What is an example of horizontal social mobility increase. What is social mobility: examples, factors

Social inequality and the resulting social stratification 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 of 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 - it is the movement of an individual from one social level to 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 activities, 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, etc.

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 the 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 mandate patronage of subordinates in exchange for their loyalty and support.

social mobility tends to fluctuate. Its intensity varies from society to society, and relatively dynamic and stable periods are noted within the same society. So, 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 changes in social status (both up and down) 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, in the presence of real opportunities social mobility, open access to such elevators as education, 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 ensuring the transfer of special skills professional excellence. 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 various forms and, as a rule, is 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 individual individuals change their economic position regardless of the position of the group or society as a whole. Here the most important social "elevators" are both the creation economic organizations, i.e. entrepreneurial activity, professional development, 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 that were considered economically wealthy in the Soviet period - 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. Whole line other groups, on the contrary, increased their material well-being without actual changes in 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. is limited due to the presence social guarantees and general equalization policy. Democratic societies with developed economic freedoms present opportunities for enrichment through entrepreneurial activity However, they impose on the individual the burden of risk and responsibility for the decisions made. 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 Great Britain and a number of countries in Southeast 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.

Social mobility is a change by an individual or group of their social position in social space. The concept was introduced into scientific circulation by P. Sorokin in 1927. He singled out two main types of mobility: horizontal and vertical.

Vertical mobility implies a set of social movements, which is accompanied by an increase or decrease in the social status of an individual. Depending on the direction of movement, there are upward vertical mobility(social uplift) and downward mobility(social decline).

Horizontal mobility- this is the transition of an individual from one social position to another, which is at the same level. An example is the movement from one citizenship to another, from one profession to another, which has a similar status in society. To varieties horizontal mobility often referred to as mobility geographical, which implies moving from one place to another while maintaining the existing status (moving to another place of residence, tourism, etc.). If social status changes when moving, then geographic mobility turns into migration.

There are the following types of migration on:

• character - labor and political reasons:
• duration - temporary (seasonal) and permanent;
• territories - domestic and international:
• status - legal and illegal.

By types of mobility sociologists distinguish between intergenerational and intragenerational. Intergenerational mobility suggests the nature of changes in social status between generations and allows you to determine how much children rise or, conversely, fall on the social ladder compared to their parents. Intragenerational mobility connected with social career,, which means a change in status within one generation.

In accordance with the change by the individual of his social position in society, they distinguish two forms of mobility: group and individual. group mobility takes place in the case when movements are made collectively, and entire classes, social strata change their status. Most often this happens during periods of fundamental changes in society, such as social revolutions, civil or interstate wars, military coups, political regime changes, etc. Individual mobility means the social movement of a particular person and is associated primarily with the achieved statuses, while the group - with the prescribed, ascriptive.

Can speak: school, education in general, family, professional organizations, army, political parties and organizations, church. These social institutions serve as mechanisms for the selection and selection of individuals, placing them in the desired social stratum. Of course, in modern society, education is of particular importance, the institutions of which perform the function of a kind of "social lift" providing vertical mobility. Moreover, in the context of the transition from an industrial society to a post-industrial (information) one, where the decisive factor of economic and social development become scientific knowledge and information, the role of education increases significantly (Appendix, scheme 20).

At the same time, it should be noted that the processes of social mobility can be accompanied by the marginalization and lumpenization of society. Under marginality refers to an intermediate, “borderline” state of a social subject. Marginal(from lat. marginalis- on the edge) while moving from one social group to another retains the old system of values, connections, habits and cannot learn new ones (migrants, unemployed). On the whole, marginal people seem to lose their social identity and therefore experience great psychological stress. lumpen(from him. Lumpen- rags), trying in the process of social mobility to move from the old group to the new one, finds himself outside the group altogether, breaks social ties and eventually loses basic human qualities - the ability to work and the need for it (beggars, homeless, declassed elements). It should be noted that at present the processes of marginalization and lumpenization have become noticeably widespread in Russian society, and this may lead to its destabilization.

To quantify the processes of social mobility, indicators of the speed and intensity of mobility are usually used. P. Sorokin defined the rate of mobility as a vertical social distance or the number of economic strata. professional, political, which the individual goes through in his movement up or down for a certain period of time. The intensity of mobility is understood as the number of individuals changing their positions in the vertical or horizontal direction in a certain period of time. The number of such individuals in any social community gives the absolute intensity of mobility, and their share in the total number of this social community shows relative mobility.

Combining the indicators of speed and intensity of mobility, we get aggregate mobility index, which can be calculated for the economic, professional or political field of activity. It also allows the identification and comparison of mobility processes occurring in different societies. Thus, the processes of social mobility can take various forms and even be contradictory. But at the same time for complex society free movement of individuals in social space is the only way of development, otherwise it can be expected by social tension and conflicts in all spheres of public life. Generally social mobility is an important tool for analyzing the dynamics of society, changing its social parameters.

The topic of this article is social mobility. This is a very important topic for a sociologist. It is held today at school in the lessons of social studies. After all, knowledge of the society in which we live is necessary for everyone. In our days, when the world is changing very quickly, this is especially true.

Definition

Migration in the broad and narrow senses

Migrations, that is, territorial movements of the population, can also be considered as one of the forms of social mobility. In a broad sense, they are understood as any movements outside the boundaries of a certain territory of its population (usually this territory is a settlement). At the same time, for what purpose and for how long the procedure takes place is immaterial.

However, in popular science and scientific literature much more often a narrow interpretation of the concept of "migration" is used. According to her, this is a movement that is associated with a change in the place of permanent residence.

