What impact does social mobility have on individuals and society?

Social mobility will cause changes in social structure. The direction and frequency of most people's mobility reflect the direction of social change. Therefore, social mobility is regarded as an indicator of social change and a way of social choice. The interest of Western sociology in studying social mobility is to explore who, in what environment, and under what conditions can gain more opportunities for upward mobility. A society that can create more opportunities for upward mobility is a symbol of social vitality and a manifestation of social progress.

Types of social mobility According to the direction, reference points and reasons of social mobility, social mobility can be divided into the following three types. Vertical mobility and horizontal mobility Vertical mobility refers to the flow of a person from a lower status and occupation to an upper status and occupation, or from an upper status and occupation to a lower status and occupation. Vertical flow can be accompanied by movement between regions, or it can be lifted and lowered in place. Horizontal mobility refers to the lateral movement of a person within the same social and occupational class. It is mostly inter-regional mobility, but also includes mobility between different work groups or organizations in the same region.

Vertical mobility is extremely important both to individuals and to society. It affects the class, class and industrial structure of society. If the frequency of upward mobility exceeds that of downward mobility in a period, it means that society is progressing; otherwise, it means that society is regressing. Everyone wants upward mobility and not downward mobility. However, the distribution of opportunities for upward mobility in each society is uneven. Only those who meet certain conditions are likely to rise. This condition is knowledge, talent and opportunities. For society, the key is to have various reasonable flow channels and a set of standards and implementation methods for selecting the best. These channels, standards and methods are formed in the practice of social mobility and are a social choice rather than the subjective design of decision-makers.

Horizontal mobility can rationally distribute and use natural resources, material wealth and human resources, affecting the regional distribution of the population and the internal structure of the same industry. It brings people-to-people exchanges, is conducive to cultural exchanges between regions and groups, can break the isolation of regions and groups, and is conducive to the development of society.

Mobility and intergenerational mobility during an individual's life. Mobility during an individual's life refers to an individual's horizontal or vertical mobility in career and status. This kind of mobility is also a common phenomenon in modern industrial society, especially in cities. Sociological research on this kind of mobility mainly focuses on a person's life, at what age, in what occupational status, people move the most, and in which direction they move, etc. The purpose of the research is to explore a flow curve in life.

Intergenerational mobility is the mobility of occupation and social status between two generations. The specific operation is expressed by measuring the similarities and differences between the son's occupation and the father's occupation. Sociology pays special attention to the investigation and research of intergenerational mobility, because intergenerational mobility can better reflect the direction of social changes and change the occupational structure of society and even families. In a closed traditional society, a person is destined to live in the class and class to which his father's generation belongs throughout his life as soon as he is born. The son inherits the father's business, and there is little intergenerational mobility. In an open modern society, the door to every class and stratum is open, and intergenerational mobility is inevitable. However, the opportunity for upward mobility between generations is not equal for all people and is affected by many personal conditions and environmental factors. The model studied by American sociologists that affects individual career choices is that the father's occupation and the father's education level affect both the son's education and the son's first career. Among them, the father's occupation has the most significant impact on the son's education. The son's first career and the education he received both affected his current career, with the first career having the greatest impact. The influence of the father's occupation and education on the son's current occupation is significantly weakened (see figure). From this model, the intergenerational mobility of a family is restricted by the occupation and education level of the previous generation, that is, the internal conditions of the family play a restrictive role in intergenerational mobility, which is independent of their personal will. If the changing factors of the social environment are taken into consideration, especially when the pace of change in modern society is accelerating, there are many external forces that promote intergenerational mobility in society.

In any society, intergenerational mobility is two-way, with both upward and downward movements. Examining intergenerational mobility within a family only has case-by-case significance, and many accidental factors cannot be ruled out. Sociology focuses on examining the proportion of increases and decreases as a whole, and discovers the laws of social change.

Free mobility and structural mobility Free mobility refers to individual mobility, which is a change in status, occupation or regional movement caused by personal reasons. Free movement will not have a significant impact on social structure and population distribution. Structural flow is relative to free flow. All movements of a considerable number of people, including organized and unorganized movements, caused by sudden changes in the natural and social environment, or by certain social inventions and creations, are structural movements. Structural mobility will affect changes in social structure and population distribution in the short term. Free movement and structured movement are not easy to distinguish in some situations. For example, some immigrants move freely and some move structurally. Free movement occurs frequently at any time and at any time, while structural movement only occurs when the natural environment or society undergoes drastic changes.

Free flow has no definite direction, and the nature and trend of social change cannot be discovered from individual free flows; structural flow is directional, and the nature and direction of social change can be discovered from every structural flow.

Causes of social mobility The factors affecting social mobility can be roughly summarized into three aspects: nature, population, and society.

Natural causes Changes in the natural environment are an important cause of social mobility. The social mobility caused by this is mostly spatial mobility, regulating the redistribution of population and resources. Sudden natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts and other natural disasters, will cause a large outflow of people from a certain area in a short period of time. Although changes in natural ecology are slower, they will also cause the population of a place to gradually move out or move in. For example, since the Han and Tang Dynasties in China, the Guanzhong area in the Wei River Basin has been affected by soil erosion and sandstorm invasion in the northwest Loess Plateau. It has eventually lost its natural environment advantages, causing the population to gradually move to the Yangtze River Delta.

