What social elevators according to Sorokin. Social mobility and social lifts. Is the judgment correct

  • 10.03.2020

The most complete description of channels vertical mobility was given by P. Sorokin. Only he calls them `channels vertical circulation`. He believes that there are no impassable borders between the strata. Between them there are various `elevators`, on which individuals move up and down.

Of particular interest are social institutions - the army, church, school, family, property, which are used as channels social circulation.

The army functions as a channel vertical circulation is greatest in wartime. Large losses among the command staff lead to the filling of vacancies from lower ranks. In wartime, soldiers advance through talent and bravery.

It is known that out of 92 Roman emperors, 36 reached this rank, starting from the lower 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, like a drip of social circulation, has moved a large number of people from the bottom to the top. societies. P. Sorokin studied the biographies 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. Pope Gregory VII ordered the Catholic clergy not to have children. Thanks to this after death officials vacated positions were filled with new people.

In addition to the upward movement, the church became 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 the highest 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. in the open society The `social elevator` moves from the very bottom, passes through all floors and reaches the very top.

During the era of Confucius, schools were open to all classes. Examinations were held every three years. The best students, regardless of their marital status, were selected and transferred to higher schools, and then to universities, from where they got to high government posts.

Thus, the Chinese school constantly uplifted the common people and hindered the advancement of the upper classes if they did not meet the requirements.

The great competition for colleges and universities in many countries is due to the fact that education is the fastest and most available channel social circulation.

Property most clearly manifests itself in the form of accumulated wealth and money. They are one of the simplest and most effective ways of social promotion.

Family and marriage become channels 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 not noble, was common. As a result, both moved up the social ladder, getting what each wanted.

Topic: Theory of social mobility (P. Sorokin)

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University: Financial University

Year and city: Moscow 2013


CONTENT
Introduction 3
1. The essence of the theory of social mobility 4
1.1. Intensity (or speed) and generality of vertical social mobility 8
1.2.Mobile and fixed forms of stratified societies 9
1.3. Democracy and vertical social mobility 10
Conclusion 12
References 13

INTRODUCTION
We are constantly moving. Our society is called mobile and it is no coincidence. We use means of transportation and rarely think about the fact that this is a complex social phenomenon. Now it seems obvious when a person drives a car, flies an airplane, can make a phone call and contact someone who is on the other side of the planet. Meanwhile, it carries a lot social problems and these issues need to be studied.
The word "mobility" has been used in sociology for a long time and usually for many years, even decades, sociologists have been talking about social mobility.
Social mobility is vividly revealed and presented to us by Pitirim Sorokin. He talked about the fact that there is a social space and there are two types of mobility in this social space, I will talk about this in my topic.
The purpose and objective of my work: with the help of literary sources to go deep and study this topic, reveal the essence of social mobility, highlight its main aspects.