Seasonal and pendulum migration

In a broad sense, migration includes, in addition to moving to a permanent place of residence, also seasonal and pendulum migration. The second is the regular movement of people between several (two or more) settlements. However, their place of residence does not change. Such migration is connected with work, rest or study. These are mostly daily trips. Sometimes, however, trips made for a longer period (usually within one week) are also considered as pendulum migrations.

Two important reasons for the sociologist to classify migration

Many features exist to classify migration flows. The most important for the sociologist are the following two:

1. Migration occurring between settlements, the rank of which is different. In some cases, migration is vertical social mobility. This is observed when it is associated with a decrease or increase in the status of a person who has a certain place of residence. In others, it is horizontal (in the event that the move occurs between settlements with the same rank). Today, migration as vertical social mobility is a phenomenon associated mainly with the process of urbanization. After all, moving from villages to cities is necessary element this process.

2. External and internal migration. This division is considered rather conditional. Migration human mobility is a vast phenomenon that cannot be rigorously classified. In official statistics, internal migration is usually understood as the movement of people to a new place of residence, carried out within the same country. Under the external means moving to a sufficiently long or permanent residence in another country. However, sometimes, depending on the goals pursued by a particular sociological study, migrations between different subjects of the federation are also considered as external.

Social mobility in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries

Throughout the history of the development of our state, the nature of the mobility of its population has changed. These changes can be recorded quite accurately from the beginning of the 18th century. Russia, like any other semi-agrarian and agrarian society, was characterized until the end of the 19th century by rather low rates of vertical mobility. During these years, the basis of the structure of society was made up of estates. The boundaries of class groups, however, were at that time more permeable than in Europe during the time of classical feudalism. The policy of absolutism pursued by the state contributed to this. Although the outflow was hardly noticeable in relation to the total number of the peasantry due to the high proportion of its representatives in the population of the country, the rates of mobility were very high in relation to the urban estates and the nobility. Paying the tax rate and the ransom, people from the peasantry quite easily got into the urban estates, they could advance in the social hierarchy up to the merchants of the first guild. The ranks of the service nobility also replenished very intensively. From all the estates of Russia, its representatives were nominated - from the clergy, merchants, philistines, peasants.

The structural mobility of the society of that time (since the time of Peter I, at least) was insignificant. That is, the layers that make up the structure of society remained unchanged. Until the 1870s, only their quantitative ratio changed slightly.

Mobility in the post-Petrine era

Russia during the next 140 years following the reign of Peter I experienced not only a very intense vertical mobility. The structural social mobility of the society of that time was also significant and took place in several stages. At first (1870-1917), a class of proletariat and industrial bourgeoisie was gradually formed in Russia. After that, mainly from 1930 to 1970, an intensive process of modernization took place. At this time, a structure was being formed that was already close to the corresponding one in industrial and post-industrial societies. The difference was that there was no class of private entrepreneurs. In addition, the sphere in which market relations operated was significantly limited. Since the 1990s, the third stage of structural mobility has begun in our society. It is associated with the formation of a post-industrial society in Russia, which is based on a market economy.

Change in the prestige of professions, high rates of inter- and intra-generational mobility

It was not only the quantitative ratio of different social strata that changed in the process of the structural shifts described above. The relative prestige of certain professions also did not remain unchanged. For example, in the 1930s-1950s, the most prestigious were technical specialties (skilled worker, engineer), in the 1950s-1970s, professions related to science, and from the mid-1980s of the last century, those related to finance and trade. During the entire period, very high rates of intergenerational and intragenerational mobility, as well as a low level of isolation of various professional groups, were observed. This was noted not only by domestic sociologists, but also by Western ones.

Territorial migration at different times

During this period, the rates of territorial mobility were also extremely high (both horizontal - to construction sites and newly developed areas, and vertical - from the village to the city). Migration began to decline only from the mid-1970s. However, since the beginning of the 1990s, growth rates have been observed again. Many people migrate to the regions of the Russian Federation from the former Soviet republics.

An analysis of the causes always entails the question of whether the individual himself can achieve an increase in his own and join the composition of a social stratum located above his own on the scale of wealth and prestige. In modern society, it is generally accepted that the starting opportunities for all people are equal and the individual will certainly succeed if he makes the appropriate efforts and acts purposefully. Often this idea is illustrated by examples of the dizzying careers of millionaires who started from nothing, and shepherds who turned into movie stars.

social mobility called the movement of individuals in the system from one layer to another. There are at least two main reasons for the existence of social mobility in society. First, societies change, and social change alters the division of labor, creating new statuses and undermining old ones. Second, although the elite may monopolize educational opportunities, it is unable to control the natural distribution of talent and ability, so the upper strata are inevitably replenished by talented people from the lower strata.

Social mobility comes in many forms:

Vertical mobility- a change in the position of the individual, which causes an increase or decrease in his social status. For example, if an auto mechanic becomes the director of a car service, this is an indication of upward mobility, but if an auto mechanic becomes a scavenger, such a movement will be an indicator of downward mobility;

Horizontal mobility- a change in position that does not lead to an increase or decrease in social status.

For example, if an auto mechanic gets a job as a mechanic, such a shift will mean horizontal mobility;

Intergenerational (intergenerational) mobility- is revealed by comparing the social status of parents and their children at a certain point in the career of both (according to the rank of their profession at approximately the same age). Research shows that a significant portion of the Russian population, perhaps even the majority, moves at least a little up or down in the class hierarchy in every generation;

Intragenerational (intragenerational) mobility- involves comparing the social status of an individual over a long period of time. Research results show that many Russians have changed occupations during their lives. However, mobility in most of them was limited. Short distance travel is the rule, long distance travel is the exception.

