Notes: Social Mobility | Sociology Mains Optional for UPSC 2024 PDF Download

 Page 1


 
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5. Stratification and Mobility: 
 
d. Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility. 
 
  
Page 2


 
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Sleepy Classes 
5. Stratification and Mobility: 
 
d. Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Mobility 
Social mobility is movement of groups and individuals across the social structure  
or  
change in position in social structure  
 
DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOBILITY 
On basis of direction 
1) Horizontal mobility: individual or group change their position in social structure without 
changing their position in social hierarchy. 
 Example agricultural workers migrate to city to become wage labourer.  
With industrialisation: every task requires specialised skills restricting horizontal mobility.  
Anthony Giddens says that there is great deal of horizontal mobility in modern society.  
He prefers to define it as lateral mobility. 
 
2) Vertical mobility: change in position along social hierarchy-  
o Upward (most seek this- a value seen as a reward)  
o Downward (most avoid it- a stigma generates discontent).  
 
Anthony Giddens says that vertical mobility is movement up and down on socio- economic scale. 
 
Sociologically, vertical mobility is studied more as it has social implications while horizontal mobility 
is important for individual.  
Giddens says that sometimes both mobility are seen in tandem ex promotion in a new city. 
 
On basis of speed 
1) Intergenerational- change in position between generation ex son of rickshaw puller 
becoming a professor 
2) Intra-generational- change in position within lifetime of a person. Ex person appointed as 
clerk then to superintendent. Generally, this mobility is experienced in occupation. Merton 
calls it as a status sequence. 
 
On basis of system of stratification 
1) Mobility in open system -higher incidences of mobility Ex Class system 
2) Mobility in close system - lesser incidences of mobility ex caste system 
 
Absolute versus relative 
Change in actual position of a person in actual terms is absolute. Ex: increase in income. Relative 
mobility is a situation in which mobility of a person is adjudged in comparison to others. 
 
Sponsored vs contested:  
R.H Turner gave this concept. Sponsored means mobility due to outside support (reservation); 
Contested is mobility through open competition.  
All systems have mobility, difference is of degree  
- Open system:  norms prescribed mobility (meritocracy) 
- Closed system: norms proscribe mobility (traditional caste system ascriptive system) 
 
 
 
 
 
Page 3


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
5. Stratification and Mobility: 
 
d. Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Mobility 
Social mobility is movement of groups and individuals across the social structure  
or  
change in position in social structure  
 
DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOBILITY 
On basis of direction 
1) Horizontal mobility: individual or group change their position in social structure without 
changing their position in social hierarchy. 
 Example agricultural workers migrate to city to become wage labourer.  
With industrialisation: every task requires specialised skills restricting horizontal mobility.  
Anthony Giddens says that there is great deal of horizontal mobility in modern society.  
He prefers to define it as lateral mobility. 
 
2) Vertical mobility: change in position along social hierarchy-  
o Upward (most seek this- a value seen as a reward)  
o Downward (most avoid it- a stigma generates discontent).  
 
Anthony Giddens says that vertical mobility is movement up and down on socio- economic scale. 
 
Sociologically, vertical mobility is studied more as it has social implications while horizontal mobility 
is important for individual.  
Giddens says that sometimes both mobility are seen in tandem ex promotion in a new city. 
 
On basis of speed 
1) Intergenerational- change in position between generation ex son of rickshaw puller 
becoming a professor 
2) Intra-generational- change in position within lifetime of a person. Ex person appointed as 
clerk then to superintendent. Generally, this mobility is experienced in occupation. Merton 
calls it as a status sequence. 
 
On basis of system of stratification 
1) Mobility in open system -higher incidences of mobility Ex Class system 
2) Mobility in close system - lesser incidences of mobility ex caste system 
 
Absolute versus relative 
Change in actual position of a person in actual terms is absolute. Ex: increase in income. Relative 
mobility is a situation in which mobility of a person is adjudged in comparison to others. 
 