1. The essence of the theory of social mobility.
Social mobility is a phenomenon of movement of an individual within the social space, by which P. Sorokin understands a certain universe consisting of the population of the Earth. To determine the position of a person or any social phenomenon in social space means to determine his (their) attitude to other people and other social phenomena, taken as certain “reference points”.
The set of "reference points", according to P. Sorokin, is as follows:
1) an indication of the relationship of a person to certain groups;
2) the relationship of these groups to each other within the population;
3) the relation of a given population to other populations that make up humanity.
So in order to determine social status of a person, it is necessary to know his marital status, citizenship, nationality, attitude to religion, profession, belonging to political parties, economic status, his origin, etc. In addition, it is also necessary to know the position of a person within each of the main population groups of a particular state . When the position of the population of the state among all mankind is finally determined, then, according to P. Sorokin, the social position of the individual can also be considered sufficiently certain.
So, P. Sorokin summarizes:
social space is the population of the Earth;
social position is the totality of his ties with all groups of the population, within each of these groups, that is, with its members;
a person's position in the social universe is determined by the establishment of these connections;
the totality of such groups, as well as the totality of positions within each of them, constitute a system of social coordinates that makes it possible to determine the social position of each individual.
The social universe has two main classes of coordinates - horizontal (for example, social groups of Catholics, democrats, industrialists) and vertical (for example, a bishop - a parishioner, a party leader - an ordinary party member, a manager - a worker) parameters of social space. In the future, we will talk more about social phenomena in their vertical dimension: the height and profile of social structures, their differentiation by social strata, and the vertical movement of the population. In other words, we will talk about social stratification and vertical social mobility.
Depending on the possibility (impossibility or difficulty) of social movements, P. Sorokin distinguishes two types of social structures:
1) closed, in which social movements are impossible or difficult (the estate or caste nature of the social structure of society impedes movement);
2) open, characteristic of modern class society. In open social structures, social mobility takes place - a set of social movements of people in society, associated with a change in their status
Main types of mobility
There are two main types of social mobility: horizontal and vertical.
Horizontal social mobility refers to the transition of an individual (social object) from one social group to another located at the same level (for example, from one citizenship to another, from one family to another, from one organization to another, etc.). Vertical social mobility refers to the relations that arise when an individual (social object) moves from one social stratum to another.
Depending on the direction of movement, according to P. Sorokin, there are two types of vertical mobility: ascending and descending, i.e., social ascent and social descent.
Ascending and descending currents exist in two forms: the penetration of an individual from a lower layer into a higher one, or the creation by individuals new group and the penetration of the entire group into a higher social stratum (for example, the Bolsheviks in Russia), and vice versa.
P. Sorokin generalizes the situation as a whole as shown in fig. one.
>
Rice. 1. Social mobility and its forms (according to P. Sorokin)
1.1. Intensity (or speed) and generality of vertical social mobility
From a quantitative point of view, it is necessary to distinguish between the intensity and generality of vertical mobility.
Intensity is understood as the vertical social distance or the number of layers - economic, professional or political - passed by an individual in his upward or downward movement in a certain period of time.
For example, a certain individual rises in a year from the position of a person with an annual income of $500 to a position with an income of $50,000, and another in the same period from the same starting position rises to a level of $1,000, then in the first case, the intensity economic recovery will be 50 times greater than in the second. For a corresponding change, the intensity of vertical mobility can also be measured in the field of political and professional stratification.
Under the universality of vertical mobility is meant the number of individuals who have changed their social position in the vertical direction in a certain period of time. The absolute number of such individuals gives the absolute universality of vertical mobility in the structure of the given population of the country; the proportion of such individuals to the total population gives the relative universality of upward mobility.
Finally, by combining the intensity and relative generality of vertical mobility in a certain social sphere(say, in the economy), you can get an aggregate measure of vertical economic mobility this society. Thus, comparing one society with another, or the same society in different periods of its development, one can find out in which of them or in which period the total mobility is higher. The same can be said about the combined indicator of political and professional vertical mobility.

1.2. Mobile and immobile forms of stratified societies
Based on the foregoing, it is easy to see that social stratification of the same height, as well as the same profile, can have a different internal structure, caused by differences in the intensity and generality of horizontal and vertical mobility. Theoretically, there could be a stratified society in which vertical social mobility is zero. This means that within such a society there are no ascents and descents, there is no movement of members of this society, each individual is forever attached to the social stratum in which he was born. In such a society, the shells separating one layer from another are absolutely impenetrable, there are no "holes" in them and there are no steps through which and along which residents of different layers could move from one floor to another. This type of stratification can be defined as absolutely closed, stable, impenetrable or immovable. Theoretically opposite type internal structure stratification of the same height, as well as the same profile - one in which vertical mobility is extremely intense and is of a general nature. Here the membrane between the layers is very thin, with large openings for passing from one floor to another. Therefore, although the social building is also stratified, like the social building of the immovable type, the occupants of the various strata are constantly changing; they do not remain long on the same "social floor", but with the help of huge ladders they move "up and down". This type of social stratification can be defined as open, plastic, permeable or mobile. Between these basic types, there can be many intermediate or intermediate types.
Having singled out the types of vertical mobility and social stratification, let us turn to the analysis various societies and time stages of their development in terms of vertical mobility and permeability of their layers.