For open stratification systems, vertical mobility is quite common occurrence, if we talk not so much about dizzying jumps from the bottom to the elite, but about moving step by step, for example, the grandfather is a peasant, the father is a rural teacher, the son moves to the city and defends his dissertation.

Today in Russia, the channels of vertical mobility, with the declared equality of all before all, are limited for many segments of the population, which corresponds to the strong social differentiation of Russian society in terms of economic and social signs: in the spring of 2006, 16% of Russians rated their social status in society as good, exactly the same number as bad, and the remaining 68% considered it satisfactory. It is not surprising that a survey of young people regarding their main life fears revealed the following (Table 1): what has always and at all times been valued above all else - love and friendship, in the harsh conditions of survival for young Russians, ceases to be a reason for worries or fears (or maybe our young people feel very confident in the personal sphere).

The strong social stratification characteristic of modern Russian society (Fig. 1) reproduces a system of inequality and injustice, in which the opportunities for self-realization in life and raising social status are limited for most of the younger generation (Fig. 2).

Table 1. Dynamics of various fears of young people,%

Fear in life
Don't meet a loved one
Job device problem
Be left without material means of subsistence
Fears for your life and loved ones due to the increase in crime
Failing to create your own family
Inability to get a good education
To lose a job
Fear of restrictions on the part of the state, which do not allow you to live the way you want to (most)
Stay without friends

Rice. 1. Number of different social strata in Russian society, %

From the responses of young people, it becomes clear that young people, highly appreciating the importance of personal qualities, skills, qualifications, clearly understand that in Russia, acquaintances and connections play a very important role when applying for a job. Let us note a positive moment: in comparison with the answers of young people to this question in 1997, today's youth are more optimistic and confident in their abilities and the possibility of independent success and mobility compared to young people professional development which fell on the difficult 1990s.

Rice. 2. What first of all helps to get a good job, according to representatives of different generations of Russians, (no more than 3 answers were allowed): 1 - youth (2007); 2- youth (1997); 3- older generation (2007); 4 - older generation (1997)

In closed systems, social mobility is practically excluded. For example, in caste and class societies, dozens of generations of shoemakers, tanners, merchants, serfs, and at the same time long genealogical chains of noble families, constituted the social norm. The monotony of such social reality is evidenced by the historical sources street names: tinkers street, tinkers street, etc. Craftsmen not only passed on their status and profession from generation to generation, but they all lived side by side.

Channels of social mobility

In societies with open system stratification, there are established channels of social mobility. For example, getting a higher education is the simplest and fairly sure rope, moving along which a person from an uneducated family can raise his status and get the opportunity to engage in qualified prestigious work. Girls seeking to profitably marry are trying to use another channel of mobility - to increase their status through marriage. Any military man knows that service in remote and dangerous places is a channel of mobility, because it allows you to quickly rise to high ranks.

Closed systems also have their own—very tight—channels of mobility. For example, the fate of Cinderella from the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, the serf actress Zhemchugova, who became Countess Sheremeteva, suggests that occasionally dizzying jumps were possible due to interclass marriage. Another channel could be a spiritual career: the great philosopher Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa was born into a poor fishing family, but became a monk, received an education and acquired a high social status, joining the upper class. In tsarist Russia, higher education automatically entailed personal nobility.

family capital is an an important factor belonging to the dominant class. It can take various forms: large financial and industrial enterprises, economic network. political, social and family relations, privileged access to cultural media, etc. It is these three basic elements - a significant economic legacy, a wide range of relationships and significant family support - that ensure the political and economic power of the ruling classes. For example, in France, notes D. Berto, the financial oligarchy - a limited number of families - owns and manages fantastic wealth and has tremendous power in society. These people are connected to each other by money and kinship. Most often, members of the dominant class marry among themselves, study at the same schools or prestigious universities, are members of the administrative boards of enterprises, and so on. They are not only at the head of the economy, but also
hold power. Banking and oligarchy historians point out that for the past 170 years, “in France, money, and therefore real political power, has been in the hands of the same families since the coup d’état that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power in 1799, coup, which was financed by the founders of the state. To be in the ruling class, it is better to be born in it or to marry a representative of this class.

The specificity and importance of social capital in Russian society are manifested in the analysis of social capital, the adequate and effective use of which is the key to the success of both young people and the whole society.

A comparative analysis of data over the past 10 years on mastering various skills among young people has led to the conclusion that computer literacy has almost doubled, but the past time has had little effect on the increase in the prevalence of driving a car or communicating on foreign languages- important competencies in the modern world. At the same time, the popularity of acquiring the skills to drive a motorcycle or use a weapon has decreased among young people (Fig. 3).

Rice. Fig. 3. Dynamics of the possession of various skills by representatives of Russian youth, %

The confidence of today's youth and their optimism are manifested in the assessment of their life prospects and plans. On the whole, as shown by the results of a 2007 study by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, more than half of young Russians are firmly convinced that they can achieve more than their parents. From fig. Table 4 shows that over the past 10 years, the structure of these assessments has not changed much, and the insignificant dynamics rather reflects a certain increase in optimism. In general, in 2007, 76% (in 1997 - 68%) of Russian youth are sure that they are able to at least reproduce the social status that their parents have, and only a few percent (2%) think that and they can't do it. In addition, the proportion of such young people and girls has halved over the past 10 years (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Assessment by young Russians of their life chances, %

IN modern Russia the poor strata of the population are completely excluded from the spectrum of opportunities to receive quality education as the basis for further life success, while the needy and the poor themselves can only in rare cases pay for the participation of children in paid circles or their own participation in paid courses. The main consumers of paid educational services are the wealthy segments of the population. Sometimes in such a situation, the poor themselves are accused of simply not striving to get a quality education and not doing everything possible for this. However, the data sociological research conducted by IS RAS in 2008 refute such assertions. As can be seen from fig. 21.5, the bulk of not only the low-income, but also the poor would like to receive a quality education. But they are much less likely to do so than the prosperous.

