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 unexpected rise of a person or his sudden fall is a favorite plot folk tales: The cunning beggar suddenly becomes a rich man, the poor prince becomes a king, and the hardworking Cinderella marries the prince, thereby increasing her status and prestige.

However, the history of mankind consists not so much of individual destinies as of the movements of large social groups. The landed aristocracy is being replaced by the financial bourgeoisie, low-skilled professions are being forced out of modern production by representatives of the so-called white-collar workers - engineers, programmers, and 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 occurred in Russian society after the October Revolution of 1917. They are still happening today, when the party elite is replaced by the business elite.

Between ascent and descent there is a well-known asymmetry, everyone wants to go up and no one wants to go down the social ladder. Usually, ascent - phenomenon voluntary, A descent is forced.

Research shows that those with high statuses prefer high positions for themselves and their children, but those with low statuses also want the same for themselves and their children. This is how it works in human society: everyone strives upward and no one strives downwards.

In this chapter we will look at essence, reasons, typology, mechanisms, channels of social mobility, and factors, influencing her.

Classification of mobility.

Exist two main types social mobility - intergenerational And intragenerational And two main type - vertical and horizontal. They, in turn, break down into subspecies And subtypes that are closely related to each other.

Intergenerational mobility suggests 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 occurs where the same individual, without 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 workshop manager, a plant director, and a minister of the engineering industry.

The first type of mobility refers to long-term, and second - to short-term processes. In the first case, sociologists are more interested in interclass mobility, and in the second, in the movement from the sphere of physical labor to the sphere of mental labor.

Vertical mobility implies 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, demotion 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.

Examples include moving 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.

Variety horizontal mobility serves geographic 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 city to village and back, moving from one enterprise to another.

If a change of location is added to a change of status, then geographic mobility becomes migration.

If a villager came to the city to visit relatives, then this is geographical mobility. If he moved to the city for permanent residence and found work here, then this is already migration. He changed his profession.

It is possible to classify social mobility according to other criteria. So, for example, they distinguish:

individual mobility, when movement down, up or horizontally occurs in each person independently of others, and

group mobility, when displacement occurs collectively, for example, after a social revolution, the old class cedes its dominant position to the new class.

Individual mobility and group mobility are in a certain way connected with ascribed and achieved statuses. Do you think individual mobility is more consistent with ascribed or achieved status? (Try to figure this out on your own first, and then read the rest of the chapter.)

These are the main types, types and forms (there are no significant differences between these terms) of social mobility. In addition to them, sometimes they distinguish organized mobility, when the movement of individuals or entire groups up, down or horizontally is controlled by the state A) with the consent of the people themselves, b) without their consent. Towards voluntary organized mobility should include the so-called socialist organizational set, public calls for Komsomol construction sites, etc. TO involuntary organized mobility can be attributed 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 National economy and occurs beyond the will and consciousness of individual individuals. For example, the disappearance or reduction of industries or professions leads To movements of large masses of people. In the 50s - 70s USSR small villages were reduced and enlarged.

The main and non-main types (types, forms) of mobility differ as follows.

Main types characterize all or most societies in any historical era. Of course, the intensity or volume of mobility is not the same everywhere.

Non-main species mobility is inherent in some types of society and not in others. (Find specific examples to prove this thesis.)

The main and non-main types (types, forms) of mobility exist in three main spheres 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 in youth does not apply to mobility. Voluntary and forced changes in religion have occurred more than once in human history. Suffice it to recall the baptism of Rus', the conversion of Indians to Christianity after Columbus's discovery of America. However, such events do not occur regularly. They are of interest to historians rather than to sociologists.

Let us now turn to specific types and types of mobility.

GROUP MOBILITY

It occurs where and when the social significance of an entire class, estate, caste, rank, or category increases or decreases. The October Revolution led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, who previously had no recognized high position. The Brahmins became the highest caste as a result of a long and persistent struggle, and previously they were on a par with the Kshatriyas. IN Ancient Greece after the adoption of the constitution, most people were freed from slavery and rose up the social ladder, while many of their former masters fell down.

The transfer of power from a hereditary aristocracy to a plutocracy (an aristocracy based on 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 previously considered inferior have increased their social status. The invasion of barbarians (Huns and Goths) disrupted the social stratification of the Roman Empire: one after another, the old aristocratic families disappeared, and they were replaced by new ones. Foreigners founded new dynasties and new nobility.

