Social Mobility
Mobility is the characteristic of every social system.
Social mobility is the
movement of individuals, families and groups from one
social position to
another. It may be studied in terms of redistribution
of resources and power
among the different social strata and its effect on
the people involved. In the
status societies the social status of the person is
determined from his work.
Social mobility occurs whenever people move across
social class boundaries, from
one ⌠occupational level to another. The study of
Social Mobility is important
for a number of reasons: -
1. It matters to people to get on in life,
2. We can study people's life histories,
3. We can see changes in the class system,
4. The more mobile a society is may show it to be more
open and fairer,
5. Mobility affects the way classes are formed, their
size and shape.
A common sense notion regarding class in the U.S can
be represented as a few
rich people on the top, few poor people at the bottom,
and the middle class
majority in the center. Mostly everybody has a
comfortable standard of living.
If we divide the U.S. population in 5 equal
proportions and their corresponding
share of the nation¡¯s income we get the following:
¨i Top 20% of the population receives 49.1% of
the total income
¨i Second top 20% of the population receives
24.3% of the total income
¨i Middle 20% of the population receives 15% of
the total income
¨i Second bottom 20% of the population receives
8.9% of the total income
¨i Bottom 20% of the population receives 3.6% of
the total income
The top 20% of the population have a disproportionate
share of the income
compared to their share in the population. Looking at
the standards of living by
consumption the ration between the top 20% and the
bottom 20% is 9:1. This
comparison illustrates great inequality in US society.
It is often said that
high levels of inequality is necessary because it
stimulates competition, it
creates
Social mobility is the
movement of individuals, families and groups from one
social position to
another. It may be studied in terms of redistribution
of resources and power
among the different social strata and its effect on
the people involved. In the
status societies the social status of the person is
determined from his work.
Social mobility occurs whenever people move across
social class boundaries, from
one ⌠occupational level to another. The study of
Social Mobility is important
for a number of reasons: -
1. It matters to people to get on in life,
2. We can study people's life histories,
3. We can see changes in the class system,
4. The more mobile a society is may show it to be more
open and fairer,
5. Mobility affects the way classes are formed, their
size and shape.
A common sense notion regarding class in the U.S can
be represented as a few
rich people on the top, few poor people at the bottom,
and the middle class
majority in the center. Mostly everybody has a
comfortable standard of living.
If we divide the U.S. population in 5 equal
proportions and their corresponding
share of the nation¡¯s income we get the following:
¨i Top 20% of the population receives 49.1% of
the total income
¨i Second top 20% of the population receives
24.3% of the total income
¨i Middle 20% of the population receives 15% of
the total income
¨i Second bottom 20% of the population receives
8.9% of the total income
¨i Bottom 20% of the population receives 3.6% of
the total income
The top 20% of the population have a disproportionate
share of the income
compared to their share in the population. Looking at
the standards of living by
consumption the ration between the top 20% and the
bottom 20% is 9:1. This
comparison illustrates great inequality in US society.
It is often said that
high levels of inequality is necessary because it
stimulates competition, it
creates