It is not a secret for any of us that in any society there is a so-called social ladder. This is a certain hierarchy with the location of individual layers of the population on it. Some social group is located on this ladder higher, some - lower. Some people throughout their lives do not leave the boundaries of their social layer. They are standing on the same rung of the ladder. Others rise or descend along it. However, the movement is very slow.
Social elevator concept
In any society there are certain prerequisites that allow for the rapid movement from one layer of the population to another. Ideally, this movement is upward. Although there are cases of sudden movement to a lower level. This is a social elevator. The definition of this concept was given by Pitirim Sorokin. This Russian-American sociologist at the beginning of the twentieth century conducted an analysis of the movement of social groups of different status. At the same time, Sorokin calculated in which cases these movements will allow a person to grow in this life. The theory turned out to be very convincing, as it was written off from life - an individual who comes from a family of a drunkard-craftsman who lived in a small village in the Russian north.
Sorokin argued that in order to grow, a person needs to look for his mobility channel (social elevator). This will allow you to quickly change the status.
Mobility channels
According to Sorokin’s theory, social elevators can be completely different for each person. Types of channels of population mobility include the following elements in their list:
- army;
- church;
- education (school);
- family;
- business (property).
In the modern world, civil service, sports, politics, and art have been added to mobility channels. Everyone who wants to change their status must find their own social elevator. This will start the entire climbing mechanism and begin to move. Of course, you can use not the elevator, but the stairs. However, it will take too much time and become a very tedious process.
Types of mobility
A change in a group or individual of their class or place in society can be either horizontal or vertical. The first type of mobility is a transition from one social status to another. These are social elevators, examples of which are a change of citizenship, transition to another religious community.
Vertical mobility refers to the movement of a person (up or down) along the career ladder. It is also included in the concept of "social elevators". Examples of such a movement:
- promotion (upward mobility);
- demotion (downward mobility).
The vertical and horizontal channels of status change are influenced by various factors. Among them, population density and mortality, fertility, age and gender. Lifts of social mobility are most often used by young people. Many men seek to change their status. People with limited mobility are mostly elderly and women.
The transition from one layer of society to another can be carried out either by a group or by itself. These are also various social elevators. Types of mobility in this case are divided into individual and group.
Collective social elevators exist in the case of existing caste, racial, estate or other privileges. In this case, the population of the lower groups is able to organize a riot in order to cancel the restrictions that exist for it. This will make it possible to collectively rise to a higher rung of the social ladder. Examples of social mobility of this type can be found throughout the history of mankind. This is the superiority of priests from Varna over the warriors in ancient India, as well as the rise of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution to the status of the former royal aristocracy.
Modern social elevators include the concept of vertical mobility. However, their definition is by no means given in the service context. A change in the status of an individual or group is understood as a change of position in the social hierarchy.
Key Mobility Channels
The movement of people from one layer of society to another is present in any country. Sometimes a social elevator is used for this. This allows you to reduce the distance from one staircase to another.
What are the channels for such mobility? The so-called social circulation becomes possible with the participation of various institutions. Their list contains channels of particular interest. These are the army and the church, the school, as well as economic, professional and political organizations. These social elevators are characteristic of any society.
Army
This institution is of particular importance in wartime. These are periods when civil and interstate armed clashes occur. The fate of the whole society directly depends on success in the war. And it doesn’t matter what kind of social status soldiers have. Their courage and strategic talent are especially valued precisely in such periods. Promotion to the command staff of the lower ranks during the war occurs, as a rule, in the presence of military leadership talent. The power given to such people is further used to further advance on the career ladder. In addition, it allows looting and robbing, avenging, humiliating your enemies, as well as getting high-profile titles, swimming in luxury and being in the center of grandiose ceremonies. The army in this case is a social elevator. This allows commoners to become generals, to receive the status of princes, monarchs, dictators and rulers of the world. And at the same time, many who are aristocrats, kings and rulers by birth status lose their titles and social status.
Similar examples of social mobility are numerous. They literally abound in history. So, rulers and leaders became leaders of militant tribes. In addition, of the ninety-two Roman emperors, thirty-six achieved such a high status only because of their military service.
Examples of social mobility have been observed in modern wars. Many leaders of civil and international armed clashes rapidly climbed the corporate ladder. But at the same time, a huge number of military commanders who were defeated, demoted, expelled, became slaves, in other words, fell sharply, made a downward movement along the army social elevator.
As for the peaceful years, the role of this channel of vertical mobility is many times less. However, career growth is also present, naturally, in this period.
