Social mobility | Definition, Examples, & Facts

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-10-31T00:00:00CDT" >Oct 31, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-mobility/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Theodor-Julius-Geiger" topicid="227821">Theodor Julius Geiger</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/social-class" topicid="550940">social class</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/upward-mobility" topicid="618918">upward mobility</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/horizontal-mobility" topicid="271769">horizontal mobility</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/vertical-mobility" topicid="626691">vertical mobility</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/downward-mobility" topicid="170517">downward mobility</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/social-mobility"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/28/uk-loses-out-on-19bn-in-annual-gdp-growth-due-to-lack-of-social-mobility" rel="nofollow">UK loses out on £19bn in annual GDP growth due to lack of social mobility</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Oct. 29, 2024, 3:14 AM ET (The Guardian) </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref141161"></span>social mobility</strong>, movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hierarchy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hierarchy" data-type="MW">hierarchy</a> or stratification. If such mobility involves a change in position, especially in occupation, but no change in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-class" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">social class</a>, it is called “<span id="ref141162"></span>horizontal mobility.” An example would be a person who moves from a managerial position in one company to a similar position in another. If, however, the move involves a change in social class, it is called “<span id="ref141163"></span>vertical mobility” and involves either “<span id="ref141164"></span>upward mobility” or “<span id="ref141165"></span>downward mobility.” An industrial worker who becomes a wealthy businessman moves upward in the class system; a landed aristocrat who loses everything in a <span id="ref141166"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/revolution-politics" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">revolution</a> moves downward in the system.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In revolution an entire class structure is altered. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="Yet" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Yet" data-type="EB">Yet</a> once the society has been radically reorganized, further social mobility may be minimal. Social mobility, however, may come about through slower, more subtle changes, such as the movement of individuals or groups from a poor agrarian region to a richer urban one. Throughout history international <span id="ref141167"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-migration" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">migration</a> has been an important factor in upward mobility. One instance may be seen in the 19th-century migration of members of the working and peasant classes from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Europe</a> to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a>. On the other hand, Western European colonial expansion, while benefiting some, served to enslave others. In modern societies, social <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="mobility" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/mobility" data-type="EB">mobility</a> is typically measured by career and generational changes in the socioeconomic levels of occupations.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The social results of mobility, particularly of the vertical type, are difficult to measure. Some believe that large-scale mobility, both upward and downward, breaks down class structure, rendering a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/culture" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">culture</a> more uniform. Others argue that those who attempt to rise or maintain a higher position actually strengthen the class system, for they are likely to be concerned with enforcing class differences. Thus, some sociologists have suggested that class distinctions might be reduced not by individual mobility but by the achievement of social and economic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/equality-human-rights" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">equality</a> for all.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-read-more-module" href="/place/Latin-America/Disorder-and-caudillismo#ref360028" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/30/108730-050-B22D0AE4/Latin-America.jpg" alt="Latin America" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-navy-dark">More From Britannica</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">history of Latin America: Mobility and hierarchy</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">One positive consequence of mobility has been a better use of individual aptitude. This has been aided by the expansion of educational opportunities in modern industrial nations. On the negative side, a high rate of vertical mobility may produce individual and societal <span id="ref141168"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/anomie" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">anomie</a> (a term coined by the French sociologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emile-Durkheim" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Émile Durkheim</a>). The individual experiencing anomie feels socially isolated and anxious; in a larger, societal <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="context" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context" data-type="MW">context</a>, generally accepted beliefs and standards of conduct are weakened or disappear.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Many believe that the class system of Western industrial nations has changed dramatically since the provision of extensive welfare services, beginning in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Germany</a> in the 1880s. Greater social mobility has resulted from changes in the occupational structure, typified by an increase in the relative number of white-collar and professional occupations, with a decrease in the less-skilled and manual occupations. This has led to higher standards of living. Such increased mobility, it is argued, has minimized class differences, so that Western nations are moving toward a relatively classless (or predominantly middle-class) society. Yet other observers contend that a new upper class is in the process of formation, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="comprising" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprising" data-type="MW">comprising</a> production organizers and managers in both the public and the private arenas. Most recently, in postindustrial societies, inequality seems to be increasing between highly educated and poorly educated workers or between those with access to evolving technologies and those who lack such access.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span> <span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/editor/Amy-McKenna/6443">Amy McKenna</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":551322,"pageLength":544,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Social mobility | Definition, Examples, & Facts | Britannica