Sponsored vs contested:  
R.H Turner gave this concept. Sponsored means mobility due to outside support (reservation); 
Contested is mobility through open competition.  
All systems have mobility, difference is of degree  
- Open system:  norms prescribed mobility (meritocracy) 
- Closed system: norms proscribe mobility (traditional caste system ascriptive system) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Avenues of social mobility 
 
Every society has some avenues of social mobility and some restrictions too. No society is purely 
closed or open and what varies is avenues of mobility. Avenues can be understood in terms of 
traditional or modern. 
- Traditional: Generally lesser avenues of social mobility but geographical mobility, 
patronage,renunciation, Sanskritization, acquiring political power (Maurya dynasty), 
acquiring expertise, performing a courageous task etc  
- In modern times mobility is due to emergence of new occupation, modern education 
system, democracy, welfare state, technology etc 
 
Agrarian- least mobility, Industrial- rapid increase (because of occupation/urbanisation) and in 
advanced industrial societies mobility tends to plateau out 
 
Factors that cause mobility 
P Sorokin - there are certain primary factors that effect mobility in all societies and secondary 
factors that are specific to particular society at particular times. He listed four primary factors  
1) demographic factors 
2) the ability of parents and children  
3) the faulty distribution of individuals in social positions and  
4) the change of environment  
Demographic factor: In general, it has been observed that the birth-rate of higher groups is lower 
than that of lower groups. Even though the death rates of the lower groups are higher, the net 
reproduction rate is such that there is usually some room at the top for members of lower groups 
Talent and ability: he notes that usually abilities of parents and children do not match. In descriptive 
societies, children may not always be suited to their inherited status position as their parents. Lipset 
and Bendix state that there are always new supplies of talent which must be absorbed somewhere 
or the other so that there is always room for talented individuals to be upwardly mobile. 
 
‘The rise of meritocracy ’ by Michael Young debunks the myth that the open societies are really 
responsive to talent and ability. The class of the person still matters in that the topmost positions 
and the lowest positions are largely self recruiting 
 
Faulty distribution of individuals - Pareto says that history is graveyard of aristocracy that is people 
from lower strata would eventually occupy elite positions and cycle goes on. 
 
Change in social environment Changes of various kinds economic, social, political, legal, 
technological and other have an effect on social mobility  
- Goldthorpe sites the work of Miller who using more data then Lipset and Bendix shows that 
in fact there is a lack of convergence between the rates of mobility of industrial societies. 
This shows that perhaps it is not industrialisation but other factors such as cultural factors 
the education system which also have a bearing on social mobility. 
- Barriers to mobility (Marxian viewpoint) 
- Subjective factors like aspirations, motivation of people, degree of exclusivity etc  
- Merton has also written about the importance of reference group in determining social 
behaviour anticipatory socialisation. 
 
Criticisms: 
- class of origin still mattered 
Page 4


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
5. Stratification and Mobility: 
 
d. Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Mobility 
Social mobility is movement of groups and individuals across the social structure  
or  
change in position in social structure  
 
DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOBILITY 
On basis of direction 
1) Horizontal mobility: individual or group change their position in social structure without 
changing their position in social hierarchy. 
 Example agricultural workers migrate to city to become wage labourer.  
With industrialisation: every task requires specialised skills restricting horizontal mobility.  
Anthony Giddens says that there is great deal of horizontal mobility in modern society.  
He prefers to define it as lateral mobility. 
 
2) Vertical mobility: change in position along social hierarchy-  
o Upward (most seek this- a value seen as a reward)  
o Downward (most avoid it- a stigma generates discontent).  
 
Anthony Giddens says that vertical mobility is movement up and down on socio- economic scale. 
 
Sociologically, vertical mobility is studied more as it has social implications while horizontal mobility 
is important for individual.  
Giddens says that sometimes both mobility are seen in tandem ex promotion in a new city. 
 
On basis of speed 
1) Intergenerational- change in position between generation ex son of rickshaw puller 
becoming a professor 
2) Intra-generational- change in position within lifetime of a person. Ex person appointed as 
clerk then to superintendent. Generally, this mobility is experienced in occupation. Merton 
calls it as a status sequence. 
 
On basis of system of stratification 
1) Mobility in open system -higher incidences of mobility Ex Class system 
2) Mobility in close system - lesser incidences of mobility ex caste system 
 
Absolute versus relative 
Change in actual position of a person in actual terms is absolute. Ex: increase in income. Relative 
mobility is a situation in which mobility of a person is adjudged in comparison to others. 
 