Population factors Population lives in the natural environment and depends on natural resources (including land, animals, plants, minerals and fresh water) for survival. The most prominent among natural resources is land resources, which have a certain carrying capacity. If the population density exceeds the carrying capacity of resources, it will inevitably cause the outward flow of the population. Population density is mainly caused by the natural growth rate of the population, but the natural growth rate of the population is not directly determined by the wealth of resources. When the natural population growth rate of a region is too high or too low, population pressure or attraction will occur, and population flow will occur.

Social reasons In a certain sense, the most fundamental reason for social mobility comes from society. It is complicated to explore the reasons for the mobility of individual people. Only by analyzing the mobility as a whole can we truly grasp the social reasons. The social reasons can be summarized as follows: ①Social values. This is an important reason for social mobility. Things that are affirmed by certain social values, such as status, prestige, wealth, etc., are pursued by people and become the reasons for people's upward mobility. Changes in values ??will change people's flow direction. For example, the perverted social values ????of "knowledge is useless" and "the more knowledge the more reactionary" are popular in China once made people avoid moving to the intellectual class. ②War, ethnic discrimination and ethnic oppression. This is a common cause of social mobility. The Chinese once called the movement caused by natural disasters "escape", and the movement caused by war and national oppression "escape". Wherever there is war and national oppression, there are refugees fleeing. Refugees have become a major social problem in the contemporary world. ③Social reform and social revolution. This is what causes structural mobility in society. Social reform has adjusted the political and economic system and industrial structure. It is a profound social change and will inevitably cause the flow of population across space and occupational classes. The social mobility that has occurred in China since 1979 is proof of this. Revolution fundamentally changes the class relations of society. During and after the revolution, class relations undergo major adjustments. During the adjustment, members of each class will inevitably move upward or downward. ④The progress of science and technology and the development of productivity caused by inventions and creations are the fundamental reasons for social mobility. The first three reasons are all derived from it. The social mobility caused by the former is individual, partial or temporary. Without the development of social productive forces, those reasons are impossible to occur. Ultimately, the root cause of social mobility is the development of social productive forces. In traditional societies, social mobility was scarce because of the slow development of productive forces; in industrial societies, the rapid development of productive forces promoted the differentiation of industrial structures, and the social mobility rate continued to increase. In a society where productivity levels continue to increase, the rate of upward mobility will also increase; conversely, downward mobility will occur. Social Mobility in China Ancient China was a long-term closed agricultural society, and the feudal mode of production had long been dominant. On this basis, the value concept of settling down and relocating was formed, with the ideal goal of living and working in peace and contentment, "a scholar will be a scholar, a farmer will be a farmer", and an attitude of rejection of social mobility will be adopted. "New rich", "nouveau riche", "broken household" and "migrant household" are all derogatory terms for migrants. In ancient China, there was very little social mobility. However, vertical flow and horizontal flow of population still exist. Receiving education and participating in imperial examinations are an important way for ordinary people to move upward. Population flow is mainly caused by the natural environment and war, and the general direction of flow is from southwest to southeast. In addition, there are also population flows from the interior to the frontier and from the northeast to the northwest. These flows are mainly caused by reclamation of wasteland and border defense. At the end of feudal society, there was a flow from North China to Northeast China, and from Fujian and Guangdong to Southeast Asian countries.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in addition to a large-scale structural flow in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, for a long period of time thereafter, vertical flows between occupational classes and horizontal flows within occupations Movements are strictly controlled and turnover rates are low. However, as some outstanding workers and farmers participated in various administrative and business management, some mobility occurred in the professional class. At the same time, as the children of working people have more opportunities to receive education, upward mobility has also increased to a certain extent. From 1966 to 1976, there was a movement organized by the government to mobilize and organize urban educated youth to "go to the mountains and go to the countryside." This was a downward flow between generations.

Therefore, the situation of restricting social mobility and organizing downward mobility is mainly caused by the slow development of social productivity and even sometimes regression in some aspects, in addition to the cognitive deviation of policy makers.

After 1979, China implemented political and economic system reforms, adjusted the industrial structure in rural areas, implemented various forms of contracting systems in cities, decentralized part of the power of government departments, and relaxed the relationship between rural and urban areas in some areas. Population movement restrictions. As a result, social mobility unfolded at an unprecedented scale and speed. According to statistics, by 1987, more than 80 million laborers in rural areas across the country had switched from agriculture to non-agriculture, realizing local career changes; a class of self-employed workers emerged in urban and rural areas across the country; urban reforms gave opportunities to people with knowledge and talent Move up to management. Most of the above flows are vertical upward flows. The mainstream of horizontal flow during this period was from all parts of the country to the southern and southeastern coastal areas. The flow of people overseas from major cities and Fujian and Guangdong provinces also became active again. This large-scale social mobility, with upward mobility as the mainstream, has different standards and channels. It may be an inevitable phenomenon in the period of social reform. However, in the long-term trend, education level and skills will become the primary criteria for upward mobility.