As P. Sorokin showed using vast historical material, the following factors served as the reasons for group mobility:

Social revolutions;

Foreign interventions, invasions;

Interstate wars;

Civil wars;

Military coups;

Change political regimes;

Replacing the old constitution with a new one;

Peasant uprisings;

The internecine struggle of aristocratic families;

Creation of an empire.

Group mobility takes place where there is a change in the stratification system itself.

3.4. Individual mobility:

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Social mobility in the US and former USSR has both similar and distinctive features. The similarities are explained by the fact that both countries are industrialized powers, and the differences are explained by the uniqueness of the political regime of government. Thus, studies by American and Soviet sociologists, covering approximately the same period (70s), but conducted independently of each other, gave the same figures: up to 40% of employees in both the USA and Russia come from blue-collar backgrounds ; In both the USA and Russia, more than two-thirds of the population is involved in social mobility.

Another pattern is also confirmed: social mobility in both countries is most influenced not by the father’s profession and education, but by the son’s own educational achievements. The higher the education, the greater the chances of moving up the social ladder.

In both the United States and Russia, another curious fact has been discovered: a well-educated son of a worker has as much chance of advancement as a poorly educated son of the middle classes, particularly white-collar workers. Although the second one can be helped by parents.

The uniqueness of the United States lies in the large flow of immigrants. Unskilled workers - immigrants arriving in the country from all parts of the world - occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder, displacing or hastening the upward mobility of native Americans. Migration from rural areas has the same effect, not only in the United States, but also in Russia.

In both countries, upward mobility has so far been on average 20% higher 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 there is a high level of mobility (up to 70 - 80% of the population), but 70% is horizontal mobility - movement within the boundaries of the same class and even layer (stratum).

Even in the USA, where, according to belief, every sweeper can become a millionaire, the conclusion made back in 1927 by P. Sorokin remains valid: most people begin their working career at the same social level as their parents and only a very few manage to move forward significantly. In other words, the average citizen moves one step up or down during his life; rarely does anyone manage to move up several steps at once.

Thus, 10% of Americans, 7% of Japanese and Dutch, 9% of the British, 2% of the 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 great success than the other, sociologists in both countries attribute:

social status of the family;

level of education;

nationality;

physical and mental capacity, 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 from the point of view of the standards of another class. Often adaptation to new conditions remains very superficial. A typical example is Molière's tradesman among the nobility. (Remember other literary characters who would illustrate the superficial assimilation of manners of behavior when moving from one class, layer to another.)

In all industrial developed countries It is more difficult for women to move up than for men. Often they increase their social status only through a profitable marriage. Therefore, when getting a job, women of this orientation choose those professions where they are most likely to find " the right man"What do you think these professions or places of work are? Give examples from life or literature when marriage acted as a “social elevator” for women of humble origin.

During Soviet period our society was the most mobile society in the world, along with America. Free education available to all classes opened up for everyone the same opportunities for advancement that existed only in the United States. Nowhere in the world is the elite of society behind short term was not formed from literally all strata of society. At the end of this period, mobility slowed down, but increased again in the 1990s.

Soviet society was the most dynamic not only in terms of education and social mobility, but also in the field of industrial development. Long years The USSR held first place in terms of the pace of industrial progress. All these are signs of a modern industrial society that put the USSR, as Western sociologists wrote, among the leading countries in the world in terms of the pace of social mobility.

Structural mobility

Industrialization opens up new vacancies in vertical mobility. The development of industry three centuries ago required the transformation of the peasantry into the proletariat. At the late stage of industrialization, the working class became the largest part of the employed population. The main factor in vertical mobility was the education system.

Industrialization is associated not only with inter-class, but also with intra-class changes. At the stage of assembly line or mass production at the beginning of the twentieth century, low- 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 low- or unskilled. In 1966, only 20% remained.

As unskilled labor declined, the need for employees, managers, and businessmen grew. The sphere of industrial and agricultural labor narrowed, and 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 depends not on the individual characteristics of people, but on the structural features of the economy, the relationship of industries and the shifts taking place here. Number of employees in agriculture The USA decreased by 10 times from 1900 to 1980. Small farmers became a respectable petty bourgeois class, and agricultural workers swelled the ranks of the working class. The stratum of professionals and managers doubled during that period. The number of sales workers and clerks increased 4 times.

Such transformations are typical for modern societies: from farm to factory early stages industrialization and from factory to office - at later stages. Today in developed countries over 50% work force busy mental labor compared to 10 - 15% at the beginning of the century.