Rice. 5. Availability of installation to receive good education in various social strata, % of their working representatives: 1 - have already achieved; 2- want, but have not yet achieved; 3 - would like to, but are unlikely to be able to achieve; was not in life plans

Unrealized opportunities, unfulfilled goals of many Russians correlate with the feeling of injustice that they experience in relation to everything that happens in modern Russia. This feeling, testifying to the illegitimacy in the eyes of Russians of the world order that has developed in Russia, is experienced today by the overwhelming majority (over 90%) of Russians; while 38% experience it often. Since the role of justice-injustice is very important in Russian culture, these indicators are a very serious “call”. Most of all, representatives of the age groups over 40 years old (over 40%) and rural residents (48%) experience a strong sense of injustice in everything that is happening around.

Thus, the path to the higher spheres of the social hierarchy is not easy. The conjuncture (a situation of crisis or economic growth) and the structure of society have a great influence on social mobility. Mobility questions answered by analysis social organization. In closed societies, social classes are closed to members of other classes; social mobility is impossible in them. In societies like ours, classes are more open, but the social ladder can be raised or lowered.

Some individuals from the popular environment manage to reach the top of the social pyramid even under conditions of a severely limited system of social mobility, since individual factors play their role - will, energy, talent, family environment, luck. However, individuals from the lower classes should exhibit these qualities to a greater extent than individuals from the privileged strata, since the former have initially less advantages in terms of economic, cultural and social capital.

Channels and mechanisms of social mobility

As channels social mobility considers those ways - conventionally they are called "stairs", "elevators" - using which people can move up and down in the social hierarchy. For the most part, such channels in different time were: political authorities and socio-political organizations, economic structures and professional labor organizations (labor collectives, firms with a system of production property built into them, corporate institutions, etc.), as well as the army, church, school, family new connections (factors of home education, social authority of the family, private property, family support in general acted).

In a traditional society, the listed channels of social mobility were used very widely. In modern society, the role of some of these structures as channels of social mobility is decreasing (for example, churches, families), but the importance of other channels is increasing, within which new forms of social mobility are being worked out. Therefore, the above list should be specified, highlighting the sphere of financial and banking activities, technical creativity, activity in the field of mass media and computer technologies. We also single out the action of a stable in different epochs in different countries a channel for raising the status of representatives of certain strata through involvement in shadow or criminal activities. Now this channel is presented both in a developed society (transnational mafia associations in the field of distribution of weapons, drugs, etc.), and in a traditional society (family-clan and gangster groups).

Mechanisms of social mobility

These channels of social mobility (with the exception of the criminal one, which attracts certain socio-psychological types of people), as a rule, are closely intertwined with each other, i.e. they act simultaneously, sometimes confronting, sometimes complementing each other. Taken as a whole, the channels of social mobility create a system of institutional and legal requirements, organizational capabilities, specific rules for moving people up or down the social ladder, thus forming complex mechanisms of social selection of people for certain positions and status roles. The cumulative action of these mechanisms at different stages of a person's life makes it easier for him to maintain ascriptive or achieve a better status, but a positive result in itself does not guarantee - using these mechanisms, a person must make considerable own efforts to achieve a better one.

In the past, hereditary-class ties remained leading in these mechanisms, which allowed the vast majority of the younger generation to maintain an ascriptive status position. At the same time, the preservation of higher ascriptive statuses was accompanied by the fulfillment of a considerable number of social duties. The transition from one class to another, although difficult, also remained possible. So, in medieval imperial China, in the Russian Empire, a representative of the middle strata (including wealthy peasants, merchants, children of clergymen) could advance on public service with a high level of education.

The learning process, the child's mastery of book wisdom was largely determined by family circumstances. But during study and then in the service, a lot depended on the person himself - he had to demonstrate loyalty to the professional environment, be persistent, quick-witted. In other societies, the role of school and education in changing status was limited; either the army or the religious environment could come to the fore in terms of significance. At the same time, the role of the family, the support of others, and the personal qualities of the person himself remained important.

An illustration of what has been said can be the life path of the Russian reformer MM.Speransky(1772-1839). Coming from the family of a poor rural priest, having been educated at a provincial seminary, he early discovered brilliant abilities for independent thinking, was hardworking, well-read, gifted. All this distinguished him from the circle of seminarians, which allowed the church authorities to recommend him for the service of a state nobleman, who needed a secretary to business correspondence. Entering the highest circle of the Russian bureaucracy led Speransky to the broad road of public service.

In conditions modern society the main emphasis in the mechanisms of social mobility is shifted to educational and vocational training, while the role of the individual qualities of a person who seeks to improve his position increases. Let's consider the process of professional selection on the example of scientific and creative activity. For society to recognize a young person as a scientist, it is necessary, although this is not enough, for him to have a diploma of higher education, which allows him to start a scientific career. The professional environment then recognizes his scientific status when the results of his independent work will be qualified by colleagues as significant. At the same time, the results of his work will be constantly subjected to captious analysis. He himself must master the art of conducting scientific polemics, finding supporters, and achieving practical implementation of his discoveries. Job and qualification advancement will help him establish himself in a professional environment in which, in addition to the official status, a very important prerequisite for the formation of a person as a scientist is the circle of friends, like-minded people. But the main factor of recognition is the scientific results recognized by the wide public circles. On this path, the scientist must find supporters in practical areas; he will not be hindered by fame among the general public, achieved through the media. Family members should patiently help in his creative development, not expecting a quick financial return and public recognition. Taken together, all these circumstances constitute the mechanisms social selection in the field of research activities.

