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 rich, a poor prince becomes a king, and the industrious Cinderella marries a prince, thereby increasing her status and prestige.
However, human history 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 by representatives of the so-called "white collars" - 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 taking place today, when the business elite is replacing the party elite.
Between ascent and descent there is a certain asymmetry: everyone wants to go up and no one wants to go down the social ladder. Usually, ascent - the phenomenon is voluntary, descent - forced.
Studies show 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. And so it turns out in human society: everyone is striving upward and no one is downward.
In this chapter, we will look at essence, causes, typology, mechanisms, channels and factors affecting 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 assumes 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 takes place where the same individual, beyond comparison with the father, changes social positions several times throughout his life. Otherwise it is called 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 a 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, 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.
A form of horizontal mobility is geographical 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 becomes 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.
Vertical and horizontal mobility are influenced by gender, age, birth rate, death rate, 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.
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 higher 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 the occupation of 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. By contrast, farmers and agricultural workers, in the US, have 50% more children than they need to be self-sustaining. It is not difficult to calculate in which direction social mobility should proceed in modern society.
High and low birth rates in different classes have 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 moving down, up or horizontally occurs in each person independently of others, and
· group mobility, when movements take place collectively, for example, after a social revolution, the old class cedes its dominant positions to the new class.
Individual mobility and group mobility are connected in a certain way with assigned and achieved status. Individual mobility corresponds more to the status achieved, and group mobility to the assigned status.
Individual mobility occurs 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. In 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 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 who were previously considered to be deprived of their rights have raised their social status. The invasion of the barbarians (Huns, Lobards, 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.
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 Moliere's tradesman in 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 singled out, 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 organization set, public appeals for Komsomol construction projects, 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 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 topic of this article is social mobility. This is a very important topic for a sociologist. It is held today at school in the lessons of social studies. After all, knowledge of the society in which we live is necessary for everyone. In our days, when the world is changing very quickly, this is especially true.
Definition
Migration in the broad and narrow senses
Migrations, that is, territorial movements of the population, can also be considered as one of the forms of social mobility. In a broad sense, they are understood as any movements outside the boundaries of a certain territory of its population (usually this territory is a settlement). At the same time, for what purpose and for how long the procedure takes place is immaterial.
However, in popular science and scientific literature, a narrow interpretation of the concept of "migration" is much more often used. According to her, this is a movement that is associated with a change in the place of permanent residence.
Seasonal and pendulum migration
In a broad sense, migration includes, in addition to moving to a permanent place of residence, also seasonal and pendulum migration. The second is the regular movement of people between several (two or more) settlements. However, their place of residence does not change. Such migration is connected with work, rest or study. These are mostly daily trips. Sometimes, however, trips made for a longer period (usually within one week) are also considered as pendulum migrations.
Two important reasons for the sociologist to classify migration
Many features exist to classify migration flows. The most important for the sociologist are the following two:
1. Migration occurring between settlements, the rank of which is different. In some cases, migration is vertical social mobility. This is observed when it is associated with a decrease or increase in the status of a person who has a certain place of residence. In others, it is horizontal (in the event that the move occurs between settlements with the same rank). Today, migration as vertical social mobility is a phenomenon associated mainly with the process of urbanization. After all, moving from villages to cities is a necessary element of this process.
2. External and internal migration. This division is considered rather conditional. Migration human mobility is a vast phenomenon that cannot be rigorously classified. In official statistics, internal migration is usually understood as the movement of people to a new place of residence, carried out within the same country. Under the external means moving to a sufficiently long or permanent residence in another country. However, sometimes, depending on the goals pursued by a particular sociological study, migrations between different subjects of the federation are also considered external.