Over the course of this century, blue-collar jobs in industrialized countries have declined and management jobs have expanded. But managerial vacancies were filled not by workers, but by the middle class. However, the number of management jobs grew faster than the number of children in the middle class available to fill them. The vacuum created in the 50s was partially filled by working youth. This was made possible due to the availability of higher education to ordinary Americans.

In developed capitalist countries, industrialization was completed earlier than in former socialist countries (USSR, GDR, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc.). The lag could not but affect the nature of social mobility: in capitalist countries the share of leaders and intelligentsia - people from workers and peasants - is one third, and in former socialist countries - three quarters. In countries like 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 thanks 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 most closed were two layers - 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 least prestigious spheres of activity. (Try to answer the question “why?” on your own)

Vertical mobility

From a quantitative point of view, P. Sorokin believes, one should distinguish between the intensity and universality of vertical mobility. Intensity is understood as vertical social distance or the number of layers - economic, professional or political - that an individual passes through in his upward or downward movement over a certain period of time. By the universality of vertical mobility, P. Sorokin means individuals who have changed their social position in the vertical direction over a certain period of time. The absolute number of such individuals gives, according to P. Sorokin, the absolute universality of vertical mobility in the structure of the country's population, and the proportion of such individuals to the entire population gives the relative universality of vertical mobility. By combining the intensity and relative universality of vertical mobility in a certain social sphere (for example, in the economy), one can obtain, according to P. Sorokin, an aggregate indicator of vertical economic mobility of a particular society. The same can be said about the set of indicators of political and professional vertical mobility.

General principles of vertical mobility

General principles P. Sorokin reduces vertical mobility to the following.

• 1. There has never existed a society whose social strata were absolutely closed or in which there was no vertical mobility in its three main aspects - economic, political and professional.
• 2. There has never existed a society in which vertical social mobility would be absolutely free, and the transition from one social layer to another would be carried out without any resistance. This means that within an organized and stratified society there is a kind of “sieve” that “sifts” individuals and allows some to rise to the top, leaving others at the bottom, and vice versa.
• 3. The intensity and universality of vertical social mobility change from society to society and from one period of time to another, that is, they have an oscillatory nature. The history of social organisms reveals rhythms of comparatively mobile and stationary periods.
• 4. The intensity and universality of vertical mobility - economic, political and professional - fluctuates within the same society at different periods of its history.
• 5. In the three main forms of vertical mobility there is no constant direction either towards strengthening or towards weakening its intensity and universality. This situation is true for the history of any country, for the history of large social organisms and for the entire history of mankind. In this case, we can only talk about “non-directional” oscillations.
• 6. Based on the degree of movement, it is fair to distinguish between mobile and stationary types of societies. Although democratic societies are often more mobile than autocratic ones, there are nevertheless exceptions to this rule.

Mobility mechanisms

Since vertical mobility is observed in any society, and between layers there must be certain paths along which individuals move up or down from one layer to another, it is necessary, according to P. Sorokin, to consider these existing channels of social circulation. P. Sorokin considers the following to be the most important: the army, the church, the school, political, economic and professional organizations.

The army as a channel of social circulation plays a particularly important role in wartime, due to which many individuals climbed high on the social ladder, starting military service from the lower social strata (Napoleon, Cromwell, Washington, etc.). In peacetime, the army continues to play the role of a channel for vertical circulation, but in these periods, P. Sorokin postulates, its role is much weaker than in wartime.

The church, as a channel of vertical social circulation, successfully performs this function only when, according to P. Sorokin, its social significance increases. For example, Christian church moved a large number of people from the bottom to the top of society (for example, out of 144 popes, 28 were of simple origin, 27 came from the middle classes). While being a channel for upward movement, the church (like the army) was also a means for downward movement (for example, heretics).

Institutions of education and upbringing, no matter what specific form they take, in all centuries and in all societies have been, according to P. Sorokin, means of vertical social circulation. Many social spheres and a number of professions are practically closed to a person without an appropriate diploma, therefore the social advancement of many eminent people of our time was carried out thanks to the “school mechanism”.

Political organizations, from the government to political parties, also play the role of a social “elevator” in vertical circulation. Historically, a large number of people born into the strata of servants, peasants or artisans rose to prominent public positions through bureaucratic and government service or political activity. If it were not for this channel, then many prominent politicians and statesmen, believes P. Sorokin, would hardly be able to achieve a high social position.

