recognized world-class expert in the field of information security), education (higher specialist in mathematics, bachelor in business ).
Pavel Durov - founder of the social network "Vkontakte"
Probably every young programmer wants to change the world beyond recognition - to hack normality. Pavel Durov did it! By the way, read on.
Pavel was born on October 10, 1984 in Leningrad in the family of a Doctor of Philology. I have been programming since the age of 11. That is, his father could afford to give his son a computer to use.
After school, Pavel began to study at the Faculty of Philology, while studying at the Military Faculty with a degree in Psychological Warfare. At the same time he studied at the military department. During his studies, Pavel several times became a scholarship holder of the Presidential and Potanin scholarships.
In the course of his studies, he created several projects to make life easier for students: a project on abstracts, etc. One day, an acquaintance of his came from an internship in the USA and told Pasha about facebook.
The idea was reworked for Russian realities, and in 2006 the Student.ru website was launched in test mode, which was then renamed Vkontakte. In 2007, 2 million people used the new social network. Offers to buy the Durov project immediately rained down. But all offers were rejected. Only in 2008 Pavel began to monetize the resource. Then there were already 20 million users.
Soon, the personal fortune of Pavel Durov was estimated by Forbes magazine at 7.9 billion rubles (approx. 263 million dollars). In 2012, pressure began from the authorities on the social network Vkontakte because of the Navalny case. As a result, his share of the shares (12%), the founder social network sold to his friend, and the multimillionaire Pavel Durov left for the USA. They say that he has now returned and lives in Russia.
Although hardly. Now Pavel is developing his new Telegram project, where you can exchange messages and files [attention!], up to 1 gigabyte, absolutely free. Moreover, the messages are encrypted and, according to Durov, no one can decrypt them, even the developers themselves. By the way, in 2015 it became known that terrorists might use this service. To such attacks on his project, Pavel said that the terrorists would find where to communicate.
Thus, Pavel Durov made a stunning vertical social mobility in all parameters at once: income (increased billions of times), prestige (a cult person in Runet and not only), power (power on the accounts of 70 million users), education (St. Petersburg State University graduated with a red diploma, I still haven’t taken a diploma from the university).
Now there are a lot of opinions on the Web about whether Durov stole the idea of Facebook or not. Personally, my position is that of course there are similar elements in the navigation. But personally, I mostly sit in VKontakte. Facebook is complicated, incomprehensible, the constant emails in my inbox are killing me (“Hi, you have a new message”, “Hi, we miss you”, “You have a new notification”). It infuriates me. And you?
Tatyana Bakalchuk is an example of vertical social mobility
Tatyana was an ordinary teacher in English. In 2004, in connection with the birth of a child, she realized that there was simply not enough money for life. She came up with the idea of reselling German clothes at a premium. At first, she and her husband simply ordered clothes from the German Otto and Quelle catalogs, and then resold them at a premium. At first they were acquaintances.
In Soviet terms, Tatyana became a speculator. But today, where not a plus - only speculators. Therefore, we will call Tatyana not a speculator, but a completely original bisneswoomen. Then, apparently, she persuaded her husband to invest in the creation of his own small online German clothing store.
Today, her Wildberries store has a revenue of 7 billion rubles. Forbes magazine estimates Tatyana's fortune at about $330 million.
Thus, Tatyana Bakalchuk, in terms of the nature and speed of social mobility, has become on a par with Pavel Durov: she has higher education(English teacher), has an extremely high capital by Russian standards, has power over his own brand and an online clothing store where millions of visitors buy things, by itself has a high prestige, as it is included in the magazine's listsForbes.
To be continued…... so as not to miss the continuation!
Social inequality and the resulting social stratification are not permanent. As mentioned above, they fluctuate, and the stratification profile is constantly changing. These processes are associated with the movements of individuals and groups in social space - social mobility, which is understood as the transition of individuals or groups from one social position to another.
One of the first researchers of social mobility, who introduced this term into sociology, was P. A. Sorokin. He devoted a special work to the processes of social mobility: "Social Stratification and Mobility". He distinguishes two main types of social mobility - horizontal and vertical.