1.3. Democracy and vertical social mobility
One of the most striking characteristics of so-called democratic societies is the greater intensity of upward mobility compared to non-democratic societies. In democratic structures, the social position of the individual, at least theoretically, is not determined by origin; they are all open to anyone who wants to occupy them; they have no legal or religious barriers to climbing or descending the social ladder. And all this only contributes to "greater vertical mobility" ("capillarity" - in the words of Dumont) in such societies. Greater social mobility is probably one reason for the belief that the social edifice of democratic societies is unstratified or less stratified than that of autocratic societies. We saw earlier that this opinion is not supported by the facts. Such a belief is a kind of clouding of the mind that has happened to people for many reasons, including the fact that the social stratum in democratic groups is more open, there are more openings and “elevators” for descending and ascending. Naturally, all this gives the impression of the absence of layers, although they certainly exist.
Highlighting the significant mobility of democratic societies, one should make a reservation that vertical mobility is not always and not in all "democratic" societies greater than in "autocratic" ones. In some non-democratic societies, mobility was greater than in democratic ones. This is not always noticeable, since the "channels" and methods of ascent and descent in such societies are not as obvious as, say, "elections" in democratic societies, and even differ significantly from them. While "choices" are visible indicators of mobility, other outlets and channels are often overlooked. Therefore, a false impression is sometimes created of the stable and immobile nature of all "non-elected" societies.

CONCLUSION
In my opinion, today the most important, dominant channel of social mobility, unfortunately, is money and material values. We live by the principle “who owns the property, he has the power”, that is, with the help of money, a person can achieve almost any social position. main goal people began to accumulate wealth, however, it has always been so. Ideally, according to Pitirim Sorokin, a person moves up the social ladder thanks to his talent and abilities. But, unfortunately, everything is completely different. The dominant role was occupied by money, today they are the main channel of vertical circulation.
I regard Pitirim Sorokin's work on social mobility and social stratification as the most important in the history of Russian sociology. He touched upon the most important problems of society, which no one had touched before him. I can state with all confidence that Pitirim Sorokin is the most important Russian sociologist, whose works continue to be of great importance in modern not only Russian but also foreign sociology.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Dobrenkov V. I., Kravchenko A. I. Sociology: In 3 volumes. T. 2: Social structure and stratification. - M., 2000.
2. Ritzer J. Modern sociological theories. - St. Petersburg, 2002.
3. Sorokin P. A. Long haul: Autobiography. novel / trans. from English. P. P. Krotov, A. V. Lipsky. - Syktyvkar: Union of Journalists of the Komi ASSR: Shypas, 1991. - 304 p. - S. 48.
4. Sorokin P. A. Man. Civilization. Society. - M., 1992.
5. Yudina T. N. Sociology of migration. - M., 2006.

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Since vertical mobility is present to varying degrees in any society, there are certain ways or channels through which individuals are able to most effectively move up or down the social ladder. They are called channels of social mobility or social lift.

The most important channels of social mobility, according to P. Sorokin, are: the army, church, school, political, economic and professional organizations.

Let's start with the army. Service in it at all times made it possible to move up the social ladder. Losses during wars among the commanders led to the filling of vacancies by people of lower ranks.

The choice of a social mobility elevator is of great importance in choosing a profession and in recruiting personnel. P. A. Sorokin named eight elevators by which people move up or down the steps of the social ladder in the course of their personal career. The theory of personality types allows you to make recommendations for choosing these elevators. A psychologist and a technician are complete opposites to each other, a speaker and a theorist are also opposites to each other, therefore it is strictly forbidden for a technician to choose elevators recommended for a psychologist, and for a speaker - elevators for a theorist. In a pinch, the speaker may choose the lifts recommended for the psychologist and technician, but the speaker will always be somewhat inferior to these types in professional terms when using their lifts. Other types - respectively.

