Social mobility chart. The essence and examples of vertical social mobility and horizontal

The essence of social mobility

We have already noted the complexity and multi-level nature of the social system. The theory of social stratification (see the previous section “Social stratification”) is designed to describe the ranking structure of society, its main features and patterns of existence and development, and the socially significant functions it performs. However, it is obvious that, having once received a status, a person does not always remain the bearer of this status throughout his life. For example, the status of a child, sooner or later, is lost, and is replaced by a whole set of statuses associated with the adult state.
Society is in constant motion and development. The social structure is changing, people are changing, fulfilling certain social roles and occupying certain status positions. Accordingly, individuals as the main elements of the social structure of society are in constant motion. To describe this movement of an individual through the social structure of society, there is a theory of social mobility. Its author is Pitirim Sorokin, who in 1927 introduced the concept into sociological science social mobility.

In the most general sense, under social mobility is understood as a change in the status of an individual or a social group, as a result of which he (she) changes his position in the social structure, acquires new role sets, and changes his characteristics on the main scales of stratification. P. Sorokin himself determined social mobility as any transition of an individual or a social object (value), that is, everything that is created or modified by human activity, from one social position to another.

In the process of social mobility, there is a constant redistribution of individuals within the social structure in accordance with the principles of social differentiation existing in this system. That is, one or another social subsystem always has a fixed or traditional set of requirements that are presented to those wishing to become actors in this subsystem. Accordingly, ideally, those who best meet these requirements will succeed most.

For example, studying at a university requires young people and girls to master the curriculum, and the main criterion is the effectiveness of this mastery, which is checked during test and examination sessions. Anyone who does not meet the minimum level of knowledge requirements loses the opportunity to continue learning. Those who master the material more successfully than others increase their chances of effectively using the education they receive (admission to graduate school, involvement in scientific activities, high-paying work in their specialty). Conscientious fulfillment of one's social role contributes to a change for the better in one's social situation. Thus, the social system stimulates the types of individual and collective activities it desires.

Typology of social mobility

Within the framework of modern sociology, several types and types of social mobility are distinguished, which are designed to make it possible to fully describe the entire gamut of social movements. First of all, there are two types of social mobility - horizontal mobility and vertical mobility.
Horizontal mobility - this is a transition from one social position to another, but located at the same social level. For example, a change of place of residence, a change of religion (in religiously tolerant social systems).

Vertical mobility - this is a transition from one social position to another with a change in the level of social stratification. That is, with vertical mobility, social status improves or deteriorates. In this regard, two subtypes of vertical mobility are distinguished:
a) upward mobility- moving up the stratification ladder of the social system, that is, improving one’s status (for example, receiving another rank in the military, moving a student to a senior year or receiving a diploma from a university);
b) downward mobility- moving down the stratification ladder of the social system, that is, deterioration of one’s status (for example, a salary cut, entailing a change of stratum, expulsion from a university for poor academic performance, which entails a significant narrowing of opportunities for further social growth).

Vertical mobility can be individual or group.

Individual mobility occurs when an individual member of society changes his social position. He leaves his old status niche or stratum and moves into a new state. To factors individual mobility Sociologists include social origin, level of education, physical and mental abilities, external data, place of residence, advantageous marriage, specific actions, which can often negate the effect of all previous factors (for example, a criminal offense, a heroic deed).

Group mobility It is especially often observed in conditions of changes in the very system of stratification of a given society, when the social significance of large social groups changes.

You can also highlight organized mobility, when the movement of an individual or entire groups up, down, or horizontally in the social structure is sanctioned by the state or is a deliberate government policy. Moreover, this kind of action can be carried out both with the consent of people (voluntary recruitment of construction teams) and without it (reduction of rights and freedoms, resettlement of ethnic groups).

In addition, it is of great importance structural mobility. It is caused by structural changes in the entire social system. For example, industrialization led to a significant increase in the need for cheap labor, which, in turn, led to a significant restructuring of the entire social structure, which made it possible to recruit this same labor force. Reasons that can cause structural mobility include a change in economic structure, social revolutions, a change in government or political regime, foreign occupation, invasions, interstate and civil military conflicts.