Under horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same social level (remarriage, change of job, etc.), while maintaining the same social status.
Vertical social mobility - it is the movement of an individual from one social level to another, with a change in social status. Vertical mobility can be either upward, associated with an increase in status, or downward, involving a decrease in status.
Vertical and horizontal mobility are interconnected: the more intense the movement "along the horizontal", albeit without a noticeable increase in social status, the more opportunities (connections, knowledge, experience, etc.) are accumulated for subsequent climbing the social ladder.
Mobility, both horizontal and vertical, can be individual, associated with a change in the social status and position in the social space of an individual, and group, involving the movement of entire groups. All types of mobility can occur voluntarily, when an individual or purposefully changes his position in the social space, and forcibly, when movements and status changes occur regardless of the will of people or even contrary to it. Usually, upward individual voluntary mobility is associated with strong-willed efforts and vigorous activity to improve social status. However, there is also downward voluntary mobility due to the personal decision of the individual to give up high status for the benefits that low status can provide. An example of such mobility in modern society is downshifting - a conscious and voluntary lowering of professional and economic status in order to increase the amount of free time that can be spent on hobbies, self-development, raising children, etc.
According to the degree of accessibility of social mobility and the intensity of movement of individuals, they differ open And closed society. In open societies, mobility is available to most individuals and groups. The intensity of vertical mobility can be used to judge the democratic nature of society - the intensity of vertical mobility is less in closed, non-democratic countries and vice versa. V real life there are neither absolutely open nor absolutely closed societies - always and everywhere there are both diverse channels And elevators mobility, and filters, restricting access to them. The channels of social mobility usually coincide with the grounds for stratification and are associated with changes in economic, political, professional status, and prestige. Social elevators make it possible to quickly change social status - its increase or decrease. The main social elevators include such activities and related social institutions as entrepreneurial and political activity, education, church, military service. The level of social justice in modern societies is judged by the availability of mobility channels and social lifts.
Social filters (P. A. Sorokin used the concept of "social sieve") are institutions that restrict access to upward vertical mobility so that the most deserving members of society get to the highest levels of the social hierarchy. An example of a filter is an examination system designed to select the most prepared and professionally fit individuals for training.
In addition, penetration into high-status social groups is usually limited by various filters, and the higher the status of the group, the more difficult and difficult it is to penetrate. It is not enough to correspond to the level of the upper class in terms of income and wealth, in order to be a full-fledged member, one must lead an appropriate lifestyle, have an adequate cultural level, etc.
Upward social mobility exists in any society. Even in societies dominated by prescribed social status, inherited and sanctioned by tradition, such as the Indian caste society or the European estate, there were channels of mobility, although access to them was very limited and difficult. In the Indian caste system, which is rightly considered an example of the most closed society, researchers trace the channels of individual and collective vertical mobility. Individual vertical mobility was associated with leaving the caste system in general, i.e. with the adoption of another religion, such as Sikhism or Islam. And group vertical mobility was also possible within the framework of the caste system, and is associated with a very complex process of raising the status of the entire caste through the theological justification of its higher religious charisma.
It should be remembered that in closed societies restrictions on vertical mobility are manifested not only in the difficulty of raising the status, but also in the presence of institutions that reduce the risks of its lowering. These include communal and clan solidarity and mutual aid, as well as patron-client relationships that mandate patronage of subordinates in exchange for their loyalty and support.
Social mobility tends to fluctuate. Its intensity varies from society to society, and relatively dynamic and stable periods are noted within the same society. So, in the history of Russia, the periods of clearly expressed movements were the periods of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the reign of Peter I, the October Revolution. During these periods, throughout the country, the old government elite was practically destroyed, and people from the lower social strata occupied the highest managerial positions.