Thus, there are eight vertical mobility elevators:

Army. 36 Roman emperors (Caesar, Augustus, etc.) out of 92 achieved their position through military service. 12 of the 65 Byzantine emperors achieved their status for the same reason. This elevator is for speakers. Speakers are better than other personality types, they know how to control soldiers, they have a penchant for adventurism, they know how to accept the right decision in a short time and in the absence of complete information about the situation. All the great commanders were speakers - Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander Nevsky, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Cromwell, Zhukov. Appearance in the modern army a large number sophisticated technology has opened up employment opportunities for technicians in secondary roles.

Church. The significance of this lift reached its peak in the Middle Ages, when the bishop was also a landlord, when the Pope of Rome could dismiss kings and emperors, for example, Pope Gregory 7 in 1077 deposed, humiliated and excommunicated the German emperor Henry 7. Of 144 28 popes were of simple origin, 27 came from the middle classes. The institution of celibacy forbade Catholic priests to marry and have children, therefore, after their death, the vacant positions were occupied by new people, which prevented the formation of a hereditary oligarchy and accelerated the process of vertical mobility. The Prophet Muhammad was at first a simple merchant, and then became the ruler of Arabia. This elevator is for psychologists. In the church, only men are selected for the role of priests, so female psychologists are forced to realize their abilities in a monastery, sect, witchcraft and black magic. Psychologists, unlike other personality types, have a penchant for spirituality and a fanatical belief in supernatural forces. The leadership of the church is sometimes infiltrated by speakers who are completely devoid of fanaticism. All the founders of religion - Christ, Mohammed, Buddha - were psychologists.

School and scientific organizations. In ancient China, the school was the main elevator in society. According to the recommendations of Confucius, a system of educational selection (selection) was built. Schools were open to all classes, the best students were transferred to higher schools, and then to universities, from there the best students got into the government and to the highest state and military posts. There was no hereditary aristocracy. The Mandarin government in China was a government of intellectuals who knew how to write literary compositions, but did not understand business and did not know how to fight, so China more than once became an easy prey for nomads (Mongols and Manchus) and European colonizers. AT modern society the main elevators should be business and politics. The school elevator was also of great importance in Turkey under Suleiman the Magnificent (1522-1566), when talented children from all over the country were sent to special schools, then to the Janissary corps, and then to the guards and the state apparatus. In ancient India, the lower castes did not have the right to receive education, i.e. the school elevator moved only on the upper floors. Today in the United States, one cannot hold a public office without a university degree. Of the 829 British geniuses, 71 were the sons of unskilled workers. 4% of Russian academicians came from the peasantry, for example, Lomonosov. This elevator is designed for theorists, they are the ones who are able to learn from the heart. Students-speakers do not like to study or study only for the sake of good grades, therefore it is the speakers who are the organizers of the disruption of the lesson. Technicians are nerds. Psychologists tend to beg the teacher for good grades. In science, there is the following division of labor: the role of the creators of theories is for theoreticians, the role of the experimenter is for technicians. Speakers prone to plagiarism are left with the role of the organizer of scientific conferences, and psychologists - the role of a utopian. All the great scientists - Euclid, Archimedes, Aristotle, Newton, Lomonosov, Comte - were theorists. All inventors in the area technical sciences, for example, Faraday and Edison, were technicians. All utopians, such as Plato and Marx, were psychologists.