Professional organizations (scientific, literary, etc.), according to P. Sorokin, also play a significant role in the vertical movement of individuals, since entry into these organizations is relatively free for everyone who has discovered the appropriate abilities, regardless of their social origin. Many scientists, lawyers, writers, doctors, sculptors of simple origin rose socially thanks to this channel.

Accumulating wealth is one of the simplest and effective ways social advancement, says P. Sorokin. A successful entrepreneur is the largest aristocrat of a modern democratic society. If a person is rich, then he is at the top of the social pyramid, regardless of his origin, and often his source of income.

Family and marriage (especially with a representative of a different social status), according to P. Sorokin, can also lead one of the partners either to social advancement or to social degradation.

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Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same level.  

Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another located at the same level.  

Horizontal mobility means the transition of a person from one social group to another, which is generally at the same level social stratification, let's say when villager becomes urban, but his profession and income level remain the same. Vertical mobility is the transition of people from one social stratum to another in a hierarchical order, for example, from a lower stratum of society to a higher one, or vice versa - from a higher stratum to a lower one.  

A type of horizontal mobility is geographic 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 city to village and back, moving from one enterprise to another.  

High and low birth rates in different classes creates the same effect for vertical mobility as population density in different countries. Strata, like countries, can be overpopulated or underpopulated.  

Sorokin distinguishes two types of social mobility: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal mobility is the transition of an individual or social object from one social position to another, lying at the same level, for example, the transition of an individual from one family to another, from one religious group to another, as well as a change of residence. In all these cases, the individual does not change the social stratum to which he belongs or his social status. But most important process is vertical mobility, which is a set of interactions that contribute to the transition of an individual or social object from one social layer to another.  

SOCIAL MOBILITY - movement of people from one social strata to another under the influence of various objective and subjective factors; The theory of social mobility reflecting these processes points to horizontal and vertical mobility. Horizontal mobility means the transition of people from one social group to another, which are, so to speak, at the same level social structure society. For example, when a rural resident becomes urban, but his profession and income level remain the same. Vertical mobility is the social movement of people in a hierarchical order, for example, from a lower stratum to a higher one in terms of social status and wages, or back - from a higher stratum to a lower one. The theory of social mobility is based on the works of P. A. Sorokin, widely used in Western sociology, primarily American.  

The social space of society is multidimensional. The main thing in it is vertical and horizontal mobility. Horizontally, all people are equal, while vertically, layers are distinguished.  

Researchers studying utopian movements in medieval Europe, determined that utopian fantasies were most widespread among former peasants who were driven off their land and became urban artisans, workers, the unemployed, or simply beggars. These people were drawn into a process of geographical mobility, horizontal mobility and, in addition, a process of vertical mobility. It turned out that if combined mobility covers significant masses of people, this always leads to the emergence of social movements.  

Horizontal mobility is the physical movement of an individual or group from one region to another. When analyzing vertical mobility, sociologists study both the mobility of an individual within his own career and the differences in the social position of the individual and his parents.  

Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin (1889 - 1968) - one of the largest sociologists of the 20th century. Horizontal mobility is actual movement in physical space, migration; vertical - change in social status, movement up and down the social ladder (Sorokin P.A. Social Mobility. In different types In society, this movement varies in type and speed. In every society there are so-called elevators through which this movement is carried out. Classic examples of these are the army, schools, bureaucracies, professional and theological organizations. They are as necessary for a social organism as organs for controlling blood flow in a complex biological body. Sorokin came to the conclusion that mobility contributes to the development of mental flexibility and versatility of the intellect in general, but, in turn, gives rise to skepticism, cynicism, leads to pathological isolation, moral failure and suicide.  

Stratification is the differentiation of people in a hierarchical order, which is based on the unequal distribution between members of a group of social capital - rights, power, influence, opportunities, privileges and benefits, income, etc. There are three main forms of social stratification: economic, political and professional. Between strata and within them, movements of individuals are observed, which are called social mobility. Social mobility can be horizontal and vertical. Horizontal mobility is the movement from one social group to another, located in the same plane. Vertical - moving from one social level to another.  

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SOCIAL MOBILITY - the ability of an individual or a social group to change their place in the social structure of society. Essentially, these are all movements of the individual, family, social group in the system social connections. People are in constant motion, and society is in development; Therefore, one of the important mechanisms of social stratification is social mobility. For the first time the theory of M. s. was developed and introduced into scientific circulation by the famous Russian sociologist P. A. Sorokin.

