Social mobility: horizontal and vertical are categories related to the variability and stratification of societies. In the environment of any social group or an extensive social organism, quantitative and qualitative changes occur, as a result of which the character changes
of this organism, new social classes appear and disappear in a variety of sections: national, subcultural, property, and so on. Examples of vertical social mobility are the best practical evidence of this. Such a dynamic society will necessarily be accompanied by constant
changes in the social status of specific individuals. Actually, these transformations are examples of vertical social mobility. Less often - horizontal, because it is not always accompanied by a change in social status.
Types of Social Mobility
As the main options for this process, modern scientists distinguish two
following species.
Horizontal mobility. Examples
In this case, the transition of a person from one social group to another, however equal in status to the previous one, is implied. The most commonplace examples are moving to a new place of residence, moving to an alternative job or a position approximately equal to the previous one in terms of prestige and income. Another special case of this form is migrants, since when they move to a new country for themselves, they turn from indigenous people into foreigners for society. By the way, horizontal mobility can sometimes give rise to examples of vertical social mobility. As often happens in the situation with the same migrants.
Vertical social mobility. Examples
Everything here is quite clear on an intuitive level. This is a decrease or increase in personal status in a particular social group or society as a whole. Examples of vertical social mobility: increasing material incomes (or vice versa, decreasing or even ruining), moving up a step up or down the career ladder, gaining widespread popularity, which comes to musicians, artists, athletes, and so on (or whatever rarity, oblivion).
Elevators
Social mobility as a phenomenon provides for the presence in society of mechanisms that ensure its very existence. These mechanisms
scientists called social elevators. These may be: the army, school, church, political parties, family, government groups, government agencies, and so on.
Degree of social mobility
An important point is also that the individual’s ability to change his status throughout life can vary dramatically in different social systems. The so-called traditional societies are characterized by an extreme degree of tradition and taboo. Here, often, social status is not only inherited, but its preservation is also ensured by a whole system of social norms and rules, the violation of which can be punished by punishments from public censure to legal responsibility.