Social mobility in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries
Throughout the history of the development of our state, the nature of the mobility of its population has changed. These changes can be recorded quite accurately from the beginning of the 18th century. Russia, like any other semi-agrarian and agrarian society, was characterized until the end of the 19th century by rather low rates of vertical mobility. During these years, the basis of the structure of society was made up of estates. The boundaries of class groups, however, were at that time more permeable than in Europe during the time of classical feudalism. The policy of absolutism pursued by the state contributed to this. Although the outflow was hardly noticeable in relation to the total number of the peasantry due to the high proportion of its representatives in the country's population, in relation to the urban estates and the nobility, the rates of mobility were very high. By paying the tax rate and the ransom, people from the peasantry quite easily got into the urban estates, they could advance in the social hierarchy up to the merchants of the first guild. The ranks of the service nobility also replenished very intensively. From all the estates of Russia, its representatives were nominated - from the clergy, merchants, philistines, peasants.
The structural mobility of the society of that time (since the time of Peter I, at least) was insignificant. That is, the layers that make up the structure of society remained unchanged. Until the 1870s, only their quantitative ratio changed slightly.
Mobility in the post-Petrine era
Russia during the next 140 years following the reign of Peter I, experienced not only a very intense vertical mobility. The structural social mobility of the society of that time was also significant and took place in several stages. At first (1870-1917), a class of proletariat and industrial bourgeoisie was gradually formed in Russia. After that, mainly from 1930 to 1970, an intensive process of modernization took place. At this time, a structure was being formed that was already close to the corresponding one in industrial and post-industrial societies. The difference was that there was no class of private entrepreneurs. In addition, the sphere in which market relations operated was significantly limited. Since the 1990s, the third stage of structural mobility has begun in our society. It is associated with the formation of a post-industrial society in Russia, which is based on a market economy.
Change in the prestige of professions, high rates of inter- and intra-generational mobility
It was not only the quantitative ratio of different social strata that changed in the process of the structural shifts described above. The relative prestige of certain professions also did not remain unchanged. For example, in the 1930s-1950s, the most prestigious were technical specialties (skilled worker, engineer), in the 1950s-1970s, science-related professions, and from the mid-1980s, those related to finance and trade. During the entire period, very high rates of intergenerational and intragenerational mobility, as well as a low level of isolation of various professional groups, were observed. This was noted not only by domestic sociologists, but also by Western ones.
Territorial migration at different times
During this period, the rates of territorial mobility were also extremely high (both horizontal - to construction sites and newly developed areas, and vertical - from the village to the city). Migration began to decline only from the mid-1970s. However, since the beginning of the 1990s, growth rates have been observed again. Many people migrate to the regions of the Russian Federation from the former Soviet republics.
2. Individual and group mobility and factors influencing it.
3. Channels of vertical mobility (according to P. Sorokin).
4. Marginality and marginals.
5. Migration and its causes. Types of migration.
1. The concept of “social mobility” was introduced into sociology by the well-known Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin.
Under social mobility understand the totality of social movements of people between different positions in the hierarchy of social stratification.
There are two main types and two types of social mobility.
To main types include:
ü intergenerational mobility, which suggests that children in relation to their parents occupy a lower or higher status position.
ü Intragenerational mobility, which implies that one individual changes status positions several times throughout his life.
tions. Intragenerational mobility has a second name - social career.
To main types social mobility include:
ü Vertical mobility, which implies movement from one stratum to another.
Depending on the direction of movement, vertical mobility can be ascending(upward movement, example: promotion) and descending(downward movement, example: demotion). Vertical mobility always involves a change in the status of an individual.
ü horizontal mobility, which implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same level. With horizontal mobility, there is no change in the status of the individual.
A variation of horizontal mobility is geographic mobility.
Geographic mobility involves the movement of an individual or group from one place to another while maintaining the same status. She can turn into migration if a change of status is added to the change of the individual's place of residence.
2. You can classify social mobility according to other criteria. There are also:
ü Individual mobility when social movements (up,
down the horizontal) occur in an individual independently of others.
On the individual mobility is influenced by such factors as:
The social status of the family;
Level of education;
Nationality;
Physical and mental abilities;
external data;
Place of residence;
Favorable marriage, etc.
They are the reasons why one person achieves great
success than the other. The mobile individual begins socialization in one class and ends in another.
ü group mobility- changing the position of a social group in the system of social stratification.
The reasons for group mobility, according to P. Sorokin, are the following factors:
social revolutions;
military coups;
Change of political regimes;
Replacing the old constitution with a new one.