There are two main types of M. s. – intergenerational and intragenerational, as well as two main types – vertical and horizontal. They fall into subspecies and subtypes, which are closely related to each other. Intergenerational mobility involves children achieving a higher social position or falling to a lower level than their parents. For example, the son of a worker becomes an engineer. Intragenerational mobility occurs when the same individual changes social positions throughout his life. Otherwise it is called a social career. For example, a turner becomes an engineer, then a workshop manager, a plant director, etc. Vertical mobility implies movement from one stratum (estate, class, caste) to another. At birth, a person receives the social status of his parents. However, during the active period of his activity, a person may not be satisfied with his position in this social stratum and achieve more. If his status is changed to a higher one, then upward mobility takes place. However, as a result of life disasters (job loss, illness, etc.), he may move into a lower status group. This triggers downward mobility. These are all types of vertical mobility.

Horizontal mobility is the transition of an individual or social group from one social position to another, located at the same social level. An example could be a transition from one profession to another, in which there is no significant change in social status. A type of horizontal mobility is geographic mobility. It involves simply moving from one place to another while maintaining the same status. However, if a change of location is added to a change of status, then geographic mobility turns into population migration. Group mobility occurs where and when the social significance of an entire class, estate, caste, rank, or category increases or decreases. According to P.A. Sorokin, the reasons for group mobility were the following factors: social revolutions; foreign interventions, invasions; interstate and civil wars; military coups and changes of political regimes; replacing the old constitution with a new one; peasant uprisings; internecine struggle of aristocratic families; creation of an empire. Individual mobility occurs when downward, upward or horizontal movement occurs in an individual independently of others.

Mobility can also be voluntary and violent, structural and organized. Differentiated by spheres public life mobility can be economic, political, professional, religious, etc. Changes in the class structure of society are the result of mobility: interclass and intraclass (déclassification, marginalization, lumpenization). Channels of mobility, or institutions (according to P. Sorokin): army, school, church, marriage, property. Sometimes they are called elevators. Mobility differs in open and closed societies. Closed societies - caste, slave-owning. Open – industrial (bourgeois). Semi-closed - feudal. In a closed society, mobility is sharply limited, in an open society - high degree mobility.

Social mobility is associated with the presence in society of objective and subjective living conditions of an individual or social group, which provide them with the opportunity to change their social position or status, i.e., in other words, it is the movement of individuals or groups in social space.

Before moving on to considering the processes of social mobility, we list some factors leading to the stratification of society. Different aspects and elements of layering have different time periods of action, so the time factor plays a certain role here. Interaction with other cultures also acts as a stimulus for stratification changes. Urbanization processes, as well as factors of social disintegration, are no less important.
The mechanisms of stratification in society manifest themselves at two levels: non-institutional and institutional. At the non-institutional level, these changes are expressed in everyday life, in social psychology, behavioral acts. At the institutional level, such changes are consolidated in various social institutions. On the one side, social groups strive to distinguish themselves as social entities and maintain their social status. But on the other hand, trends are emerging that lead to the weakening of the existing situation. It is then that the mechanism of social mobility manifests itself.

Exist different types social mobility (intergenerational, intragenerational, professional, etc.), which in general can be reduced to two manifestations (types) - vertical and horizontal mobility.

Vertical mobility is associated with the movement of an individual or group in a system of social hierarchy, including a change in social status. Vertical mobility can be upward or downward. If a person or a social group’s status is changed to a higher, more prestigious one, then upward mobility can be stated. Accordingly, the transition to a lower status means downward mobility.

Horizontal mobility is expressed in the movement of an individual or group in the social structure without changing social status.

Horizontal movements consist of natural and territorial types of mobility (for example, moving from city to city).
.
Social mobility can be individual or group. Group mobility takes place where the social significance of a class, social group, or stratum increases or decreases. Among the reasons for group mobility are social revolutions, invasions, wars, changes in political regimes, replacement of the old constitution with a new one, etc., that is, the stratification system itself is changing. Sociologists include the social status of the family, the level of education received, nationality, abilities, external data, place of residence, and an advantageous marriage as factors of individual mobility.

In addition, mobility can be organized (managed, for example, by the state, with and without the consent of people (repatriation of small nations, dispossession, etc.). At the same time, structural mobility is distinguished, which differs from organized mobility, since it is caused by change in the structure economic activity society.