Church
At all times, this channel of social mobility has been the second largest. However, the church plays its maximum role only in those periods when its social role reaches its peak. And this is confirmed by the history of Christianity. In those periods when the most intensive growth in the significance of the church was observed, it was the easiest way to change social status. Slaves and serfs rose along this mobility channel. Moreover, the climb was carried out sometimes to the most influential positions.
This social elevator often became a means for a downward movement. Heretics, pagans, criminals and enemies of the church can serve as an example of this. All of them were destroyed, ravaged or put on trial. It is known that the list of such demoted people included kings and dukes, riches and lords, that is, representatives of the aristocracy.
Social elevators in modern society also include the church. However, its importance and role as a means of mobility is steadily declining. The movement that takes place inside the church staircase no longer has its former significance.
Religious organizations
The role of the social elevator in society is played not only by the church. It can also be attributed to the functions of other religious organizations. Their list includes faiths of Judaism and Taoism, sects, etc. During periods of increasing influence, they allowed their members to grow not only within the institution, but also in society as a whole. This made it possible for those people who were of simple origin to rise to the highest social steps. A clear confirmation of this is the life of Muhammad, as well as his first followers.
School
The system of social elevators at all times included the institutions of upbringing and education. In countries where the school is accessible to all segments of the population, it is an excellent channel of mobility for moving up. If not everyone receives such an education, then it can be compared with an elevator that moves only along the upper floors of a public building.
Examples of social mobility, when movement occurs along the entire vertical, are especially evident in modern European countries. In these states, no one will be able to occupy any prominent position without graduating from a university or college. A graduate with an excellent diploma is able to easily move up the social ladder and hold responsible posts regardless of his origin.
People with limited mobility are those who do not have a diploma of obtaining relevant knowledge. For such people, a number of professions are closed. In addition, their work, in comparison with the work of qualified specialists, is paid lower.
Educational social elevators in modern society provide sufficient ease of promotion. This fact is understood by many. No wonder the number of people who want to enter universities and colleges is growing steadily.
The examples of social mobility that becomes possible with certain knowledge are numerous. However, the most striking of these is the caste society of ancient India. It was during its existence that knowledge and scholarship were rated especially highly. They were even elevated to the rank of second birth, more significant than physical birth.
Political Organizations
All organizations, from political parties to government, are one of the channels of individual mobility. To move up the social ladder in many countries, it is enough to enter the civil service. Over time, there is necessarily an automatic movement along the career ladder. In addition, clerks or officials whose work is highly valued have a chance of a faster rise with the help of this social elevator.
This fact is confirmed by history. Many people born in the families of artisans, peasants or servants, managed to rise and occupy the most prominent public posts. This picture can be observed today. The career path of many statesmen began with a lower-ranking official.
Professional organizations
It is also one of the channels of vertical mobility. Professional organizations may include literary and scientific, as well as creative institutions. Entrance to them is free for everyone with certain abilities. Moreover, social status does not play any role. This mobility channel has become a means for raising many doctors and scientists, lawyers and artists, actors, singers, etc.
A specific type of professional institution and an important type of social elevator is printing. In today's world, we see the increasing role of the press. The printed word helps to ensure an excellent career of an outstanding person.
Material Creator Organizations
Regardless of the specific forms of enrichment, these institutions in any society are social elevators for lifting the individual vertically. The leaders in the primitive tribes became richer people. And such a picture can be observed throughout the history of mankind. The analogy between nobility and wealth is broken only in exceptional periods, for example, during revolutions. However, this state of affairs will soon end. An impoverished noble will certainly appropriate values. The ways for this can be different, up to fraud and violence. And people who become rich will buy or gain privileges.
A striking example of this was the rise of the bourgeois class. During the period of his appearance, those who had money began to seek a high position. Noble estates rose from the lower strata of society, just as brave men had once become knights.
A family
One of the most common channels of an individual’s mobility is marriage to a person with a higher social status. The consequences of this can be twofold. Sometimes marriage leads to the rise of man, and sometimes to his degradation. In the old days, a marriage made with a representative of the lower stratum of society led to a social decline of one who held a higher position. So, in Rome, it was legalized that a married free woman would become a slave herself.
Conclusion
In addition to all of the above channels, there are many others. At all times, social elevators carried people up and down the vertical lines of society. But the one who did not even try to enter one of these lifts, forever remained in the lower layers.
Social elevators exist in any society. They have different shapes and sizes, but humanity needs as much as the blood vessels of a living organism.