Significant characteristics of the closed (open) society are intragenerational mobility And intergenerational mobility. Intragenerational mobility shows changes in social status (both up and down) that occur within one generation. Intergenerational mobility demonstrates changes in the status of the next generation relative to the previous one ("children" relative to "fathers"). It is widely believed that in closed societies with strong traditions and a predominance of prescribed statuses, “children” are more likely to reproduce social positions, professions, and the way of life of their “fathers”, while in open societies they choose their own life path, often associated with a change in social status. In some social systems following the path of parents, creating a professional dynasty is seen as a morally approved course of action. Thus, in Soviet society, with real opportunities for social mobility, open access to such elevators as education, a political (party) career for people from lower social groups, the creation of "working dynasties" was especially encouraged, reproducing professional affiliation from generation to generation and providing transfer of specific professional skills. However, it should be noted that in an open society, belonging to a high-status family already creates the prerequisites for the reproduction of this status in future generations, and the low status of parents imposes certain restrictions on the possibilities of vertical mobility of children.
Social mobility manifests itself in various forms and, as a rule, is associated with economic mobility, those. fluctuations in the economic position of an individual or group. Vertical socio-economic mobility is associated with an increase or decrease in well-being, and the main channel is economic and entrepreneurial, professional activity. In addition, other forms of mobility can also affect economic mobility, for example, the growth of power in the context of political mobility usually entails an improvement in the economic situation.
Historical periods, accompanied by the growth of socio-economic mobility in society, coincide with intense socio-economic changes, reforms, revolutions. Thus, in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, during the reforms of Peter the Great, social mobility as a whole increased, and elites rotated. For the Russian trade and economic class, the reforms were associated with fundamental changes in the composition and structure, which led to the loss of the economic status (downward mobility) of a significant part of the former large entrepreneurs, and the rapid enrichment (vertical mobility) of others, who often came to large business from small crafts ( for example, the Demidovs) or from other fields of activity. In the era of revolutionary changes at the beginning of the 20th century. there was a sharp downward mobility of almost the entire economic elite of Russian society, caused by the violent actions of the revolutionary authorities - expropriations, nationalization of industry and banks, mass confiscations of property, alienation of land, etc. At the same time, non-entrepreneurial, but belonging to professional elites and therefore possessing a relatively high material status, groups of the population - generals, professors, technical and creative intelligentsia, etc., also lost their economic positions.
From the above examples, it is clear that economic mobility can be carried out as follows:
- individually, when individual individuals change their economic position regardless of the position of the group or society as a whole. Here the most important social "elevators" are both the creation of economic organizations, i.e. entrepreneurial activity, professional development, and social mobility associated with the transition to a group with a higher material status. For example, during the period of post-Soviet reforms in the economy in Russia in the 90s. 20th century the transition of officers or scientists into management meant an increase in well-being;
- in group form in connection with the growth of the material well-being of the group as a whole. In Russia in the 1990s many social groups Soviet period considered economically wealthy - officers, scientific and technical intelligentsia, etc. lost their former high salaries and made a sharp downward economic mobility without changing their social, professional, political status. A number of other groups, by contrast, have improved their material well-being without actually changing other aspects of their status. These are, first of all, civil servants, lawyers, some categories of creative intelligentsia, managers, accountants, etc.
Both forms of economic mobility intensify during periods of reform and transformation, but are also possible in calm periods.
As we have already noted, there are no absolutely closed societies, and there are opportunities for vertical economic mobility even in totalitarian societies, but they may be associated with restrictions on economic stratification in general: it is possible to increase welfare in connection, for example, with obtaining highly paid profession, but this growth will be small relative to other professional groups. The ban on entrepreneurial activity, of course, significantly limits both the absolute and relative opportunities for vertical economic mobility in Soviet-type societies. However, downward mobility in the form of loss of livelihoods, housing, etc. here is limited due to the presence of social guarantees and the general leveling policy. Democratic societies with developed economic freedoms provide opportunities for enrichment through entrepreneurial activity, but place on the individual the burden of risk and responsibility for decisions made. Therefore, there is also the danger of downward mobility, associated with the risks of economic fluctuations. It can be both individual losses and group downward mobility. For example, the 1998 default in Russia (as well as in the UK and a number of countries South-East Asia) led not only to the ruin of individual entrepreneurs, but also to a temporary decrease in the material level (downward mobility) of entire professional groups.