Social mobility is an opportunity and the very fact of moving a person or an entire social group between different social positions of the system of social stratification. This concept characterizes society and its structure in dynamics. The theory of this problem was developed in detail by P. Sorokin.
The types of social mobility are distinguished by the following. First of all, individual and group mobility are distinguished. The first characterizes the movement of one person, which occurs independently of others. In the process of moving between social groups, layers, when changing statuses, an individual uses such mobility methods as changing his own lifestyle; conscious development of a new status (typical for a certain level) behavior; change in the usual social environment; marriage with a representative of another (preferably higher) status layer; getting an education.
The second is collective displacement due to a change in the social significance of the entire class of people, estate, etc. It can be provoked by civil wars, foreign interventions, the creation of empires, the overthrow of regimes. Such organized group movement of people can also be initiated by the state from above. It can be carried out with or without the consent of the people (Komsomol construction projects in the USSR, repatriation of Chechens and Ingush, etc.) Therefore, social mobility can be either voluntary or involuntary.
The opposite type of organized mobility is structural (forced), in which the movement between social categories occurs due to changes in the professional structure (creation of new jobs, the emergence of new sectors of the economy). Such changes occur against the will of the people. The reduction, for example, of economic sectors, and with it jobs, is forcing people to seek new uses for themselves, changing their usual status. The reasons for such changes can be rooted in economic growth, technical revolutions, political transformations, changes in the birth rate.
Exchange (circular or true) social mobility means the mutual exchange of individuals between the layers of society. Social movements that occur in this case are due to personal achievements (failures) of people, the emergence of new systemic opportunities of any quality (educational, political, legal). An example is the movement of residents of the near abroad of Russia to its large cities for the purpose of earning.
Particular attention should be paid to such basic types of movements of people in society as horizontal and vertical social mobility. Vertical movement refers to the transition of people from one class to another, and horizontal - from one social group to another while maintaining their social status. For example, a change of work to a similar one in status is called labor horizontal mobility; place of residence in a settlement of equal status - horizontal migration.
With vertical movement, people change their social status, increasing it (upward mobility) or lowering (downward). Examples of these movements: promotion or demotion. The main channels of such movements are: church, family, government groups, school, political parties and organizations, professional organizations.
Social mobility can also be intergenerational (changing the status of children in comparison with their parents) and intrageneral (changing the status of a person throughout his life).