Three Types of Social Mobility

1. Intergenerational Mobility

2. Structural Mobility

3. Exchange Mobility

1. Intergenerational Mobility

• the change that family members make in social class from one generation to the next

• Upward social mobility is when a child moves up the socail ladder compared to their parents– Father (high school graduate) is used car dealer, son

(college graduate) owns a GM dealership

• Downward social mobility is when a child moves down the social ladder compared to their parents

2. Structural Mobility

• Movement up or down the social ladder that is due to changes in the structure of society, not to individual efforts

• Example of when computers were invented• Large amounts of people began training on

computers for repair work, computer programming and teaching computers

• People went from blue collar to white collar jobs

Structural Mobility Cont.

• Great Depression hit, opportunities disappeared and millions of people went down the ladder

• The change in the ladder is based less upon individual behavior than structural changes in society

3. Exchange Mobility

• When large amounts of people move up or down the social ladder but on a type of balance.

• Proportions of the social class stay about the same• Example: High demand for new computers means

new jobs for computer people (white collar)• Same time, higher demand for imports on the

computers means skilled workers take lower status jobs (people change their social status)

Women in Social Mobility• Long period of time, sociologists

would not look at women compared to their mother

• Women were seen with no class position (assigned wives the class with their husbands)

• About half of sons pass their fathers on the social scale

• 1/3 stay the same level• 1/6 fell below their father

Women in Social Mobility• With more women working for

pay, studies began to change• Sociologists found that women’s

parents advised them to get an education and a career before marriage

• Proves family is important in socialization process

• Without structural mobility in society, women would not have these new jobs

Interpreting Statistics

• U.S. is known for its intergenerational mobility• Children who are born to the poorest Americans,

1/3 stay in that position, half end up even poorer• Children who are born in to the richest Americans,

1/3 stay in that position, 2/5 end up even richer• High income parents keep their children afloat,

while low income parents weigh their children down

Pain of Social Mobility

• Climbing the social ladder brings pain• People who move up the ladder struggle with the

different worlds• Women who came from a working class, now in the

middle class life have trouble dealing with the taste they grew up with

• Better furniture, cars, vacations , etc…• Parents become distant to their children