Finally, in sociology they distinguish intragenerational (intrageneration) And intergenerational (intergenerational) social mobility. Intragenerational mobility describes changes in status distribution within a certain age group, “generation,” which makes it possible to track the overall dynamics of the inclusion or distribution of a given group in the social system. For example, information about what part of modern Ukrainian youth is studying or has been trained at universities, and what part would like to undergo training can be very important. Such information allows monitoring of many current social processes. Knowing the general features of social mobility in a given generation, one can objectively assess the social development of a particular individual or small group included in this generation. The path of social development that an individual goes through during his life is called social career.

Intergenerational mobility characterizes changes in social distribution in groups of different generations. Such an analysis makes it possible to monitor long-term social processes and establish patterns of social career implementation in various social groups and communities. For example, which social strata are most or least susceptible to upward or downward mobility? An objective answer to such a question makes it possible to reveal methods of social stimulation in individual social groups, features of the social environment that determine the desire (or lack thereof) for social growth.

Social mobility channels

How does it happen within the framework of the stable social structure of society? social mobility, that is, the movement of individuals through this very social structure? It is obvious that such movement within the framework of a complexly organized system cannot occur spontaneously, unorganized, or chaotically. Unorganized, spontaneous movements are possible only during periods of social instability, when the social structure is shaken, loses stability, and collapses. In a stable social structure, significant movements of individuals occur in strict accordance with a developed system of rules for such movements (stratification system). To change his status, an individual most often must not only have the desire to do so, but also receive approval from the social environment. Only in this case is a real change in status possible, which will mean a change in the individual’s position within the social structure of society. So, if a boy or girl decides to become students of a certain university (acquire student status), then their desire will be only the first step towards the status of a student of this university. Obviously, in addition to personal aspiration, it is also important that the applicant meets the requirements that apply to everyone who has expressed a desire to undergo training in this specialty. Only after confirmation of such compliance (for example, during entrance exams) does the applicant achieve the assignment of the desired status - the applicant becomes a student.
In modern society, the social structure of which is very complex and institutionalized, most social movements are associated with certain social institutions. That is, most statuses exist and have meaning only within the framework of specific social institutions. The status of a student or teacher cannot exist in isolation from the institution of education; statuses of a doctor or a patient - in isolation from the health care institute; Candidate or Doctor of Science statuses are outside the Institute of Science. This gives rise to the idea of ​​social institutions as unique social spaces within which most changes in status occur. Such spaces are called channels of social mobility.
In a strict sense, under channel of social mobility understands such social structures, mechanisms, methods that can be used to implement social mobility. As mentioned above, in modern society, social institutions most often act as such channels. Of primary importance are political authorities, political parties, public organizations, economic structures, professional labor organizations and unions, the army, the church, the education system, and family and clan ties. Organized crime structures, which have their own system of mobility, but often have a strong influence on the “official” channels of mobility (for example, corruption), are also of great importance today.

Taken together, the channels of social mobility act as an integral system, complementing, limiting, and stabilizing each other’s activities. As a result, we can talk about a universal system of institutional and legal procedures for the movement of individuals along a stratification structure, which is a complex mechanism of social selection. In the case of any attempt by an individual to improve his social position, that is, to increase his social status, he will be, to one degree or another, “tested” for compliance with the requirements for a bearer of this status. Such a “test” can be formal (exam, testing), semi-formal (probation period, interview) and informal (the decision is made solely due to the personal inclinations of the test takers, but based on their ideas about the desired qualities of the test subject) procedures.
For example, to enter a university you must pass entrance exams. But in order to be accepted into a new family, you need to go through a long process of getting to know the existing rules and traditions, confirm your loyalty to them, and gain the approval of the leading members of this family. It is obvious that in each specific case there is both a formal need to meet certain requirements (level of knowledge, special training, physical data), and a subjective assessment of the individual’s efforts on the part of the examiners. Depending on the situation, either the first or the second component is more important.

Social mobility can be vertical and horizontal.

At horizontal mobility social movement of individuals and social groups occurs in other, but equal in status social communities. These can be considered moving from government to private structures, 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 reduction 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 achieve a higher social status, and secondly, with a change in ideological guidelines, systems of values ​​and norms , political priorities. In this case, there is a movement to the top of those political forces that were able to perceive changes in the mentality, orientations and ideals of the population.

To quantitatively characterize social mobility, indicators of its speed are used. Under speed social mobility refers to vertical social distance and the number of strata (economic, professional, political, etc.) that individuals pass through in their upward or downward movement over a certain period of time. For example, after graduating from college, a young specialist can take the position of senior engineer or head of department, etc., within several years.

