Social inequality and the resulting social stratification are not permanent. As mentioned above, they fluctuate, and the stratification profile is constantly changing. These processes are associated with the movements of individuals and groups in social space - social mobility, which is understood as the transition of individuals or groups from one social position to another.

One of the first researchers social mobility, who introduced this term into sociology, was P. A. Sorokin. He devoted a special work to the processes of social mobility: "Social Stratification and Mobility". He distinguishes two main types of social mobility - horizontal and vertical.

Under horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same social level (remarriage, change of job, etc.), while maintaining the same social status.

Vertical social mobility - is the movement of an individual from one social level in another, with a change in social status. Vertical mobility can be either upward, associated with an increase in status, or downward, involving a decrease in status.

Vertical and horizontal mobility are interconnected: the more intense the movement "along the horizontal", albeit without a noticeable increase in social status, the more opportunities (connections, knowledge, experience, etc.) are accumulated for subsequent climbing the social ladder.

Mobility, both horizontal and vertical, can be individual, associated with a change in the social status and position in the social space of an individual, and group, involving the movement of entire groups. All types of mobility can occur voluntarily, when an individual or purposefully changes his position in the social space, and forcibly, when movements and status changes occur regardless of the will of people or even contrary to it. Usually, upward individual voluntary mobility is associated with strong-willed efforts and vigorous activity to improve social status. However, there is also downward voluntary mobility due to the personal decision of the individual to give up high status for the benefits that low status can provide. An example of such mobility in modern society is downshifting - a conscious and voluntary lowering of professional and economic status in order to increase the amount of free time that can be spent on hobbies, self-development, raising children, etc.

According to the degree of accessibility of social mobility and the intensity of movement of individuals, they differ open And closed society. In open societies, mobility is available to most individuals and groups. The intensity of vertical mobility can be used to judge the democratic nature of society - the intensity of vertical mobility is less in closed, non-democratic countries and vice versa. In real life, there are neither absolutely open nor absolutely closed societies - always and everywhere there are both diverse channels And elevators mobility, and filters, restricting access to them. The channels of social mobility usually coincide with the grounds for stratification and are associated with changes in economic, political, professional status, and prestige. Social elevators make it possible to quickly change social status - its increase or decrease. The main social elevators include such activities and related activities. social institutions as entrepreneurial and political activity, education, church, military service. The level of social justice in modern societies is judged by the availability of mobility channels and social lifts.

Social filters (P. A. Sorokin used the concept of "social sieve") are institutions that restrict access to upward vertical mobility so that the most deserving members of society get to the highest levels of the social hierarchy. An example of a filter is an examination system designed to select the most prepared and professionally fit individuals for training.

In addition, penetration into high-status social groups is usually limited by various filters, and the higher the status of the group, the more difficult and difficult it is to penetrate. It is not enough to correspond to the level of the upper class in terms of income and wealth, in order to be a full-fledged member, one must lead an appropriate lifestyle, have an adequate cultural level, and so on.

Upward social mobility exists in any society. Even in societies dominated by prescribed social status, inherited and sanctioned by tradition, such as the Indian caste society or the European estate, there were channels of mobility, although access to them was very limited and difficult. In the Indian caste system, which is rightly considered an example of the most closed society, researchers trace the channels of individual and collective vertical mobility. Individual vertical mobility was associated with leaving the caste system in general, i.e. with the adoption of another religion, such as Sikhism or Islam. And group vertical mobility was also possible within the framework of the caste system, and is associated with a very complex process of raising the status of the entire caste through the theological justification of its higher religious charisma.

It should be remembered that in closed societies restrictions on vertical mobility are manifested not only in the difficulty of raising status, but also in the presence of institutions that reduce the risks of lowering it. These include communal and clan solidarity and mutual aid, as well as patron-client relationships that prescribe patronage to subordinates in exchange for their loyalty and support.

Social mobility tends to fluctuate. Its intensity varies from society to society, and within the same society relatively dynamic and stable periods are noted. Thus, in the history of Russia, the periods of clearly expressed movements were the periods of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the reign of Peter I, the October Revolution. During these periods, throughout the country, the old government elite was practically destroyed, and people from the lower social strata occupied the highest managerial positions.

