Social Class and Mobility
If I were a
sociologist I would define social class and mobility as the vertical or
horizontal movement of social class by individual or group of people. When
people incline or decline an economic status in such a way that it affects
their social class, they experience social mobility. There could be various
reasons for upward or downward social mobility. Upward mobility means when a
person moves from a lower class to upper class like we have so many examples of
celebrities whom parents belong to lower or middle class but they move to an
upper class, for example, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, etc.
They all got an appreciation for rising from humble beginnings to fame and
fortune. On the other hand downward mobility means if a person moves from upper
class to lower class. The reason for this class mobility could be unemployment,
business setback, illness or any fraud, etc.
There could
be chances that the same family members or different generations of the same
family can belong to different social classes. This is known as Inter-generation
mobility. A company CEO could have parents who were raised in the lower or
middle class, or siblings enjoy different wealth or prestige from one another.
This mobility basically defines an effect on social class and mobility of an
individual. While if a whole group or bunch of people move up or down the
social class ladder that is known as Structural mobility. Upward structural
mobility occurs when the economy flourishes, employment rates increase which
raises the standard of living on a national level. On contrary if there is a
recession in the economy the rate of unemployment and downsizing increases it
will result in downward structural mobility.
But this
social class created an economic inequality among people, within a society and
even between different countries. Economic inequality can simply be defined as
a gap between rich and poor. The reasons for inequality within the society are
racism, culture, gender, globalization, inequality in wages and salaries, etc.
While the reason for inequality among different economies is the determination
of wages by the capitalist market. If the demand for a job is high but the
supply (of skilled labor) is low, the wages will be high and vice versa. In the
late 18th and 19th centuries, the social class difference was easily accepted
by the people as it seems natural and justified to them because of the ideology
of social order. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this perception
was changed by the US and British novelists.
To sum it
up, as a sociologist I will conclude by saying that no doubt mobility in social
class is a good sign especially if the mobility is structural because that will
show that the economy of the country is flourishing in the right direction. But
individuals and governments should make sure that there is lesser economic
inequality among people, society, and even countries to make this world a
better place to live.
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