Intensity social mobility is characterized by the number of individuals changing social positions in a vertical or horizontal position over 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 society can be compared with another to find out (1) in which one or (2) in which period social mobility is higher or lower in all respects. Such an index can be calculated separately for economic, professional, political and other social mobility. Social mobility is an important characteristic of the dynamism of society. Those societies where the aggregate index of social mobility is higher develop much more dynamically, especially if this index relates to the governing 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, managers of large enterprises, for example, became such a group. Based on this fact, Western sociology developed the concept of a “revolution of managers” (J. Bernheim). According to it, the administrative stratum begins to play a decisive role not only in the economy, but also in social life, complementing and displacing the class of owners of the means of production (captains).

Vertical social movements are intensive during times of structural restructuring of the economy. The emergence of new prestigious, highly paid professional groups contributes to mass movement up the ladder of social status. The decline in the social status of the profession, the disappearance of some of them provokes not only a downward movement, but also the emergence of marginal layers that lose their usual position in society and lose the achieved level of consumption. There is an erosion of the values ​​and norms that previously united them and determined their stable place in the social hierarchy.

Marginalized - These are social groups that have lost their previous social status, are deprived of the opportunity to engage in their usual activities, and have found themselves unable to adapt to the new sociocultural (value and normative) environment. Their old values ​​and norms were not supplanted by new norms and values. The efforts of marginalized people 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 and are capable of unpredictable actions. A typical leader of the marginalized in post-Soviet Russia is V. Zhirinovsky.

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

Start developing problems social mobility was laid down by P. A. Sorokin in the book “Social Stratification and Mobility” (1927). The term gained recognition first in American and then in world sociology.

Under social mobility, understand the transition of an individual (group) from one social position to another. There are two main types of social mobility.

• 1. Horizontal mobility associated with the transition of an individual from one social group to another located at the same level. At the same time, the secondary indicators of the individual’s status position (prestige, income, education, power) change and remain unchanged. This is the nature of moving to live from one locality to another of the same rank, changing religion or citizenship, moving from one family to another (during divorce or remarriage), from one enterprise to another, etc. In all these cases, there are no noticeable changes in the social position of the individual in the vertical direction.
• 2. Vertical mobility presupposes a situation that develops as a result of the movement of an individual (group) from one level of the social hierarchy to another. Vertical mobility can be rising And descending.

Depending on the factors that caused social movements of citizens, there are organized And structural mobility.

Organized mobility is due to the fact that changes in the social status of individuals and entire groups of people are directed by the state and various public institutions (parties, churches, trade unions, etc.). Such activities could be:

voluntary, in the case when it is carried out with the consent of citizens (for example, the practice of sending students to study at higher and secondary specialized educational institutions);

forced, if carried out under the influence of any circumstances independent of us (moving from places where there is no work to where it is available; moving from places where a natural disaster occurred, a man-made disaster);

forced, if this is related to the sending of citizens by court decision to places of deprivation of liberty.

Structural mobility is determined by changes caused by social transformations (nationalization, industrialization, privatization, etc.) and even a change in types of social organization (revolution). The result of this kind of change is:

• a) mass movement of people and entire social groups;
• b) changing the principles of social stratification;
• c) reorientation of the directions along which the social movement of people occurs over a long historical period.

Vivid examples illustrating the nature of this kind of processes are the French Revolution of 1789 and the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. Their result was not only the seizure of power by certain political forces, but also a change in the very type of social structure, the entire social structure of society.

The balance between horizontal and vertical mobility can be quite complex. For example, when moving to live from a village to a city, from a small town to a big one, from a province to the capital, an individual raises his social status, but at the same time, due to some other parameters, he can lower it: lower income level, housing insecurity , lack of demand for the previous profession and qualifications, etc.

In the event that territorial movements are combined with a change of status, we are talking about migration(from Latin migration - movement). Migration can be external(between different countries) and internal(between regions of the same country). There are also emigration, i.e. travel of citizens outside the country, and immigration, i.e. entry of foreigners into the country. Both types involve the movement of citizens for long periods or even permanently. There are various forms of migration: economic, political, migration of victims of war and natural disasters, etc.