Significant characteristics of the closed (open) society are intragenerational mobility And intergenerational mobility. Intragenerational mobility shows the changes in social status (both rising and falling) that occur within one generation. Intergenerational mobility demonstrates changes in the status of the next generation relative to the previous one ("children" relative to "fathers"). It is widely believed that in closed societies with strong traditions and a predominance of prescribed statuses, “children” are more likely to reproduce social positions, professions, and the way of life of their “fathers”, while in open societies they choose their own life path, often associated with a change in social status. In some social systems, following the path of parents, creating a professional dynasty is seen as a morally approved course of action. Thus, in Soviet society, with real opportunities for social mobility, open access to such elevators as education, a political (party) career for people from lower social groups, the creation of "working dynasties" was especially encouraged, reproducing from generation to generation professional affiliation and providing transfer of specific professional skills. However, it should be noted that in open society belonging to a high-status family already creates the preconditions for the reproduction of this status in future generations, and the low status of parents imposes certain restrictions on the possibilities of vertical mobility of children.

Social mobility manifests itself in different forms and is usually associated with economic mobility, those. fluctuations in the economic position of an individual or group. Vertical socio-economic mobility is associated with an increase or decrease in well-being, and the main channel is economic and entrepreneurial, professional activity. In addition, other forms of mobility can also affect economic mobility, for example, the growth of power in the context of political mobility usually entails an improvement in the economic situation.

Historical periods, accompanied by the growth of socio-economic mobility in society, coincide with intense socio-economic changes, reforms, revolutions. Thus, in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, during the reforms of Peter I, social mobility in general increased, and elites rotated. For the Russian trade and economic class, the reforms were associated with fundamental changes in the composition and structure, which led to the loss of the economic status (downward mobility) of a significant part of the former large entrepreneurs, and the rapid enrichment (vertical mobility) of others, who often came to large business from small crafts ( for example, the Demidovs) or from other fields of activity. In the era of revolutionary changes at the beginning of the 20th century. there was a sharp downward mobility of almost the entire economic elite of Russian society, caused by the violent actions of the revolutionary authorities - expropriations, nationalization of industry and banks, mass confiscations of property, alienation of land, etc. At the same time, non-entrepreneurial, but belonging to professional elites and therefore possessing a relatively high material status, groups of the population - generals, professors, technical and creative intelligentsia, etc., also lost their economic positions.

From the above examples, it is clear that economic mobility can be carried out as follows:

• individually, when individuals change their economic situation regardless of the position of the group or society as a whole. Here the most important social "elevators" are both the creation of economic organizations, i.e. entrepreneurial activity, promotion professional level, and social mobility associated with the transition to a group with a higher material status. For example, during the period of post-Soviet reforms in the economy in Russia in the 90s. 20th century the transition of officers or scientists into management meant an increase in well-being;
• in group form in connection with the growth of the material well-being of the group as a whole. In Russia in the 1990s many social groups Soviet period considered economically wealthy - officers, scientific and technical intelligentsia, etc. lost their former high salaries and made a sharp downward economic mobility without changing their social, professional, political status. A number of other groups, by contrast, have improved their material well-being without actually changing other aspects of their status. These are, first of all, civil servants, lawyers, some categories of creative intelligentsia, managers, accountants, etc.

Both forms of economic mobility intensify during periods of reform and transformation, but are also possible in calm periods.

As we have already noted, there are no absolutely closed societies, and there are opportunities for vertical economic mobility even in totalitarian societies, however, they may be associated with restrictions on economic stratification in general: it is possible to increase welfare in connection, for example, with obtaining a highly paid profession, but this growth will be small relative to other professional groups. The ban on entrepreneurial activity, of course, significantly limits both the absolute and relative opportunities for vertical economic mobility in Soviet-type societies. However, downward mobility in the form of loss of livelihoods, housing, etc. here is limited due to the presence of social guarantees and the general leveling policy. Democratic societies with developed economic freedoms represent enrichment opportunities through entrepreneurial activity, however, impose on the individual the burden of risk and responsibility for decisions taken. Therefore, there is also a danger of downward mobility associated with the risks of economic fluctuations. It can be both individual losses and group downward mobility. For example, the 1998 default in Russia (as well as in the UK and a number of countries South-East Asia) led not only to the ruin of individual entrepreneurs, but also to a temporary decrease in the material level (downward mobility) of entire professional groups.