Political lift, i.e. government groups and parties. The first grade in politics is the speaker, the second grade is the psychologist, the third grade is the technician, the fourth grade is the theorist. It is the speakers who know how to win in such types of political conflict as elections, uprising and Civil War. It is the speakers who know how to manage a political party and command an armed detachment. The psychologist has the highest level of skill in organizing conspiracies, political assassinations, terrorist acts, behind-the-scenes struggle of bureaucratic cliques. The role of the tyrant is reserved for the psychologist. A technician is able to gain power only by inheritance or patronage. The role of an official is reserved for a technician. The role of the ruler's adviser is reserved for the theorist. Speakers in politics are "lions", psychologists are "foxes", technicians are conservatives, theorists are reformers. Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Khrushchev, Lenin, Peter 1, Catherine 2, Bill Clinton, Churchill, Mussolini, Zhirinovsky, Luzhkov, Nemtsov are examples of political speakers. Stalin, Hitler, Ivan the Terrible, Nero, Caligula, Brezhnev are examples of psychologists in politics. Putin, Molotov, Kosygin, Nikolai 2, Bush, Nikolai 1, Alexander 3 are examples of technicians in politics. Gaidar, Gref, Novodvorskaya, Sakharov, Sobchak are examples of political theorists.

The factors of social mobility at the micro level are directly the social environment of the individual, as well as his total life resource, and at the macro level - the state of the economy, the level of scientific and technological development, the nature of the political regime, the prevailing system of stratification, the nature of natural conditions, etc.

Social mobility is measured using indicators: the volume of mobility - the number of individuals or social strata that have moved up the social ladder in a vertical direction over a certain period of time, and the distance of mobility - the number of steps that an individual or group managed to climb or descend.

How, then, within the framework of the stable social structure of society, does social mobility occur, that is, the movement of individuals along this very social structure? It is obvious that such a movement within the framework is difficult organized system cannot occur spontaneously, disorganized, chaotically. Unorganized, spontaneous movements are possible only during periods of social instability, when the social structure is shattered, loses stability, and collapses. In a stable social structure, significant movements of individuals occur in strict accordance with a developed system of rules for such movements (stratification system). In order to change his status, an individual most often must not only have the desire to do so, but also receive approval from the social environment. Only in this case is a real change in status possible, which will mean a change by the individual of his position within the framework of the social structure of society. So, if a boy or girl decides to become students of a certain university (acquire the status of a student), then their desire will be only the first step towards the status of a student of this university. Obviously, in addition to personal aspirations, it is also important that the applicant meets the requirements that apply to everyone who has expressed a desire to study in this specialty. Only after confirmation of such compliance (for example, during entrance examinations) does the applicant achieve the assignment of the desired status to him - the applicant becomes a student.

In modern society, whose social structure is highly complex and institutionalized, most social movements are associated with certain social institutions. That is, most statuses exist and have meaning only within the framework of specific social institutions. The status of a student or teacher cannot exist in isolation from the institution of education; the status of a doctor or a patient - in isolation from the Institute of Public Health; Candidate or Doctor of Science statuses are outside the Institute of Science. This gives rise to the idea of ​​social institutions as a kind of social spaces within which most of the changes in status occur. Such spaces are called channels of social mobility.

In the strict sense, this refers to such social structures, mechanisms, methods that can be used to implement social mobility. As mentioned above, in modern society, social institutions most often act as such channels. The political authorities are the most important political parties, public organizations, economic structures, professional labor organizations and unions, army, church, education system, family and clan ties. Organized crime structures are also of great importance today, which have their own mobility system, but often have a strong influence on the “official” mobility channels (for example, corruption).

Taken together, the channels of social mobility act as complete system complementing, limiting, stabilizing each other's activities. As a result, we can talk about a universal system of institutional and legal procedures for moving individuals through a stratification structure, which is a complex mechanism of social selection. In the event of any attempt by an individual to improve his social position, that is, to increase his social status, he will be “tested” to one degree or another for compliance with the requirements for the bearer of this status. Such a “test” can be formal (exam, testing), semi-formal (trial period, interview) and informal (the decision is made solely due to the personal inclinations of the testers, but based on their ideas about the desired qualities of the test subject) procedures.