Sponsored vs contested:  
R.H Turner gave this concept. Sponsored means mobility due to outside support (reservation); 
Contested is mobility through open competition.  
All systems have mobility, difference is of degree  
- Open system:  norms prescribed mobility (meritocracy) 
- Closed system: norms proscribe mobility (traditional caste system ascriptive system) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Avenues of social mobility 
 
Every society has some avenues of social mobility and some restrictions too. No society is purely 
closed or open and what varies is avenues of mobility. Avenues can be understood in terms of 
traditional or modern. 
- Traditional: Generally lesser avenues of social mobility but geographical mobility, 
patronage,renunciation, Sanskritization, acquiring political power (Maurya dynasty), 
acquiring expertise, performing a courageous task etc  
- In modern times mobility is due to emergence of new occupation, modern education 
system, democracy, welfare state, technology etc 
 
Agrarian- least mobility, Industrial- rapid increase (because of occupation/urbanisation) and in 
advanced industrial societies mobility tends to plateau out 
 
Factors that cause mobility 
P Sorokin - there are certain primary factors that effect mobility in all societies and secondary 
factors that are specific to particular society at particular times. He listed four primary factors  
1) demographic factors 
2) the ability of parents and children  
3) the faulty distribution of individuals in social positions and  
4) the change of environment  
Demographic factor: In general, it has been observed that the birth-rate of higher groups is lower 
than that of lower groups. Even though the death rates of the lower groups are higher, the net 
reproduction rate is such that there is usually some room at the top for members of lower groups 
Talent and ability: he notes that usually abilities of parents and children do not match. In descriptive 
societies, children may not always be suited to their inherited status position as their parents. Lipset 
and Bendix state that there are always new supplies of talent which must be absorbed somewhere 
or the other so that there is always room for talented individuals to be upwardly mobile. 
 
‘The rise of meritocracy ’ by Michael Young debunks the myth that the open societies are really 
responsive to talent and ability. The class of the person still matters in that the topmost positions 
and the lowest positions are largely self recruiting 
 
Faulty distribution of individuals - Pareto says that history is graveyard of aristocracy that is people 
from lower strata would eventually occupy elite positions and cycle goes on. 
 
Change in social environment Changes of various kinds economic, social, political, legal, 
technological and other have an effect on social mobility  
- Goldthorpe sites the work of Miller who using more data then Lipset and Bendix shows that 
in fact there is a lack of convergence between the rates of mobility of industrial societies. 
This shows that perhaps it is not industrialisation but other factors such as cultural factors 
the education system which also have a bearing on social mobility. 
- Barriers to mobility (Marxian viewpoint) 
- Subjective factors like aspirations, motivation of people, degree of exclusivity etc  
- Merton has also written about the importance of reference group in determining social 
behaviour anticipatory socialisation. 
 
Criticisms: 
- class of origin still mattered 
 
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https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
- Unequal access to resources like education  
- Caste clustering in industries increased  
- Formation of Dalit and Tribal elites 
 
Social mobility and social change 
Giddens criticises conventional discussion of mobility which look at classes as fixed categories which 
can be populated by different people at different times.  
 
Schumpeter for example likens classes to buses which have different passengers at different times.  
 
Merton work on social structure and anomie sheds mode light on this. He differentiates between 
socially accepted goals and means of achieving these goals.  
 
 
Consequence of mobility 
1) increased creativity and efficiency  
2) cultural homogenisation  
3) lesser possibilities of conflict  
4) weaker hierarchical divides (everyone wears denim, eat pizza) 
5) creates anomie: people resorting to shortcuts and thus scams (anomie of infinite 
aspirations) 
6) possibility of mobility creates stress and weakens social bonds (divorce rates, loneliness 
solidarity, nuclearisation of families) 
 
Dimensional of SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 
 
Based on different criteria 
- Age set system- described as stateless by Evans-Pritchard as they lack central governance; 
stratified on basis of age and ranks on the basis age ex: Masai and Nandi tribes in East Africa 
 
- Slave system- LT Hobhouse defines slave as a man whom law and custom regard as property 
of another. It does not exist anymore. 
 