Society is developing at a fast pace these days. This leads to the emergence of new positions, a significant increase in the number of social movements, their speed and frequency.

What's happened

Sorokin Pitirim was the first to study such a concept as social mobility. Today, many researchers continue the work he started, since its relevance is very high.

Social mobility is expressed in the fact that the position of a person in the hierarchy of groups, in relation to the means of production, in the division of labor and in general in the system of production relations is significantly transformed. This change is associated with the loss or acquisition of property, the transition to new position education, mastery of a profession, marriage, etc.

People are in constant motion, and society is constantly evolving. This means the variability of its structure. The totality of all social movements, that is, changes in an individual or groups, is included in the concept of social mobility.

Examples in history

Since ancient times, this topic has been relevant and aroused interest. For example, the unexpected fall of a person or his rise is a favorite plot of many folk tales: a wise and cunning beggar becomes a rich man; the industrious Cinderella finds a rich prince and marries him, thereby increasing her prestige and status; the poor prince suddenly becomes king.

However, the movement of history is determined mainly not by individuals, not by their social mobility. Social groups - that's what is more important to her. The landed aristocracy, for example, was replaced at a certain stage by the financial bourgeoisie; people with low-skilled professions are being squeezed out of modern production by "white-collar workers" - programmers, engineers, operators. Revolutions and wars were redrawn to the top of the pyramid, raising some and lowering others. Such changes in Russian society took place, for example, in 1917, after the October Revolution.

Let us consider various grounds on which social mobility can be divided, and its corresponding types.

1. Social mobility intergenerational and intragenerational

Any movement of a person between or layers means his mobility down or up within the social structure. Note that this may concern both one generation and two or three. The change in the position of children in comparison with the positions of their parents is evidence of their mobility. On the contrary, social stability takes place when a certain position of generations is preserved.

Social mobility can be intergenerational (intergenerational) and intragenerational (intragenerational). In addition, there are 2 main types - horizontal and vertical. In turn, they break up into subtypes and subspecies, closely related to each other.

Intergenerational social mobility means an increase or, on the contrary, a decrease in the status in society of representatives of subsequent generations in relation to the status of the current one. That is, children reach a higher or lower position in society than their parents. For example, if a miner's son becomes an engineer, one can speak of intergenerational upward mobility. A downward trend is observed if the son of a professor works as a plumber.

Intragenerational mobility is a situation in which the same person, beyond comparison with his parents, changes his position in society several times throughout his life. This process is otherwise referred to as a social career. A turner, for example, can become an engineer, then a shop manager, then he can be promoted to a factory director, after which he can take the post of minister of the engineering industry.

2. Vertical and horizontal

Vertical mobility is the movement of an individual from one stratum (or caste, class, estate) to another.

Allocate, depending on what direction this movement has, upward mobility (upward movement, social ascent) and downward mobility (downward movement, social descent). For example, a promotion is an example of an ascending position, and a demolition or dismissal is an example of a descending one.

The concept of horizontal social mobility means that an individual moves from one social group to another, which is at the same level. Examples include moving from a Catholic to an Orthodox religious group, changing citizenship, moving from a family of origin to one's own, from one profession to another.

Geographic mobility

Geographic social mobility is a kind of horizontal. It does not mean a change in group or status, but a move to another place while maintaining the same social status. An example is interregional and international tourism, moving and back. Geographical social mobility in modern society is also a transition from one company to another while maintaining status (for example, an accountant).

Migration

We have not yet considered all the concepts related to the topic of interest to us. The theory of social mobility also highlights migration. We speak of it when a change of status is added to a change of place. For example, if a villager comes to the city to visit his relatives, then there is geographic mobility. However, if he moved here for permanent residence, started working in the city, then this is migration.

Factors affecting horizontal and vertical mobility

It should be noted that the nature of the horizontal and vertical social mobility of people is influenced by age, gender, mortality and birth rates, and population density. Men, and also young people in general, are more mobile than the elderly and women. In overpopulated states, emigration is higher than immigration. Places with a high birth rate have a younger population and are therefore more mobile. For young people, professional mobility is more characteristic, for the elderly - political, for adults - economic.