For example, in order to enter a university, you must pass an entrance exam. But in order to be accepted into a new family, you need to go through a long process of getting to know each other. existing rules, traditions, confirm their loyalty to them, get the approval of the dominant members of this family. It is obvious that in each specific case it is present as a formal need to meet certain requirements (level of knowledge, special training, physical data), as well as the subjective assessment of the efforts of the individual on the part of the examiners. Depending on the situation, either the first or the second component is more important.

It can be concluded that Theorists are able to make a career with the help of only one scientific elevator due to the small number of worthy competitors, since the share of theorists in the population - 3% - is negligible. The career of a theorist is reminiscent of railway- from station to station, from stage to stage strictly according to the schedule, according to the long-term plan. But he is incapable of making any other career than a scientific career. Making a career on your own without the support of friends and associates is a difficult task.

Technicians occupy a stable middle position on the social ladder by virtue of being second-class rather than last-class when using many important lifts. Technicians make their careers slowly and surely, they diligently crawl up the steps of the social ladder and never change from one elevator to another, they prefer to inherit power.

social mobility.

1. The concept and types of social mobility. 2. Factors of social mobility.

3. Channels of social mobility (social lifts).

4. Migration.

1. The concept and types of social mobility.

The term "social mobility" was introduced into sociology in 1927 by P. Sorokin. By social mobility, he understood the movement of individuals and or social groups in social space.

The totality of social movements of people in society,associated withchanging their statuscalled social mobility . This topic has interested humanity for a long time.

People are in constant motion, changing their social position, and society is in development.

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.

The theory of social mobility, developed by P. Sorokin, is based on the concept of society as a social space, the elementary particle of which is an individual.

Depending on the possibility (impossibility or difficulty) of social movements, P. Sorokin singles out two types social structures:

1) closed in which social movements impossible or difficult(the estate or caste nature of the social structure of society impedes movement);

2) open characteristic of modern class society. In open social structures, there is social mobility - set social displacement people in society

Types of social mobility.

Main types of social mobility:

Vertical mobility implies movement from one stratum to another. Depending on the direction of movement, there are upward mobility(social uplift) and downward mobility(moving down). 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- phenomenon voluntary, a descent - forced.

Those.society can elevate the status of some individuals and lower the status

others. And this is understandable: some individuals with talent, energy,

youth, should displace other individuals from the highest statuses, not

having these qualities. Depending on this, ascending and

downward social mobility, or social upsurge and social downfall.

Volume and distance of social mobility.

From a quantitative point of view, it is necessary to distinguish between the volume and distance of vertical mobility.

Under distance understood the number of layers - economic, professional or political - passed by an individual in his upward or downward movement in a certain period of time. If, for example, a certain individual rises in a year from the position of a person with an annual income of $500 to a position with an income of $50,000, and another in the same period from the same starting position rises to the level of $1,000, then in the first case the intensity of the economic recovery will be 50 times greater than in the second. For a corresponding change, the intensity of vertical mobility can also be measured in the field of political and professional stratification.

Under volume vertical mobility is implied the number of individuals who have changed their social position in a vertical direction over a certain period of time. The absolute number of such individuals gives absolute volume vertical mobility in the structure of a given population of the country; the proportion of such individuals to the entire population gives relative volume vertical mobility.

Finally, by combining the measures of distance and the amount of vertical mobility in a certain social sphere (say, in the economy), one can obtain the aggregate indicator of the vertical economic mobility of a given society. Thus, comparing one society with another, or the same society in different periods of its development, one can find out in which of them or in which period the total mobility is higher. The same can be said about the combined indicator of political and professional vertical mobility.

Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one stratum to another, located on the same level (from Orthodox to Catholic religious group). Such movements occur without a noticeable change in the social position in the upright position.

A variation 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.

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 a permanent place of residence and got a job, then this is migration.

