What is Social Mobility?

What is Social Mobility?
Social mobility refers to the shift in an individual’s social status
from one status to another. The shift can either be higher,
lower, inter-generational, or intra-generational, and it cannot
necessarily be determined if the change is for good or bad.

Types of social Mobility?
1.Horizontal mobility
This occurs when a person changes their occupation but their
overall social standing remains unchanged. For example, if a
doctor goes from practicing medicine to teaching in a medical
school, the occupation’s changed but their prestige and social
standing likely remain the same. Sorokin describes horizontal
mobility as a change in religious, territorial, political, or other
horizontal shifts with no change in the vertical position.

2.Vertical mobility
This refers to a change in the occupational, political, or religious
status of a person that causes a change in their societal
position. An individual moves from one social stratum to
another. Vertical mobility can be ascending or descending.

Ascending involves an individual moving from a group in a
lower stratum to a higher one or the creation of a similar group