- Estate system- characteristic of feudal society of Europe; in terms of ownership of land. 
 
- Class system-  economic criteria mostly seen in industrial societies. 
 
- Racial- biological and ethnic -cultural criteria; superiority one over another  
 
- Gender  
 
- Caste – ascriptive, theoretically closed and constitutionally illegal 
 
  
Page 5


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
5. Stratification and Mobility: 
 
d. Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Mobility 
Social mobility is movement of groups and individuals across the social structure  
or  
change in position in social structure  
 
DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOBILITY 
On basis of direction 
1) Horizontal mobility: individual or group change their position in social structure without 
changing their position in social hierarchy. 
 Example agricultural workers migrate to city to become wage labourer.  
With industrialisation: every task requires specialised skills restricting horizontal mobility.  
Anthony Giddens says that there is great deal of horizontal mobility in modern society.  
He prefers to define it as lateral mobility. 
 
2) Vertical mobility: change in position along social hierarchy-  
o Upward (most seek this- a value seen as a reward)  
o Downward (most avoid it- a stigma generates discontent).  
 
Anthony Giddens says that vertical mobility is movement up and down on socio- economic scale. 
 
Sociologically, vertical mobility is studied more as it has social implications while horizontal mobility 
is important for individual.  
Giddens says that sometimes both mobility are seen in tandem ex promotion in a new city. 
 
On basis of speed 
1) Intergenerational- change in position between generation ex son of rickshaw puller 
becoming a professor 
2) Intra-generational- change in position within lifetime of a person. Ex person appointed as 
clerk then to superintendent. Generally, this mobility is experienced in occupation. Merton 
calls it as a status sequence. 
 
On basis of system of stratification 
1) Mobility in open system -higher incidences of mobility Ex Class system 
2) Mobility in close system - lesser incidences of mobility ex caste system 
 
Absolute versus relative 
Change in actual position of a person in actual terms is absolute. Ex: increase in income. Relative 
mobility is a situation in which mobility of a person is adjudged in comparison to others. 
 
Sponsored vs contested:  
R.H Turner gave this concept. Sponsored means mobility due to outside support (reservation); 
Contested is mobility through open competition.  
All systems have mobility, difference is of degree  
- Open system:  norms prescribed mobility (meritocracy) 
- Closed system: norms proscribe mobility (traditional caste system ascriptive system) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Avenues of social mobility 
 
Every society has some avenues of social mobility and some restrictions too. No society is purely 
closed or open and what varies is avenues of mobility. Avenues can be understood in terms of 
traditional or modern. 
- Traditional: Generally lesser avenues of social mobility but geographical mobility, 
patronage,renunciation, Sanskritization, acquiring political power (Maurya dynasty), 
acquiring expertise, performing a courageous task etc  
- In modern times mobility is due to emergence of new occupation, modern education 
system, democracy, welfare state, technology etc 
 
Agrarian- least mobility, Industrial- rapid increase (because of occupation/urbanisation) and in 
advanced industrial societies mobility tends to plateau out 
 
Factors that cause mobility 
P Sorokin - there are certain primary factors that effect mobility in all societies and secondary 
factors that are specific to particular society at particular times. He listed four primary factors  
1) demographic factors 
2) the ability of parents and children  
3) the faulty distribution of individuals in social positions and  
4) the change of environment  
Demographic factor: In general, it has been observed that the birth-rate of higher groups is lower 
than that of lower groups. Even though the death rates of the lower groups are higher, the net 
reproduction rate is such that there is usually some room at the top for members of lower groups 
Talent and ability: he notes that usually abilities of parents and children do not match. In descriptive 
societies, children may not always be suited to their inherited status position as their parents. Lipset 
and Bendix state that there are always new supplies of talent which must be absorbed somewhere 
or the other so that there is always room for talented individuals to be upwardly mobile. 
 
‘The rise of meritocracy ’ by Michael Young debunks the myth that the open societies are really 
responsive to talent and ability. The class of the person still matters in that the topmost positions 
and the lowest positions are largely self recruiting 
 
Faulty distribution of individuals - Pareto says that history is graveyard of aristocracy that is people 
from lower strata would eventually occupy elite positions and cycle goes on. 
 