Vertical and horizontal mobility is influenced by gender, age, birth rate, death rate, population density. In general, the young are more mobile than the elderly, and men are more mobile than 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 form on the upper steps of the 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. In contrast, farmers and agricultural workers, in the US, have 50% more children than are needed for self-replacement. 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 has on horizontal mobility. different countries. Strata, like countries, can be underpopulated or overpopulated.

Intergenerational mobility implies that children reach a higher social position or go down a lower rung than their parents Example: the son of a miner 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 social career. Example: a turner becomes an engineer, and then a shop manager, plant director, minister of the engineering industry.

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 happening today, when the business elite is replacing the party elite.

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 strives up and no one down.

Individual mobility, when movements down, up or horizontally occur in each person independently of others, and group mobility when movements occur collectively, for example, after a social revolution, the old class cedes its dominant positions to the new class.

Individual 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.

Group 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 of the people were freed from slavery and climbed the social ladder, and many of their former owners 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 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 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 up 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, 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(migration) of some 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 50-70s in the USSR, due to the reduction of small villages, they were enlarged.

Social lift: concept, examples

Social elevator is a very interesting social mechanism. This topic is simply necessary to know for orientation in the material on social science. No matter how much I say that it is important to be able to give facts, to navigate through examples, material - everything is like talking into the void. All some books are read, some tests are solved ... Just tin. In general, tomorrow there will be different conversations #3. I'll tell you what you're doing wrong. And now about social elevators.

The concept of social elevator

A social lift is a mechanism for increasing (or lowering) social status. The concept of a social elevator is directly related to the concept. But to a greater extent - with social mobility. Social elevators raise (or lower) four main social characteristics: the level of power, income, prestige and education.

These signs may increase one at a time or all at once. For example, the level of authority is the number of people who are subordinate to you. The more, the more power. It is clear that any organization where there is a hierarchy of positions and statuses can serve as a social elevator.

Income is the totality of material values ​​that an individual receives over a certain period. Income, like power, can rise in one social elevator and not in another. For example, you may be an archivist (what a status!), but the salary may be simply miserable.

What is the prestige and level of education in more detail, as well as the two previous signs of social mobility, were analyzed in the video course "Social Science: USE for 100 points"

Examples of a social elevator

Pitirim Sorokin, a Nobel laureate and Russian-American sociologist, recognized only three social elevators: the army, the family, and the church.

In the army, you can curry favor from a private to a general - with diligence and due diligence. For example, let's take some guy from the village "Keys", which is located in the heart of Kamchatka. As you understand, a helicopter flies there, throws out medicines, food once a month and flies away. What are the real chances for a boy from such a village to "break out into the people"? He will not pass the exam, because there is only one school in the entire district, and there are only 3-4 teachers who teach all disciplines.

By the way, a girl from such a wilderness once wrote to me - she bought a video course on history from me and passed - for points - the best in the region ... She entered a university and her happiness knew no bounds. Well, what about our boy? He is not particularly diligent - he would run through the forest and play football ... The army is the only available social elevator, where they will take him with arms and legs just like that. And he is healthy - I suppose he will go. Here the army will be an awesome social elevator for him.

The church is also a cool social elevator. For example, you were an ordinary boy - and became a clergyman. Here there is career growth, and food, housing (cells) will be provided. In a word, wow. You just need to improve your Greek and Latin.

The family is an example of a social elevator. If you were born into a family with connections, then you are guaranteed a serious career. Dad is the director of the plant, mom is the mayor of the city, uncle is the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - choose what they say - you won’t go wrong. However, today, other social elevators have appeared in the post-industrial society. For example, education and the Internet.

Igor Rasteryaev can serve as an example of such a case. Who knew this talented singer and musician until 2011, when he sang his famous song about combine operators on YouTube? Yes, no one. And after his video was watched and appreciated by 10 million people, he became a sought-after singer and musician! About education as a social elevator - you can guess for yourself - nothing complicated.

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Sincerely, Andrey Puchkov