Thus, it can be seen that the “sieve” of a person’s repeated passage through the mechanisms of social selection was in the past and continues to exist today in any sphere of life, especially toughening in those cases when it comes to the possibility of achieving a relatively high position in society. These selection mechanisms do not guarantee the unmistakable distribution of all people into social strata and positions in accordance with their real abilities. However, taken as a whole, they make it possible to more or less satisfactorily redistribute social energy, avoiding sharp confrontation and balancing the interests of different groups.

Factors of social mobility

If the channels and mechanisms of social mobility are the most stable, massive ways to achieve or lose a new status position, then mobility factors there are general — historical, socio-political, cultural, etc. — prerequisites, specific conditions that stimulate the operation of these mechanisms or limit them. Accounting for various factors makes it possible to more deeply characterize the processes of mobility in a given situation, to determine their nature in various social environments. Sometimes the value of the scale factor leaves an imprint on the place in the social hierarchy of an entire social group. When one speaks of the “military generation”, they mean the influence of wartime on the life attitudes and social activity of a certain age cohort.

The quality of social mobility of specific groups and individuals, as a rule, is influenced by many factors of a different nature and scale: economic and sectoral institutions, ethnic or religious environment, place of residence, age and gender of a person changing status, etc. For example, for mobility associated with the marriage of people of modern society, the following trend is characteristic: women are more likely to marry men who have more high education, professional qualification working in a higher position, while for men this situation is reversed.

Another pattern associated with the correlation between the early socialization of people and their subsequent professional activity: people from rural settlements, from a provincial, poorly differentiated environment, demonstrate on average a lower rate social promotion and narrower opportunities to vary the areas of application of their labor than people from urban settlements, from urban centers.

PLAN

Introduction

1. The essence of social mobility

2. Forms of social mobility and its consequences

3. Problems of social mobility in Russia in 20-21 centuries.

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

important place in the study social structure occupy questions social mobility population, that is, the transition of a person from one class to another, from one intraclass group to another, social movements between generations. Social movements are massive and become more intense as society develops. Sociologists study the nature of social movements, their direction, intensity; movement between classes, generations, cities and regions. They can be positive and negative, encouraged or, conversely, restrained.

In the sociology of social movements, the main stages of a professional career are studied, the social position of parents and children is compared. In our country, for decades, social origin was put in the forefront in characterization, biography, and people with worker-peasant roots received an advantage. For example, young people from intelligent families, in order to enter a university, initially went to work for a year or two, get seniority, change their social status. Thus, having received a new social status of a worker, they were, as it were, cleansed of their "flawed" social origin. In addition, applicants with seniority received benefits upon admission, were enrolled in the most prestigious specialties with virtually no competition.

In Western sociology, the problem of social mobility is also very widely studied. Strictly speaking, social mobility is change social status. There is a status - real and imaginary, attributed. Any person receives a certain status already at birth, depending on belonging to a particular race, gender, place of birth, parental status.

In all social systems, the principles of both imaginary and real merit operate. The more imaginary merit prevails in determining social status, the more rigid the society, the less social mobility ( medieval Europe, castes in India). Such a situation can only be maintained in an extremely simple society, and then up to a certain level. Further, it simply hinders social development. The fact is that, according to all the laws of genetics, talented and gifted young people are found equally evenly in all social groups of the population.

The more developed a society, the more dynamic it is, the more the principles of real status and real merit work in its system. Society is interested in this.

1. The essence of social mobility

Talented individuals are undoubtedly born in all social strata and social classes. If there are no barriers to social achievement, more social mobility can be expected, with some individuals rapidly rising to high statuses while others sink to lower ones. But there are barriers between strata and classes that prevent the free transition of individuals from one status group to another. One of the biggest barriers arises from the fact that social classes have subcultures that prepare the children of each class to participate in the class subculture in which they are socialized. An ordinary child from a family of representatives of the creative intelligentsia is less likely to learn the habits and norms that help him later work as a peasant or worker. The same can be said about the norms that help him in his work as a major leader. Nevertheless, in the end, he can become not only a writer, like his parents, but also a worker or a major leader. Just for advancement from one layer to another or from one social class to another, "difference in starting opportunities" matters. For example, the sons of a minister and a peasant have different opportunities for obtaining high official statuses. Therefore, the generally accepted official point of view, which consists in the fact that in order to achieve any heights in society, you only need to work and have abilities, turns out to be untenable.

The above examples show that any social movement does not occur without hindrance, but by overcoming more or less significant barriers. Even moving a person from one place of residence to another involves a certain period of adaptation to new conditions.

All social movements of an individual or a social group are included in the process of mobility. According to the definition of P. Sorokin, "social mobility is understood as any transition of an individual, or a social object, or a value created or modified through activity, from one social position to another."

2. Forms of social mobility and its consequences

There are two main types of social mobility: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal social mobility, or displacement, refers to the transition of an individual or social object from a single social group to another located on 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 husband and wife) to another in a divorce or remarriage, from one factory to another, while maintaining his professional status, are all examples of horizontal social mobility. They are also the movement of social objects (radio, car, fashion, ideas of communism, Darwin's theory) within one social layer, like moving from Iowa to California or from some place to any other. In all these cases, "movement" can occur without any noticeable change in the social position of the individual or social object in the vertical direction. Vertical social mobility refers to those relationships that arise when an individual or a social object moves from one social stratum to another. Depending on the direction of movement, there are two types of vertical mobility: ascending and descending, that is, social ascent and social descent. According to the nature of stratification, there are downward and upward flows of economic, political and occupational mobility, not to mention other less important types. Updrafts exist in two main forms: penetration an individual from a lower stratum to an existing higher stratum; or the creation by such individuals of a new group and the penetration of the whole group into a higher stratum to the level with the already existing groups of this stratum. Accordingly, the downward currents also have two forms: the first consists in the fall of the individual from a higher social position to a lower one, without destroying the original group to which he previously belonged; another form is manifested in the degradation of the social group as a whole, in the lowering of its rank against the background of other groups, or in the destruction of its social unity. In the first case, the fall reminds us of a person who fell from the ship, in the second - the immersion of the ship itself with all the passengers on board, or the crash of the ship when it shatters.