Mass migrations also took place in the past (the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus', the Crusades, the colonization of the New World, etc.). However, only at the end of the 19th century, when migration flows became stable, were the main directions of movement identified. In addition, the following was established:

• 1. Migration occurs from south to north and from east to west.
• 2. Millions of migrants seek to leave countries and territories plunged into war, ethnic and religious conflicts, natural disasters (droughts, floods, earthquakes, etc.).
• 3. The final destinations of migration are Western countries with stable economies and developed democracies (North America, Western Europe, Australia).

Russia in the 20th century experienced three waves of emigration.

At the same time, Russia itself has become a place where, according to various sources, from 5 to 15 million illegal immigrants live, of which more than one and a half million are Chinese citizens.

Processes of social mobility (mobility) are present in any society. Another thing is that its scale and distance can be different. Both upward and downward mobility are close and long-distance in equal measure.

The more open a particular society is, the more people have the opportunity to move up the social ladder, making, in particular, an upward movement up to the highest positions. One of the important moments of American social mythology is the idea of ​​the so-called equal opportunity societies, where anyone can become a millionaire or president of the United States. The example of Bill Gates, the creator and head of Microsoft, suggests that this myth has a basis in reality.

The closed nature of traditional society (caste, class) limits people's prospects, reducing long-distance mobility to almost zero. Social mobility here serves the purpose of reproducing the dominant model of stratification. Thus, in India, movements are traditionally limited by the caste to which the individual belongs, and mobility has strictly defined parameters (in a totalitarian society, an ideological aspect is also added).

Most models of social order, past and present, equally exhibit characteristics of openness and closedness. For example, the class division of Russian society in the 18th – early 20th centuries was combined with the Law on the Order of Civil Service (1722), signed by Peter I, better known as the “Table of Ranks”. They legitimized the very possibility of a person acquiring a higher status based on personal merit. Thanks to this law, the Russian state received hundreds and thousands of gifted administrators, statesmen, generals, etc.

In addition to upward and downward mobility, intergenerational and intragenerational mobility are distinguished.

Intergenerational mobility indicates the relationship between the positions achieved by children and the positions occupied by their parents. By comparing indicators that characterize the social status of different generations (fathers and sons, mothers and daughters), sociology gets an idea of ​​the nature and direction of changes in society.

Intragenerational mobility characterizes the ratio of positions occupied by the same individual at different moments of his life, during which he can repeatedly acquire or lose certain statuses, occupying a more privileged position in some, losing it in others, making ascents or descents.

Factors of social mobility. Vertical mobility in society is possible thanks to the availability of special channels of social mobility. P. A. Sorokin, who first described their action, speaks of them as “certain “membranes”, “holes”, “stairs”, “elevators” or “paths” along which individuals are allowed to move up or down from one layer to another". All these formulations are rooted in the sociological literature and are used to explain what factors due to which some individuals and entire groups rise up, while others at the same time fall down.

Channels of mobility traditionally include institutions of education, property, marriage, the army, etc. Thus, obtaining an education gives an individual the knowledge and qualifications that allow him to apply for a professional activity or to occupy a corresponding position. A profitable investment in the purchase of a land plot can, over time, lead to a significant increase in its value or the discovery of some valuable natural resource on it (oil, gas, etc.), which will give its owner the status of a wealthy person.

As P. A. Sorokin notes, mobility channels also act as a “sieve”, “filters” through which society “tests and sifts, selects and distributes its individuals into various social strata and positions.” With their help, the process is ensured social selection(selection), limiting access to the upper floors of the hierarchy in various ways. The latter is related to the interests of those who have already achieved a privileged position, i.e. upper class. Western sociologists argue that “existing classification systems do not define this group at all.” Meanwhile, it exists and has its own characteristics:

• 1) inherited wealth, transmitted and increased from generation to generation. This feature unites the owners of “old” money, the legitimacy of which no one doubts. The basis of capital, as a rule, is family business;
• 2) similar educational experience and level of culture. Thus, in the UK, 73% of directors of large companies, 83% of heads of financial institutions and 80% of judges attended charter schools, although only 8.2% of British schoolchildren study in them;
• 3) maintaining personal contacts established since study, which extend to the sphere of business relations, business and politics, and public service;
• 4) a high percentage of marriages within the class, as they say homogamy(from the Greek homos - equal and gamos - marriage), as a result of which the internal cohesion of the group increases.