Group mobility occurs when the social significance of an entire class, estate, caste, rank, or category rises or falls. And it takes place where there is a change in the system of stratification itself.
3. There are no impenetrable boundaries between strata, but there are various “elevators” along which individuals move up or down, as P. Sorokin believed.
As channels of social circulation are used social institutions.
ü Army how a social institution functions as a channel of vertical circulation to a greater extent in wartime.
ü Church- is both a descending and an ascending circulation channel.
ü School, which refers to the institutions of education and upbringing. In all ages it has served as a powerful impetus for the social uplift of individuals.
ü Own, manifested in the form of wealth and money - they are one of the simplest and most effective ways of social advancement.
ü Family and marriage becomes a channel of vertical mobility in the event that representatives of different social strata join the union.
4. Marginality(from the French marginal - side, in the margins) is a special phenomenon of social stratification. This concept describes the position of large social groups of people occupying a position "on the borders" between strata.
Outcasts- these are people who left one stratum and did not adapt to another. They are on the border of two cultures, have some identification with each of them.
In the 20th century, Park (the founder of the Chicago school of sociology in the USA) put forward the theory of outcasts and marginal groups.
In Russia, the phenomenon of marginality was first addressed in 1987. According to domestic sociologists, the reason for the emergence of marginal groups is the transition of society from one socio-economic system to another. In Russia, marginalization covers huge masses of the population. Particular concern is caused by the increase in the number of persistent marginal social groups (“homeless”, refugees, homeless people, etc.). But quite prosperous people who have not decided on the current social structure of society can be marginalized.
5. Migration(from Latin migration - resettlement) - change of residence, movement of people to another territory (region, city, country, etc.)
Migration is usually distinguished four kinds : episodic, pendulum, seasonal and irrevocable.
Irreversible migration is essential for social, economic and demographic development.
The state directly or indirectly influences the direction of migration.
The reasons for migration can be political, economic, religious and criminal.
Migration significantly affects ethnic processes. As a result of the migration exchange of various ethnic groups, various interactions occur in language, life, and culture.
There are also immigration and emigration.
Migration- displacement of the population within the country.
Emigration- travel outside the country for permanent residence or long-term residence.
Immigration- entry into this country for permanent residence or long-term residence.
38 social relationships
The concept of "social mobility" was introduced by P. Sorokin. social mobility means the movement of individuals and groups from one social strata, communities to others, which is associated with a change in the position of an individual or group in the system of social stratification, i.e. It's about changing social status.
Vertical mobility is a change in the position of an individual, which causes an increase or decrease in his social status, a transition to a higher or lower class position.
It distinguishes between ascending and descending branches (for example, career and lumpenization). In the developed countries of the world, the ascending branch of vertical mobility exceeds the descending one by 20%. However, most people, starting their careers at the same level as their parents, only slightly move forward (most often, by 1-2 steps).
a) Upward intergenerational mobility.
Intergenerational (intergenerational) mobility implies that children occupy a different position in relation to the position of their parents.
For example, parents are peasants, and the son is an academician; the father is a factory worker, and the son is a bank manager. In both the first and second cases, it is understood that children have a higher level of income, social prestige, education and power compared to their parents.
b) Downward group mobility.
Group mobility is a change in the social position of an entire class, estate, caste, group. As a rule, with group mobility, movements occur due to some objective reasons, and at the same time there is a radical breakdown of the entire way of life and a change in the very system of stratification.
For example, the change in the position of the nobility and the bourgeoisie in Russia as a result of the 1917 revolution. As a result of various kinds of repressions (from the forced seizure of property, up to physical destruction), the hereditary aristocracy and the bourgeoisie lost their leading positions.
c) Group geographic.
Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same level (for example, changing jobs while maintaining the same salary, level of power and prestige).
Geographical mobility not associated with a change in status or group is a type of horizontal mobility. For example, group tourism. Tourist trips of Russian citizens, for example, to Europe in order to get acquainted with historical and cultural sights.
If a change of status is added to a change of place, as in the example discussed above, then geographic mobility becomes migration.