Cases of individual penetration into higher strata or falling from a high social level to a low one are familiar and understandable. They don't need an explanation. The second form of social ascent, descent, rise and fall of groups should be considered in more detail.

The following historical examples may serve as illustrations. Historians of the Indian caste society inform us that the Brahmin caste has always been in the position of undeniable superiority which it has held for the last two millennia. In the distant past, the castes of warriors, rulers and kshatriyas were not ranked lower than the brahmins, and, as it turns out, they became the highest caste only after a long struggle. If this hypothesis is correct, then the promotion of the rank of the Brahmin caste through all other floors is an example of the second type of social ascent. Prior to the adoption of Christianity by Constantine the Great, the status of a Christian bishop or Christian clergyman was low among other social ranks of the Roman Empire. In the next few centuries, the social position and rank of the Christian church as a whole rose. As a result of this elevation, the representatives of the clergy and, especially, the highest church dignitaries also rose to the highest strata of medieval society. Conversely, the decline in the authority of the Christian Church in the last two centuries has led to a relative decline in the social ranks of the higher clergy among other ranks in modern society. The prestige of a pope or a cardinal is still high, but it is undoubtedly lower than it was in the Middle Ages 3 . Another example is the legalist group in France. Appearing in the 12th century, this group quickly grew in social importance and position. Very soon, in the form of a judicial aristocracy, they took the position of the nobility. In the 17th and especially in the 18th century, the group as a whole began to "sink" and finally disappeared altogether in the conflagration of the Great French Revolution. The same thing happened in the process of the rise of the agrarian bourgeoisie in the Middle Ages, the privileged Sixth Corps, the merchant guilds, the aristocracy of many royal courts. To hold a high position in the court of the Romanovs, Habsburgs or Hohenzollerns before the revolution meant having the highest social rank. The "fall" of dynasties led to the "social decline" of the ranks associated with them. The Bolsheviks in Russia before the revolution did not have any particularly recognized high position. During the revolution, this group overcame a huge social distance and occupied the highest position in Russian society. As a result, all its members as a whole were elevated to the status previously held by the royal aristocracy. Similar phenomena are observed in the perspective of pure economic stratification. Thus, before the advent of the "oil" or "car" era, being a well-known industrialist in these areas did not mean being an industrial and financial magnate. The wide distribution of industries has made them the most important industrial areas. Accordingly, to be a leading industrialist - an oilman or a motorist - means to be one of the most influential leaders in industry and finance. All these examples illustrate the second collective form of up and down currents in social mobility.

From a quantitative point of view, it is necessary to distinguish between the intensity and generality of vertical mobility. Under intensity refers to the vertical social distance or the number of layers - economic, professional or political - passed by an individual in his upward or downward movement in a certain period of time. If, for example, a certain individual rises in a year from the position of a person with an annual income of $500 to a position with an income of $50,000, and another in the same period from the same starting position rises to the level of $1,000, then in the first case the intensity of the economic recovery will be 50 times greater than in the second. For a corresponding change, the intensity of vertical mobility can also be measured in the field of political and professional stratification.

Under universality vertical mobility refers to the number of individuals who have changed their social position in the vertical direction over a certain period of time. The absolute number of such individuals gives absolute universality vertical mobility in the structure of a given population of the country; the proportion of such individuals to the entire population gives relative universality vertical mobility.

Finally, by combining the intensity and relative generality of vertical mobility in a certain social sphere(say, in economics), one can get the aggregate indicator of the vertical economic mobility of a given society. Thus, comparing one society with another, or the same society in different periods of its development, one can find out in which of them or in which period the total mobility is higher. The same can be said about cumulative indicator political and professional vertical mobility.

3. Problems of social mobility in Russia in the 20th-21st centuries.

The process of transition from the economy, which was based on the administrative-bureaucratic method of management social production and distribution, to a market-based economy, and from monopoly power party state nomenklatura to representative democracy is extremely painful and slow. Strategic and tactical miscalculations in the radical transformation of social relations are aggravated by the peculiarities of the economic potential created in the USSR with its structural asymmetry, monopoly, technological backwardness, etc.

All this was reflected in the social stratification of the Russian society in transition. To give its analysis, to understand its features, it is necessary to consider the social structure of the Soviet period. In the Soviet scientific literature, in accordance with the requirements of the official ideology, a view was affirmed from the standpoint of a three-member structure: two friendly classes (working and collective farm peasantry), as well as a social stratum - the people's intelligentsia. Moreover, in this layer, as it were, representatives of the party and state elite, and the village teacher, and the librarian were on an equal footing.

With this approach, the existing differentiation of society was veiled, and the illusion of society moving towards social equality was created.

Of course, in real life, things were far from being the case; Soviet society was hierarchized, moreover, in a very specific way. According to Western and many Russian sociologists, it was not so much a social-class society as a class-caste one. The domination of state property has turned the vast majority of the population into employees states alienated from this property.

The decisive role in the location of groups on the social ladder was played by their political potential, determined by their place in the party-state hierarchy.