These characteristics characterize the permanent component of this group, called establishment(English, establishment - ruling elite). At the same time, there is a layer of people who have penetrated the upper class by making their own careers. Of course, the upper class needs to be replenished with fresh forces, those who, thanks to their own efforts, are able to climb the social ladder. The idea of ​​updating and replenishing the upper class with the most capable people who have confirmed their merits was substantiated in the works of the Italian sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). His approach, called meritocratic(from Latin meritus - worthy and Greek kratos - power), is that if the elite of society does not co-opt the most worthy representatives of the lower classes into its composition, then it will inevitably fail. In modern interpretations, for example by the American scientist Daniel Bell, the upper class also includes groups of professionals with higher education who use their specialized knowledge as a means of asserting their own power status.

In sociology, when describing the forms of social hierarchy, they often resort to geometric images. Thus, P. A. Sorokin presented a model of the stratification of society, created according to economic parameters, in the form of a cone, each of the levels of which fixes a certain position of wealth and income. In his opinion, in different periods the shape of the cone can change, either becoming excessively sharp when social stratification and inequality in society grows, or, on the contrary, becoming more squat, up to turning into a flat trapezoid during equalizing communist experiments. Both the first and second are dangerous, threatening a social explosion and collapse in one case and complete stagnation of society in the other.

The representative of American functionalism B. Barber believes that depending on the greater or lesser degree of hierarchy in society, i.e. more or less sharply pointed towards the top, the stratification of society can be depicted in the form of a pyramid and a rhombus. These figures show that there is always a minority in society, i.e. the highest class, with ranks closer to the top. With a pyramidal structure, there is a very small middle class layer, and the majority is the lower class. The diamond-shaped structure is characterized by the predominance of the middle class, which gives balance to the entire system, while the minority is represented in the upper and lower acute corners of the diamond.

TO middle class, as a rule, include those who have economic independence, i.e. has his own business (small enterprise, workshop, gas station, etc.); they are most often characterized as old middle class. There is an upper layer of the middle class, which consists of managers and professionals (doctors, college teachers, highly qualified lawyers, etc.), as well as a lower layer (office and sales employees, nurses and many others). The middle class is extremely heterogeneous in its position. Located in the hierarchy system between the “tops” and the social “bottoms,” it also turns out to be the most mobile. In modern society, the middle class, on the one hand, feeds the elite with talented and enterprising people, and on the other, ensures the stability of basic social structures.

Lower class, in Marxist terminology, – working class, consisting of people engaged in manual labor. It is as deeply structured as all other components of the social hierarchy.

The difference between highly skilled workers and representatives of the so-called underclass(English: underclass - lower class) is very large in all main indicators (income, professional preparedness, education, etc.). Representatives of the latter have poor working conditions, their standard of living is significantly lower than that of the majority of the population. Many of them remain unemployed for a long time or periodically lose it. The formation of the underclass is carried out mainly at the expense of ethnic minorities and various kinds of marginal elements. For example, in Great Britain they are dominated by blacks and people of color from former British colonies, in France they are people from North Africa, and in Germany they are Turks and Kurds.

In recent years, Western governments have sought to more actively filter the migration flows flowing into these countries and potentially multiplying the size of the underclass. Thus, in Canada, legal requirements for immigrants require that they have professional education, qualifications and work experience in their specialty. Satisfying these requirements in practice means that immigrants will be able to more successfully fit into the existing system of stratification of society.

Social mobility is the process of movement of individuals between hierarchically organized elements of the social structure.

PSorokin defines social mobility as any transition of an individual or a social object, that is, everything that is created or modified by human activity, from one social position to another.

There are two main types of social mobility: horizontal and vertical.

Horizontal mobility

Horizontal social mobility, or movement, is understood as the transition of an individual or social object from one social group to another at the same level.

The movement of an individual from a Baptist to a Methodist religious group, from one nationality to another, from one family (both male and female) to another on divorce or remarriage, from one factory to another, while maintaining his professional status - all these are examples of horizontal social mobility. The same examples are the movement of social objects (radio, car, fashion, Darwinian theory) within one social layer, similar to movement from. Iowa before. California, in all these cases, "movement" can occur without any noticeable changes in the social status of the individual or social object in the vertical direction.