The birth rate is distributed unevenly across classes. As a rule, the lower classes have more children, while the upper classes have fewer. The higher a person climbs the social ladder, the fewer children are born to him. Even in the event that each son of a rich man takes the place of his father, in the social pyramid, on its upper steps, voids still form. They are filled with people from the lower classes.

3. Social mobility group and individual

There are also group and individual mobility. Individual - is the movement of a particular individual up, down or horizontally on the social ladder, regardless of other people. Group mobility - movement up, down or horizontally along the social ladder of a certain group of people. For example, the old class after the revolution is forced to give way to the new dominant positions.

Group and individual mobility are connected in a certain way with the achieved and ascribed statuses. At the same time, the achieved status corresponds to the individual to a greater extent, and the status assigned to the group corresponds.

Organized and structured

These are the basic concepts of the topic of interest to us. Considering the types of social mobility, sometimes organized mobility is also singled out, when the movement of an individual or groups down, up or horizontally is controlled by the state, both with the consent of the people, and without it. Organized voluntary mobility includes socialist organizational recruitment, calls for construction projects, etc. To involuntary - dispossession and resettlement of small peoples during the period of Stalinism.

Organized mobility should be distinguished from structural mobility, caused by changes in the very structure of the economy. It occurs outside of consciousness and will individual people. For example, the social mobility of a society is great when professions or industries disappear. In this case, large masses of people move, and not just individual individuals.

For clarity, let us consider the conditions for raising the status of a person in two subspaces - professional and political. Any ascent of a government official career ladder reflected as a change in rank in the state hierarchy. You can also increase political weight by increasing the rank in the party hierarchy. If the official belongs to the activists or functionals of the party that became ruling after the parliamentary elections, then he is much more likely to take a leading position in the municipal or state government. And, of course, the professional status of an individual will increase after he receives a diploma of higher education.

Mobility intensity

The theory of social mobility introduces such a concept as the intensity of mobility. This is the number of individuals who change their social positions in a horizontal or vertical direction over a certain period of time. The number of such individuals in is the absolute intensity of mobility, while their share in the total number of this community is relative. For example, if we count the number of people under 30 who are divorced, then there is an absolute intensity of mobility (horizontal) in this age category. However, if we consider the ratio of the number of divorced people under the age of 30 to the number of all individuals, this will already be relative mobility in the horizontal direction.

Social mobility can be vertical and horizontal.

At horizontal mobility, the social movement of individuals and social groups occurs in other, but equal in status social communities. These can be considered as moving from state structures to private ones, 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 demotion of workers from the "hegemon" in the USSR to the simple class in today's Russia and, conversely, the rise of speculators to 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 win a higher social status, and secondly, with a change in ideological guidelines, value systems and norms. , political priorities. In this case, there is an upward movement of those political forces that were able to catch changes in the mindsets, orientations and ideals of the population.

To quantify social mobility, indicators of its speed are used. Under speed social mobility refers to the vertical social distance and the number of strata (economic, professional, political, etc.) that individuals go through in their movement up or down in a certain period of time. For example, a young specialist after graduation can take the positions of a senior engineer or head of a department for several years, etc.

Intensity social mobility is characterized by the number of individuals who change social positions in a vertical or horizontal position for 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”, who made up the middle class of Soviet Russia, became “shuttle traders.

Aggregate index social mobility includes its speed and intensity. In this way one can compare one society with another in order to find out (1) in which of them or (2) in what period social mobility is higher or lower in all indicators. Such an index can be calculated separately for economic, professional, political and other social mobility. Social mobility is an important characteristic of the dynamic development of society. Those societies where the total index of social mobility is higher develop much more dynamically, especially if this index belongs to the ruling 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, for example, managers (managers) of large enterprises became such a group. On the basis of this fact in Western sociology, the concept of the "revolution of managers" (J. Bernheim) has developed. According to it, the administrative stratum begins to play a decisive role not only in the economy, but also in social life, supplementing and displacing the class of owners of the means of production (capitalists).