Social mobility is measured using indicators such as mobility distance (shows how many steps up or down the social ladder one has moved), volume of mobility (the number of individuals who were included in vertical mobility).

Changes in mobility by strata are taken into account by such indicators as the coefficient of mobility of exit from a social stratum, the coefficient of mobility of entry into a social stratum.

Horizontal and vertical mobility are influenced by demographic factors: gender, age, birth rate, death rate, population density.

One of full descriptions vertical mobility channels were proposed by P. Sorokin (“vertical circulation channels”). Among them are various social institutions, facilitating the movement of an individual from one layer to another: army, church, school, property, family and marriage.

However, in society the transition of individuals from one social group to another cannot always occur without hindrance. M. Weber described such a phenomenon as a social clause - the closure of a group within itself. This phenomenon characterizes stabilization social life, the transition from the early to the mature stage of development, the increasing role of the ascribed status and the decreasing role of the achieved.

The system of redistribution of power, material values, etc. can be based on a fixed rule-making basis. In this case, there is stratification at the institutional level. “At the institutional level of layer formation, the social structure is fixed, i.e., the correlation of a person with one or another category of property, official and other rights and, depending on this, with specific benefits and responsibilities.” Here those social mechanisms begin to operate that introduce the processes of layer formation into a codified channel.

Legislative legal authorities codify the norms of interaction between different social groups, balance the interests of variable strata on the basis of common social interests.

Social mobility can be vertical and horizontal.

At horizontal mobility social movement of individuals and social groups occurs in other, but equal in status social communities. These can be considered moving from government to private structures, 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).

At vertical mobility is happening ascending And descending movement of people. An example of such mobility is the reduction of workers from the “hegemon” in the USSR to simple class in today's Russia and, conversely, the rise of speculators into 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 achieve a higher social status, and secondly, with a change in ideological guidelines, systems of values ​​and norms , political priorities. In this case, there is a movement to the top of those political forces that were able to perceive changes in the mentality, orientations and ideals of the population.

To quantitatively characterize social mobility, indicators of its speed are used. Under speed social mobility refers to vertical social distance and the number of strata (economic, professional, political, etc.) that individuals pass through in their upward or downward movement over a certain period of time. For example, after graduating from college, a young specialist can take the position of senior engineer or head of department, etc., within several years.

Intensity social mobility is characterized by the number of individuals changing social positions in a vertical or horizontal position over a certain period of time. The number of such individuals gives 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” made up the middle class Soviet Russia, became “shuttles.”

Aggregate index social mobility includes its speed and intensity. In this way, one society can be compared with another to find out (1) in which one or (2) in which period social mobility is higher or lower in all respects. Such an index can be calculated separately for economic, professional, political and other social mobility. Social mobility is an important characteristic of the dynamism of society. Those societies where the aggregate index of social mobility is higher develop much more dynamically, especially if this index relates to the governing 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, managers of large enterprises, for example, became such a group. Based on this fact, Western sociology developed the concept of a “revolution of managers” (J. Bernheim). According to it, the administrative stratum begins to play a decisive role not only in the economy, but also in social life, complementing and displacing the class of owners of the means of production (captains).

Vertical social movements are intensive during times of structural restructuring of the economy. The emergence of new prestigious, highly paid professional groups contributes to mass movement up the ladder of social status. The decline in the social status of the profession, the disappearance of some of them provokes not only a downward movement, but also the emergence of marginal layers that lose their usual position in society and lose the achieved level of consumption. There is an erosion of the values ​​and norms that previously united them and determined their stable place in the social hierarchy.

Marginalized - These are social groups that have lost their previous social status, are deprived of the opportunity to engage in usual activities, and have found themselves unable to adapt to the new sociocultural (value and normative) environment. Their old values ​​and norms did not succumb to displacement by new norms and values. The efforts of marginalized people to adapt to new conditions give rise to psychological stress. The behavior of such people is extreme: they are either passive or aggressive, and also easily commit crimes. moral standards, are capable of unpredictable actions. A typical leader of the marginalized in post-Soviet Russia is V. Zhirinovsky.

During periods of acute social cataclysms and fundamental changes in the social structure, an almost complete renewal of the upper 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 layer (the communist party bureaucracy) with nominally socialist values ​​and norms. Such a radical replacement of the upper stratum of society always takes place in an atmosphere of extreme confrontation and tough struggle.