Vertical mobility

Vertical social mobility is understood as those relationships that arise when an individual or social object moves from one social layer to another, depending on the direction of movement; there are two types of vertical mobility: upward and downward, i.e. social ascent and social descent. According to the nature of stratification, there are downward and upward currents of economic, political and professional mobility, not to mention other less important types. Ascending currents exist in two main forms: the penetration of an individual from a lower layer into an existing higher layer or the creation by such individuals of a new group and the penetration of the entire group into a higher layer to the level with already existing groups of this layer. Accordingly, downward currents also have two forms: the first consists in the fall of an individual from a higher social position to a lower one, without disturbing the original group to which he previously belonged; another form manifests itself in the degradation of the social group as a whole, in a decrease in its r. Angu against the background of other groups or in violation of its social unity.

In sociology, it is mainly vertical social mobility that is subject to scientific analysis.

Principles of social mobility

PSorokin defined a number of principles of vertical mobility.

1. It is unlikely that societies have ever existed whose social strata were absolutely closed or in which there was no vertical mobility in its three main aspects - economic, political, professional.

2. There has never existed a society in which vertical social mobility would be absolutely free, and the transition from one social stratum to another would be carried out without any resistance; if mobility were absolutely free, then in the society that arose there would be no social strata .

3. The intensity and universality of vertical social mobility varies from society to society, i.e. in space. To see this, it is enough to compare Indian caste society and modern American one. If we take the highest levels in the political, economic and professional pyramids in both societies, it will be clear that they are all in. India is determined by the fact of birth and there are only a few individuals who have achieved high position, rising from the lowest strata. Meanwhile in. USA among famous people in industry and finance, 38.8% in the past and 19.6% in the current generation started out poor; 31.5% of multi-millionaires started their careers with average income.

4. The intensity and comprehensiveness of vertical mobility - economic, political and professional - fluctuates within the same society at different periods of its history. In the history of any country or social group, there are periods when vertical mobility increases both quantitatively and qualitatively, but there are periods when it decreases.

5. In vertical mobility in its three main forms there is no constant direction either in the direction of intensification or in the direction of weakening in intensity and comprehensiveness. This assumption is valid for the history of any species, for the history of large social organisms and, finally, for the entire history of mankind.

The work was also devoted to the analysis of social mobility. T. Lassuela “Class and Execution”, where he noted that virtually all the materials on social mobility that were published in. SELA is a material about upward mobility. Since part of the American character is the desire to rise above parents and peers, upward social mobility is more often the place for the masses.”

TERMS AND CONCEPTS

1 . Social stratification- division of society into social groups and layers in accordance with their material and political status, cultural level, qualifications, privileges, etc.

2 . Social mobility- the transition of a person from one social position to another “vertically” and “horizontally”.

3 . Vertical mobility- the transition of an individual from a lower hierarchical level to a higher one.

4 . Horizontal mobility- moving from one group to another, takes the same hierarchical position.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the social structure of society, its main elements?

2. On what basis are social communities formed??

3. What is meant by the socio-territorial structure of society?

4. How do American sociologists explain the naturalness and eternity of the existence of inequality? Davis and. Moore??

5. What is the essence of social mobility?

LITERATURE

1. Gerasimchuk AA,. Timoshenko 31. Course of lectures on philosophy-K, 2000., 2000.

2. Con. IS. Sociology of Personality-M, 1967 1967.

3. Sorokin. P. Man. Civilization. Society-M, 1992, 1992.

4. Sociology. Textbook for higher educational institutions (GVOsipov, ABKabyshcha, etc.) -. M:. Science, 1995science, 1995.

5. Sociology. The science of society. Textbook for students of higher educational institutions /. Ed. VPAndrushchenko-Kharkov, 1996c, 1996.

6. Yakuba. OO. Sociology-Kharkov, 1996-1996.

7 Thomas. E Lasswell Class and Stratum-Boston, 19651965.

Vertical social mobility is a change by a subject (individual or group) of its social status, which results in an increase in the level of income, education, prestige and power. We talked about social mobility in more detail in the course “Social studies: Unified State Exam for 100 points” .

Examples of vertical social mobility

There have always been people in society who quickly made careers or became multimillionaires. How did they do it? Is vertical social mobility only related to income?

Here is a kind of hit parade of such people.

Natalya Kasperskaya – born in 1966, co-founder of the Kaspersky Lab campaign.

Natalya began her life's journey like all Soviet children: by entering college. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In 1993 she became a software salesperson. Then - a manager in the same company. Then she put pressure on her husband, Evgeniy Kaspersky, to open his own company, Kaspersky Lab.