The highest level in Soviet society was occupied by the party-state nomenklatura, which united the highest strata of the party, state, economic and military bureaucracy. While not formally the owner of national wealth, it had a monopoly and uncontrolled right to use and distribute it. The nomenklatura endowed itself with a wide range of benefits and advantages. It was essentially a closed layer of the class type, not interested in the growth of the number, its share was small - 1.5 - 2% of the country's population.

A step below was the layer that served the nomenklatura, workers employed in the field of ideology, the party press, as well as the scientific elite, prominent artists.

The next step was occupied by a layer, to one degree or another involved in the function of distribution and use of national wealth. These included government officials who distributed scarce social benefits, heads of enterprises, collective farms, state farms, workers in logistics, trade, the service sector, etc.

It is hardly legitimate to refer these strata to the middle class, since they did not have the economic and political independence characteristic of this class.

Of interest is the analysis of the multidimensional social structure of Soviet society in the 1940s and 1950s, given by the American sociologist A. Inkels (1974). He considers it as a pyramid, including 9 strata.

At the top is the ruling elite (the party-state nomenklatura, the highest military ranks).

In second place is the highest stratum of the intelligentsia (prominent figures in literature and art, scientists). Possessing significant privileges, they did not have the powers that the upper stratum had.

Quite high - the third place was given to the "aristocracy of the working class". These are the Stakhanovites, the "beacons", the drummers of the five-year plans. This layer also had great privileges and high prestige in society. It was he who personified "decorative" democracy: his representatives were deputies of the Supreme Soviets of the country and republics, members of the Central Committee of the CPSU (but were not included in the party nomenclature).

Fifth place was occupied by "white collars" (small managers, employees who, as a rule, did not have a higher education).

The sixth layer - "prosperous peasants" who worked in advanced collective farms, where special working conditions were created. In order to form “exemplary” farms, they were allocated additional state financial and material and technical resources, which made it possible to ensure higher labor productivity and living standards.

In seventh place were workers of medium and low qualifications. The size of this group was quite large.

Eighth place was occupied by the "poorest strata of the peasantry" (and such constituted the majority). And finally, at the bottom of the social ladder were prisoners who were deprived of almost all rights. This layer was very significant and amounted to several million people.

It must be admitted that the presented hierarchical structure of Soviet society is very close to the reality that existed.

Studying the social structure of Soviet society in the second half of the 1980s, Russian sociologists T. I. Zaslavskaya and R. V. Ryvkina identified 12 groups. Along with the workers (this layer is represented by three differentiated groups), the collective farm peasantry, the scientific, technical and humanitarian intelligentsia, they distinguish the following groups: the political leaders of the society, the responsible workers of the apparatus political management, responsible employees of trade and consumer services, an organized crime group, etc. As you can see, this is far from the classic "three-membered" model, a multidimensional model is used here. Of course, this division is very arbitrary, the real social structure "goes into the shadows", because, for example, a huge layer of real production relations turns out to be illegal, hidden in informal connections and decisions.

Under the conditions of the radical transformation of Russian society, deep changes are taking place in its social stratification, which have a number of characteristic features.

First, there is a total marginalization of Russian society. It is possible to evaluate it, as well as to predict its social consequences, only on the basis of the totality of specific processes and conditions in which this phenomenon operates.

For example, marginalization caused by a massive transition from the lower strata of society to higher ones, i.e., upward mobility (although it has certain costs), can generally be assessed positively.

Marginalization, which is characterized by a transition to the lower strata (with downward mobility), if, moreover, is long-term and massive, leads to severe social consequences.

In our society, we see both upward and downward mobility. But it is alarming that the latter has acquired a "landslide" character. Particular attention should be paid to the growing layer of the marginalized, knocked out of their socio-cultural environment and turned into a lumpenized layer (beggars, homeless people, vagrants, etc.).

The next feature is the blocking of the formation of the middle class. During the Soviet period, there was a significant segment of the population in Russia, which represented a potential middle class (intelligentsia, white-collar workers, highly skilled workers). However, the transformation of these layers into the middle class does not occur, there is no process of "class crystallization".

The fact is that it was precisely these strata that descended (and this process continues) into the lower class, being on the verge of poverty or below its line. First of all, this applies to the intelligentsia. Here we are confronted with a phenomenon that can be called the phenomenon of the "new poor", an exceptional phenomenon, probably not encountered in the history of civilization in any society. Both in pre-revolutionary Russia and in the developing countries of any region of the modern world, not to mention, of course, developed countries, she had and still has a fairly high prestige in society, her financial situation (even in poor countries) is at the proper level, allowing her to lead a decent lifestyle.

Today in Russia the share of deductions for science, education, health care, culture in the budget is catastrophically decreasing. The wages of scientific, scientific and pedagogical personnel, medical workers, and cultural workers are increasingly lagging behind the average for the country, not providing a living wage, and for certain categories of a physiological minimum. And since almost all of our intelligentsia is "budgetary", impoverishment is inevitably approaching it.

There is a reduction scientists, many specialists are moving to commercial structures(a huge share of which is trade and intermediary) and are disqualified. The prestige of education in society is falling. The consequence may be a violation of the necessary reproduction of the social structure of society.

A stratum of highly skilled workers associated with advanced technologies and employed primarily in the military-industrial complex found itself in a similar position.

As a result, the lower class in Russian society currently makes up approximately 70% of the population.

There is a growth of the upper class (in comparison with the upper class of Soviet society). It consists of several groups. First, these are large entrepreneurs, owners of capital different type(financial, commercial, industrial). Secondly, these are government officials related to state material and financial resources, their distribution and transfer to private hands, as well as supervising the activities of semi-state and private enterprises and institutions.

At the same time, it should be emphasized that a significant part of this stratum in Russia is made up of representatives of the former nomenklatura, who have retained their positions in state power structures.

