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 incentives for excellence, and provides rewards for performance. The conflict perspective, on the other hand, argues that people at the bottom won't take it and they will work towards changing the status quo. For instance, poor people may use their vote to elect officials who will represent their interests...

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...enturies. It's roots are found in religious literature of around

1200-1000 BC, and, although it has technically been abolished in India, in practice it is still very much alive and thriving. Being either one of these castes, does affect one¡¯s position in society and by all means, the social mobility.

Although there is not much distinction between the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and

Vaishyas, if one is a ¡°Harijan¡± there are obvious hindrances. The term coined by

Mahatma Gandhi, literally means

¡°People of the god¡±, and it was meant in every way because these people also called the untouchables, were literally the social outcastes and had nobody¡¯s support. Even till today, in Rural India the orthodox people will not even drink water from their hands. However, the government to is making efforts to abolish these distinctions.

Social Mobility in India and in the US has a very different concept. In the US, mobility is based on money, i.e. he who has money dominates. However, in India, money doesn¡¯t play an all-important role. There are other factors that govern social mobility and these factors do need to be looked into because some of these are not fit to exist in the 21st century.