She became its co-founder. However, its share was not specified in the company's charter documents. As a result, in 2011, she divorced her husband and resigned as chairman of the board of directors of Kaspersky Lab. Natalya devoted all her time to her company InfoWatch. The company today is a leader in corporate information security.

Well, for example, you don’t like the fact that your employees use their own mail during working hours, and not the corporate one. Who knows, maybe they are leaking information to a competitor? This is where you will need InfoWatch services to ensure the information security of your company.

Thus, Natalya Kasperskayacmade dizzying vertical social mobility in all four parameters: income (net worth $230 million), power (runs his own company), prestige (recognized world-class expert in the field of information security), education (higher degree in mathematics, bachelor's degree in business ).

Pavel Durov – founder of the social network “Vkontakte”

Probably every young programmer wants to change the world beyond recognition - to hack normality. Pavel Durov succeeded! By the way, read it.

Pavel was born on October 10, 1984 in Leningrad in the family of a doctor of philological sciences. From the age of 11 I was interested in programming. That is, his father could afford to give his son a computer to use.

After school, Pavel began studying at the Faculty of Philology, while simultaneously studying at the Military Faculty, specializing in Psychological Warfare. At the same time he studied at the military department. During his studies, Pavel became a recipient of the Presidential and Potanin scholarships several times.

During the course of his studies, he created several projects to make life easier for students: a project on essays, etc. One day, an acquaintance of his came from an internship in the USA and told Pasha about Facebook.

The idea was reworked for Russian realities and in 2006 the Student.ru website was launched in test mode, which was then renamed Vkontakte. In 2007, 2 million people already visited the new social network. Offers immediately poured in to buy Durov’s project. But all proposals were rejected. Only in 2008 Pavel began to monetize the resource. Then there were already 20 million users.

Soon, Pavel Durov's personal fortune was estimated by Forbes magazine at 7.9 billion rubles (approx. $263 million). In 2012, pressure began from the authorities on the social network Vkontakte because of the Navalny case. As a result, the founder of the social network sold his share of shares (12%) to his friend, and the multimillionaire Pavel Durov himself left for the USA. They say he has now returned and lives in Russia.

Although unlikely. Now Pavel is developing his new Telegram project, where you can exchange messages and files [attention!] up to 1 gigabyte absolutely free. Moreover, the messages are encrypted and, according to Durov, no one can decipher them, not even the developers themselves. By the way, in 2015 it became known that this service may be used by terrorists. In response to such attacks against his project, Pavel said that terrorists will find somewhere to communicate.

Thus, Pavel Durov made stunning vertical social mobility in all respects at once: income (increased billions of times), prestige (a cult figure in RuNet and not only), power (power over the accounts of 70 million users), education (St. Petersburg State University graduated with honors diploma, I still haven’t received my diploma from the university).

There are now many opinions on the Internet about whether Durov stole the idea of ​​Facebook or not. Personally, my position is that of course there are similar elements in navigation. But personally, I spend most of my time on VKontakte. Facebook is complicated, incomprehensible, and the constant emails in my inbox are killing me (“Hey, you have a new message,” “Hey, we miss you,” “You have a new notification”). It pisses me off. What about you?

Tatyana Bakalchuk is an example of vertical social mobility

Tatyana was an ordinary English teacher. In 2004, in connection with the birth of a child, she realized that there was simply not enough money to live on. She came up with the idea of ​​reselling German clothes at a premium. At first, she and her husband simply ordered clothes from German Otto and Quelle catalogs, and then resold them at a premium. At first they were acquaintances.

In Soviet language, Tatyana became a speculator. But today, wherever there is a plus, there are only speculators. Therefore, we will call Tatyana not a speculator, but a completely original bisneswoomen. Then, apparently, she persuaded her husband to invest in creating her own small online store of German clothing.

Today her Wildberries store has revenue of 7 billion rubles. Forbes magazine estimates Tatiana's fortune at approximately $330 million.

Thus, Tatyana Bakalchuk, in terms of the nature and speed of social mobility, is on par with Pavel Durov: she has a higher education (English teacher), has extremely high capital by Russian standards, has power over her own brand and an online clothing store, where millions buy things visitors, of course has high prestige, as it is included in the magazine’s listsForbes.

To be continued... so you don't miss the sequel!