Social movements along the vertical are intensively going on during the restructuring of the economy. The emergence of new prestigious, highly paid professional groups contributes to mass movement up the ladder of social status. The fall of the social status of the profession, the disappearance of some of them provoke not only a downward movement, but also the emergence of marginal strata, losing their usual position in society, losing the achieved level of consumption. There is an erosion of values ​​and norms that previously united them and determined their stable place in the social hierarchy.

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

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

II. The concept of social mobility. Intragenerational and intergenerational mobility.

social mobility- this is a set of social movements of people within the framework of the stratification of society, that is, a change in their social position, status. People move up and down the social hierarchy, sometimes in groups, less often in entire strata and classes.

According to the fluctuation theory of Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (1889 - 1968), social mobility- this is the movement of individuals within the social space, which represents a certain universe, consisting of the population of the earth.

P. Sorokin distinguishes three forms of social stratification: economic, political and professional.

social stratification- this is the differentiation of a given set of people (population) into classes in a hierarchical rank. Its basis is the uneven distribution of rights and privileges, responsibilities and duties, power and influence. The totality of groups included in the social universe, as well as the totality of relations within each of them, constitute a system of social coordinates that makes it possible to determine the social position of any individual. Like geometric space, social space has several axes of measurement, the main ones being vertical and horizontal.

Horizontal mobility- the transition from one social group to another, located at the same level of stratification.

Vertical mobility- the transition from one stratum to another, located at different levels of the hierarchy. There are two types of such mobility: ascending- moving up the social ladder and descending- move down.

Main characteristics of social mobility

1. Social mobility is measured using two main indicators:

Mobility distance- this is the number of steps that individuals managed to climb or had to go down.

The normal distance is considered to be moving one or two steps up or down. Most social transitions happen this way.

Abnormal distance - an unexpected rise to the top of the social ladder or fall to its bottom.

Scope of mobility- this is the number of individuals who have moved up the social ladder in a vertical direction in a certain period of time. If the volume is calculated by the number of moved individuals, then it is called absolute and if the ratio of this number to the entire population, then relative and is indicated as a percentage. The total volume or scale of mobility, determines the number of movements over all strata together, and differentiated- by individual strata, layers, classes. For example, in an industrial society, 2/3 of the population is mobile - this fact refers to the total volume, and 37% of the children of workers who have become employees, to the differentiated volume.

The scale of social mobility is also defined as the percentage of those who have changed, in comparison with their fathers, their social status.

2. The change in mobility for individual layers is also described by two indicators:

The first one is to exit mobility coefficient from the social stratum. It shows, for example, how many sons of skilled workers became intellectuals or peasants.

Second entry mobility factor into the social stratum, it indicates from which strata this or that stratum is replenished. It reveals the social origin of people.

3. Mobility assessment criteria

When studying social mobility, sociologists pay attention to the following points:

Number and size of classes and status groups;

The amount of mobility of individuals and families from one group to another;

The degree of differentiation of social strata by types of behavior (lifestyle) and the level of class consciousness;

The type or amount of property owned by a person, occupation, as well as the values ​​that determine one or another status;

Distribution of power between classes and status groups.

Of the listed criteria, two are especially important: the amount (or amount) of mobility and the differentiation of status groups. They are used to distinguish one type of stratification from another.

4. Classification of social mobility

There are main and non-main types, types, forms of mobility.

Main species characterize all or most societies in any historical epoch. Of course, the intensity or volume of mobility is not the same everywhere. Non-main types of mobility are inherent in some types of society and are not inherent in others.

Social mobility can be classified according to different criteria. So, for example, one distinguishes individual mobility when moving down, up or horizontally occurs for each person independently of others, and group mobility, when movements occur collectively, for example, after a social revolution, the old class cedes dominant positions to the new class. Group mobility occurs where and when the social significance of an entire class, estate, caste, rank, or category rises or falls. Mobile individuals begin socialization in one class and end in another.

In addition to them, sometimes they distinguish organized mobility , when the movement of a person or entire groups up, down or horizontally is controlled by the state: a) with the consent of the people themselves, b) without their consent. Voluntary organized mobility should include the so-called socialist organization set, public appeals for Komsomol construction projects, etc. Involuntary organized mobility includes 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 of the national economy and occurs against the will and consciousness of individual individuals. For example, the disappearance or reduction of industries or professions leads to the displacement of large masses of people.