Change in social environment Changes of various kinds economic, social, political, legal, 
technological and other have an effect on social mobility  
- Goldthorpe sites the work of Miller who using more data then Lipset and Bendix shows that 
in fact there is a lack of convergence between the rates of mobility of industrial societies. 
This shows that perhaps it is not industrialisation but other factors such as cultural factors 
the education system which also have a bearing on social mobility. 
- Barriers to mobility (Marxian viewpoint) 
- Subjective factors like aspirations, motivation of people, degree of exclusivity etc  
- Merton has also written about the importance of reference group in determining social 
behaviour anticipatory socialisation. 
 
Criticisms: 
- class of origin still mattered 
 
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https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
- Unequal access to resources like education  
- Caste clustering in industries increased  
- Formation of Dalit and Tribal elites 
 
Social mobility and social change 
Giddens criticises conventional discussion of mobility which look at classes as fixed categories which 
can be populated by different people at different times.  
 
Schumpeter for example likens classes to buses which have different passengers at different times.  
 
Merton work on social structure and anomie sheds mode light on this. He differentiates between 
socially accepted goals and means of achieving these goals.  
 
 
Consequence of mobility 
1) increased creativity and efficiency  
2) cultural homogenisation  
3) lesser possibilities of conflict  
4) weaker hierarchical divides (everyone wears denim, eat pizza) 
5) creates anomie: people resorting to shortcuts and thus scams (anomie of infinite 
aspirations) 
6) possibility of mobility creates stress and weakens social bonds (divorce rates, loneliness 
solidarity, nuclearisation of families) 
 
Dimensional of SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 
 
Based on different criteria 
- Age set system- described as stateless by Evans-Pritchard as they lack central governance; 
stratified on basis of age and ranks on the basis age ex: Masai and Nandi tribes in East Africa 
 
- Slave system- LT Hobhouse defines slave as a man whom law and custom regard as property 
of another. It does not exist anymore. 
 
- Estate system- characteristic of feudal society of Europe; in terms of ownership of land. 
 
- Class system-  economic criteria mostly seen in industrial societies. 
 
- Racial- biological and ethnic -cultural criteria; superiority one over another  
 
- Gender  
 
- Caste – ascriptive, theoretically closed and constitutionally illegal 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Extras: 
 
Pierre Bourdieu 
Building on the work of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and others, Pierre Bourdieu established what he 
called the “cultural deprivation theory,” which states that people tend to think higher class 
cultures are better than lower class cultures. As a result, members of the higher classes believe 
that members of the lower classes are to blame for their childrens’ shortcomings in learning and 
advancement. It follows that the higher classes’ assumptions of superiority are self-propelling 
prophecies; to declare oneself better is an act of social positioning, not necessarily truth. The 
ruling classes, Bourdieu said, have the power to impose meaning, to instate their own cultural 
choices as “correct,” to declare their culture as worthy of being sought. But he cautioned that 
people should not assume higher classes are necessarily better; Bourdieu blamed the education 
system, not the values of the working class, for the gaps in the academic achievements of 
children (a theory that has gained traction, even after Bourdieu’s death). His most famous work 
is 1979’s “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste.” 
 
Anthony Giddens (b. 1938) 
Anthony Giddens is a prominent thinker in the field of sociology, having published at least 34 
books since 1971. His contributions to sociology as a discipline have been threefold: In the ‘70s, 
he helped redefine the field itself through a reinterpretation of classic works on society. In the 
‘80s, Giddens developed his theory of structuration–one of his biggest contributions to date and 
a pillar of modern sociological theory. The theory addresses a long-standing debate in social 
science over whether structure (recurring patterns) or agency (free choice) is the primary shaper 
of human behavior; Giddens theorizes that neither is prime, but that they work in conjunction 
and must be studied as such. Third, in the ‘90s Giddens began publishing work on his theories of 
modernity (the historical period marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism and 
industrialization) and its relationship to globalization and politics; he suggests a Third Way that 
reconciles the policies of the political left and the political right in order to form a system of 
ethical socialism–a balance of capitalism and socialism.