Migration may be voluntary. For example, the mass migration of villagers to the city, or the mass exodus of Jews under the leadership of Moses from Egypt in search of the promised land, described in the Bible.
Migration can also be forced. For example, the resettlement of the diaspora of the Volga Germans during the reign of I.V. Stalin to the territory of Kazakhstan.
Social mobility can be vertical and horizontal. At With horizontal mobility, the social movement of individuals and social groups occurs to other, but equal in status, social communities. These can be considered as moving from state structures to private ones, moving from one enterprise to another, etc. Varieties of horizontal mobility are: territorial (migration, tourism, relocation from village to city), professional (change of profession), religious (change of religion) , political (transition from one political party to another).
With vertical mobility, there is an upward and downward movement of people. An example of such mobility is the demotion of workers from the "hegemon" in the USSR to the simple class in today's Russia and, conversely, the rise of speculators to the middle and upper class. Vertical social movements are associated, firstly, with profound changes in the socio-economic structure of society, the emergence of new classes, social groups striving to win a higher social status, and secondly, with a change in ideological guidelines, value systems and norms, political priorities. In this case, there is an upward movement of those political forces that were able to catch changes in the mindsets, orientations and ideals of the population.
To quantify social mobility, indicators of its speed are used. The rate of social mobility is understood as the vertical social distance and the number of strata (economic, professional, political, etc.) that individuals go through in their movement up or down in a certain period of time. For example, a young specialist after graduation can take the positions of a senior engineer or head of a department for several years, etc.
The intensity of social mobility is characterized by the number of individuals who change social positions in a vertical or horizontal position over a certain period of time. The number of such individuals gives the absolute intensity of social mobility. For example, during the years of reforms in post-Soviet Russia (1992-1998), up to one-third of the “Soviet intelligentsia”, who made up the middle class of Soviet Russia, became “shuttle traders.
The aggregate index of social mobility includes its speed and intensity. In this way one can compare one society with another in order to find out (1) in which of them or (2) in what period social mobility is higher or lower in all indicators. Such an index can be calculated separately for economic, professional, political and other social mobility. Social mobility is an important characteristic of the dynamic development of society. Those societies where the total index of social mobility is higher develop much more dynamically, especially if this index belongs to the ruling strata.
Social (group) mobility is associated with the emergence of new social groups and affects the ratio of the main social strata, whose status no longer corresponds to the existing hierarchy. By the middle of the 20th century, for example, managers (managers) of large enterprises became such a group. On the basis of this fact in Western sociology, the concept of the "revolution of managers" (J. Bernheim) has developed. According to it, the administrative stratum begins to play a decisive role not only in the economy, but also in social life, supplementing and displacing the class of owners of the means of production (capitalists).
Social movements along the vertical are intensively going on during the restructuring of the economy. The emergence of new prestigious, highly paid professional groups contributes to mass movement up the ladder of social status. The fall of the social status of the profession, the disappearance of some of them provoke not only a downward movement, but also the emergence of marginal strata, losing their usual position in society, losing the achieved level of consumption. There is an erosion of values and norms that previously united them and determined their stable place in the social hierarchy.
Marginals are social groups that have lost their former social status, deprived of the opportunity to engage in their usual activities, and found themselves unable to adapt to a new socio-cultural (value and normative) environment. Their former values and norms did not succumb to the displacement of new norms and values. The efforts of marginals to adapt to new conditions give rise to psychological stress. The behavior of such people is characterized by extremes: they are either passive or aggressive, and also easily violate moral standards, capable of unpredictable actions. A typical leader of the outcasts in post-Soviet Russia is V. Zhirinovsky.
During periods of acute social cataclysms, a radical change in the social structure, an almost complete renewal of the highest echelons of society can occur. Thus, the events of 1917 in our country led to the overthrow of the old ruling classes (nobility and bourgeoisie) and the rapid rise of a new ruling stratum (communist party bureaucracy) with nominally socialist values and norms. Such a cardinal replacement of the upper stratum of society always takes place in an atmosphere of extreme confrontation and tough struggle.