There are two main kind social mobility intergenerational and intragenerational and two main type- vertical and horizontal. They, in turn, fall into subspecies and subtypes that are closely related to each other.

Intergenerational and intragenerational mobility

Generation is a concept denoting different aspects of kinship and age structures historical development society. The theory of age stratification of society allows us to consider society as a set age groups and thus reflect age-related differences in abilities, roles, rights and privileges. Mobility practically does not occur in the demographic sphere: moving from one age to another does not belong to the phenomenon of intergenerational mobility.

Intergenerational mobility implies that children reach a higher social position or fall to a lower level than their parents. Intergenerational mobility is a change in the position of sons relative to their fathers. For example, the son of a plumber becomes president of a corporation, or vice versa. Intergenerational mobility is the most important form of social mobility. Its scale tells the extent to which, in a given society, inequality passes from one generation to the next.

If intergenerational mobility is low, then this means that inequality has taken root in this society, and a person’s chances to change his fate do not depend on himself, but are predetermined by birth. In the case of significant intergenerational mobility, people achieve a new status through their own efforts, regardless of the circumstances that accompanied their birth.

Intragenerational mobility takes place where the same individual, beyond comparison with the father, changes social positions several times throughout his life. Otherwise it is called social career. Example: a turner becomes an engineer, and then a shop manager, plant director, minister of the engineering industry.

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

II. Horizontal mobility.

Migration, emigration, immigration.

Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same level. An example is the movement 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. Horizontal mobility implies a change by a person during his life from one status to another, which are approximately equivalent.

A form of horizontal mobility is geographical 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 a city to a village and back, moving from one enterprise to another. If a change of status is added to a change of place, then geographic mobility becomes migration. If a villager comes to the city to visit relatives, then this is geographic mobility. If he moved to the city for permanent residence and found a job here, then this is migration. He changed his profession.

Migration are territorial movements. They are seasonal, i.e. depending on the season (tourism, treatment, study, agricultural work), and pendulum- regular movement from this point and return to it. Essentially, both types of migration are temporary and return. Migration is the movement of people within one country.

The concept of "social mobility" was introduced by P. Sorokin. social mobility means the movement of individuals and groups from one social strata, communities to others, which is associated with a change in the position of an individual or group in the system of social stratification, i.e. It's about changing social status.

Vertical mobility is a change in the position of an individual, which causes an increase or decrease in his social status, a transition to a higher or lower class position.

It distinguishes between ascending and descending branches (for example, career and lumpenization). In the developed countries of the world, the ascending branch of vertical mobility exceeds the descending one by 20%. However, most people, starting their careers at the same level as their parents, only slightly move forward (most often, by 1-2 steps).

a) Upward intergenerational mobility.

Intergenerational (intergenerational) mobility implies that children occupy a different position in relation to the position of their parents.

For example, parents are peasants, and the son is an academician; the father is a factory worker, and the son is a bank manager. In both the first and second cases, it is understood that children, compared with their parents, have more high level income, social prestige, education and power.

b) Downward group mobility.

Group mobility is a change in the social position of an entire class, estate, caste, group. As a rule, with group mobility, movements occur due to some objective reasons, and at the same time there is a radical breakdown of the entire way of life and a change in the very system of stratification.

For example, the change in the position of the nobility and the bourgeoisie in Russia as a result of the 1917 revolution. As a result of various kinds of repressions (from the forced seizure of property, up to physical destruction), the hereditary aristocracy and the bourgeoisie lost their leading positions.

c) Group geographic.

Horizontal mobility implies the transition of an individual from one social group to another, located at the same level (for example, changing jobs while maintaining the same wages level of power and prestige).

Geographical mobility not associated with a change in status or group is a type of horizontal mobility. For example, group tourism. Tourist trips of Russian citizens, for example, to Europe in order to get acquainted with historical and cultural sights.

If a change of status is added to a change of place, as in the example discussed above, then geographic mobility becomes migration.

Migration may be voluntary. For example, the mass migration of villagers to the city, or the mass exodus of Jews under the leadership of Moses from Egypt in search of the promised land, described in the Bible.

Migration can also be forced. For example, the resettlement of the diaspora of the Volga Germans during the reign of I.V. Stalin to the territory of Kazakhstan.