The majority of apparatchiks today realize that the market is economically inevitable, moreover, they are interested in the emergence of a market. But we are not talking about the "European" market with unconditional private property, but about the "Asian" market - with a truncated reformed private property, where the main right (the right to dispose) would remain in the hands of the bureaucracy.

Thirdly, these are the heads of state and semi-state (JSC) enterprises (the "director's corps"), in conditions of lack of control both from below and from above, appointing themselves ultra-high salaries, bonuses and using the privatization and corporatization of enterprises to their advantage.

Finally, these are representatives of criminal structures that are closely intertwined with entrepreneurial structures (or collect “tribute” from them), and are also increasingly linked with state structures.

One more feature of the stratification of Russian society can be singled out - social polarization, which is based on property stratification, which continues to deepen.

Ratio wages The top 10% and the bottom 10% of Russians were 16:1 in 1992 and 26:1 in 1993. For comparison: in 1989 this ratio in the USSR was 4:1, in the USA - 6:1, in the countries Latin America- 12:1. According to official data, 20% of the richest Russians appropriate 43% of total cash income, 20% of the poorest - 7%.

There are several options for dividing Russians according to the level of material security.

According to them, at the top there is a narrow layer of the super-rich (3-5%), then a layer of medium wealthy (7% according to these calculations and 12-15% - according to others), finally, the poor (25% and 40% respectively) and the poor ( 65% and 40% respectively).

The consequence of property polarization is inevitably social and political confrontation in the country, the growth of social tension. If this trend continues, it could lead to deep social upheavals.

Special attention should be paid to the characteristics of the working class and the peasantry. They now represent an extremely heterogeneous mass, not only in traditional criteria(qualification, education, industry, etc.), but also by form of ownership and income.

In the working class, there is a deep differentiation associated with the attitude to one or another form of ownership - state, joint, cooperative, joint-stock, individual, etc. Differences in income, labor productivity, economic and political interests, etc. e. If the interests of workers employed in state enterprises, consist primarily in increasing tariffs, ensuring financial support from the side of the state, then the interests of the workers of non-state enterprises are in reducing taxes, in expanding the freedom of economic activity, legal support her, etc.

The position of the peasantry also changed. Along with collective-farm property, joint-stock, individual and other forms of property arose. The transformation processes in agriculture have proven to be extremely complex. An attempt to blindly copy Western experience in terms of the massive replacement of collective farms by farms failed, since it was initially voluntaristic, not taking into account the deep specifics of Russian conditions. Material and technical equipment Agriculture, infrastructure development, opportunity state support farms, legal insecurity, and finally, the mentality of the people - taking into account all these components is necessary condition effective reforms and neglecting them cannot but give a negative result.

At the same time, for example, the level of state support for agriculture is constantly falling. If before 1985 it was 12-15%, then in 1991-1993. - 7-10%. For comparison: government subsidies in the income of farmers during this period in the EU countries amounted to 49%, the USA - 30%, Japan - 66%, Finland - 71%.

The peasantry as a whole is now classified as a conservative part of society (which is confirmed by the voting results). But if we are faced with the resistance of the “social material”, the reasonable way out is not to blame the people, not to use forceful methods, but to look for errors in the strategy and tactics of transformation.

Thus, if we depict the stratification of modern Russian society graphically, it will represent a pyramid with a powerful base represented by the lower class.

Such a profile cannot but cause concern. If the bulk of the population is made up of the lower class, if the middle class that stabilizes society is thinned out, the result will be an increase in social tension with a forecast to result in an open struggle for the redistribution of wealth and power. The pyramid may topple over.

Russia is now in a transitional state, on a sharp break. The spontaneously developing process of stratification carries a threat to the stability of society. It is necessary, using the expression of T. Parsons, "external intrusion" of power into the emerging system of rational placement of social positions with all the ensuing consequences, when the natural profile of stratification becomes the key to both sustainability and progressive development of society.

Conclusion

Analysis of the hierarchical structure of society shows that it is not frozen, it constantly fluctuates and moves both horizontally and vertically. When we talk about a social group or individual changing their social position, we are dealing with social mobility. It can be horizontal (in this case, the concept of social displacement is used), if there is a transition to other professional or other, but equal in status groups. Vertical (upward) mobility means the transition of an individual or group to a higher social position with greater prestige, income, power.

Downward mobility is also possible, involving movement to lower hierarchical positions.

During periods of revolutions and social cataclysms, there is a radical change in the social structure, a radical replacement of the upper stratum with the overthrow of the former elite, the emergence of new classes and social groups, and mass group mobility.

In stable periods, social mobility increases during periods of economic restructuring. At the same time, an important “social lift” that ensures vertical mobility is education, the role of which is growing in the context of the transition from an industrial society to an information one.

Social mobility is a fairly reliable indicator of the level of “openness” or “closedness” of a society. A striking example of a "closed" society is the caste system in India. A high degree of closeness is characteristic of a feudal society. On the contrary, bourgeois-democratic societies, being open, are characterized by a high level of social mobility. However, it should be noted that here, too, vertical social mobility is not absolutely free, and the transition from one social stratum to another, a higher one, is not carried out without resistance.

Social mobility puts the individual in the conditions of the need for adaptation in a new socio-cultural environment. This process can be very difficult. A person who has lost the socio-cultural world familiar to him, but who has not been able to accept the norms and values ​​of the new group, finds himself, as it were, on the verge of two cultures, becomes marginalized. This is also characteristic of migrants, both ethnic and territorial. In such conditions, a person experiences discomfort, stress. Mass marginality breeds serious social problems. It, as a rule, distinguishes societies that are at sharp turning points in history. This is the period Russia is going through at the present time.

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