Question number 10 "The concept of a social institution, its features"
A social institution in the sociological interpretation is considered as historically established, stable forms of organizing the joint activities of people; in a narrower sense, it is an organized system of social ties and norms designed to satisfy the basic needs of society, social groups and individuals.
Social institutions (insitutum - institution) - value-normative complexes (values, rules, norms, attitudes, patterns, standards of behavior in certain situations), as well as bodies and organizations that ensure their implementation and approval in society.
All elements of society are interconnected by social relations - connections that arise between social groups and within them in the process of material (economic) and spiritual (political, legal, cultural) activities.
In the process of the development of society, some connections may die out, others may appear. Relationships that have proven to be beneficial to society are streamlined, become universally valid patterns, and are then repeated from generation to generation. The more stable these ties that are useful for society, the more stable the society itself.
Social institutions (from lat. institutum - device) are called elements of society, representing stable forms of organization and regulation of social life. Such institutions of society as the state, education, family, etc., streamline social relations, regulate the activities of people and their behavior in society.
The main goal of social institutions is to achieve stability in the course of the development of society. In accordance with this goal, the functions of institutions are distinguished:
meeting the needs of society;
regulation of social processes (in the course of which these needs are usually met).
The needs that are satisfied by social institutions are diverse. For example, the society's need for security can be supported by the institution of defense, spiritual needs - by the church, the need for knowledge of the surrounding world - by science. Each institution can satisfy several needs (the church is able to satisfy its own religious, moral, cultural needs), and the same need can be satisfied by different institutions (spiritual needs can be satisfied by art, science, religion, etc.).
The process of satisfaction of needs (say, the consumption of goods) can be institutionally regulated. For example, there are legal restrictions on the purchase of a number of goods (weapons, alcohol, tobacco). The process of meeting the needs of society in education is regulated by the institutions of primary, secondary, higher education.
The structure of a social institution is formed by:
social groups and social organizations designed to meet the needs of groups, individuals;
a set of norms, social values and patterns of behavior that ensure the satisfaction of needs;
· a system of symbols that regulate relations in the economic sphere of activity (trademark, flag, brand, etc.);
· ideological substantiation of the activities of the social institution;
· social resources used in the activities of the Institute.
The characteristics of a social institution include:
a set of institutions, social groups, the purpose of which is to satisfy certain needs of society;
a system of cultural patterns, norms, values, symbols;
a system of behavior in accordance with these norms and patterns;
· material and human resources necessary for solving problems;
· publicly recognized mission, goal, ideology.
Consider the characteristics of the institution on the example of secondary vocational education. It includes:
· teachers, officials, administrations of educational institutions, etc.;
· norms of behavior of students, the attitude of society to the system of vocational education;
the established practice of relations between teachers and students;
buildings, classrooms, teaching aids;
· mission -- meeting the needs of society in good specialists with secondary vocational education.
In accordance with the spheres of public life, four main groups of institutions can be distinguished:
· economic institutions - division of labor, property, market, trade, wages, banking system, stock exchange, management, marketing, etc.;
political institutions - the state, the army, the police, the police, parliamentarism, the presidency, the monarchy, the court, parties, civil society;
• institutions of stratification and kinship - class, estate, caste, gender discrimination, racial segregation, nobility, social security, family, marriage, fatherhood, motherhood, adoption, twinning;
· Institutes of culture - school, higher school, secondary vocational education, theatres, museums, clubs, libraries, church, monasticism, confession.
The number of social institutions is not limited to the above list. The institutions are numerous and varied in their forms and manifestations. Large institutions may include institutions of a lower level. For example, the institute of education includes the institutes of elementary, vocational and higher education; court - the institutions of the bar, prosecutor's office, judging; family - institutions of motherhood, adoption, etc.
Since society is a dynamic system, some institutions may disappear (for example, the institution of slavery), while others may appear (the institution of advertising or the institution of civil society). The formation of a social institution is called the process of institutionalization.
Institutionalization is the process of streamlining social relations, the formation of stable patterns of social interaction based on clear rules, laws, patterns and rituals. For example, the process of institutionalization of science is the transformation of science from the activity of individuals into an ordered system of relations, including a system of titles, academic degrees, research institutes, academies, and so on.
