A process by which individuals or groups move from one status to another or from one class to another. It is the movement of people from one position to another in the social stratification system.
Types of Social Mobility
Vertical Social Mobility
Horizontal Social Mobility
Upward Social Mobility
The increase or upward shift in social class. It is not only limited to becoming wealthy and popular, but also includes earning a college degree, getting a job promotion, or marrying someone with a good income.
Downward Social Mobility
The lowering of one's social class, due to business setbacks, unemployment, illness, or dropping out of school.
Horizontal Social Mobility
A movement within a social class or social position where an individual slightly improves and/or declines in their social position within their class level, without shifting into a higher or lower stratum.
Horizontal Social Mobility
An accountant studying and becoming a lawyer
Marriage between members of the same social class
Factors that affectsocialmobility
Sex and gender
Intellectual factors or mental ability and creativity
Non-intellectual factors such as ambition, drive, enthusiasm, perseverance, and "connections"
Fortune or sheer luck
Physical appearance
Education and specialized skills
Status of parents
Marriage
Changing labor markets (e.g., industrialization)
Geographical mobility (e.g., from rural to urban)
High or low fertility
Government interventions (e.g., providing more jobs, assistance, and incentives to business and labor, favorable legislations to labor)
