Comparative Social Mobility

We have already seen that the amount of social movement in a culture—both upward and down­ward—is rather limited in societies characterized by slavery, caste, and estate systems of stratifica­tion. However, it would be incorrect to assume that the degree of social mobility and the means for obtaining mobility are the same in all class sys­tems.

Sociologist S. M. Miller (1960) undertook a cross-cultural examination of mobility which was as ambitious as Treiman's investigation of occu­pational prestige rankings. There are inherent difficulties in Miller's analysis—which he himself recognized—since he was forced to rely on sev­eral different studies, none of which was identical in purpose, time span, or definitions of class. Nevertheless, we can use his data to develop ten­tative conclusions regarding comparative social mobility.

Miller studied mobility in 12 nations, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Hun­gary, West Germany, Italy, and Japan. In only two of the nations surveyed—the United States and France—did upward mobility exceed down­ward mobility. Miller attached great importance to this rather surprising finding. He argued that researchers' concern with upward social mobility had obscured the degree and social significance of downward mobility.

The implications of downward mobility within a society are actually a bit unclear. For the indi­vidual, it obviously can lead to a diminished in­come and a sense of failure. Yet, in a wider socie­tal sense, downward mobility may mean that the children of the more advantaged social classes are no longer being guaranteed privileged lives. The class system may be opening up to talented indi­viduals from less favored groups; as a result, some members of the elite lose their traditional positions at the top of social hierarchies.

Following the lead of Miller, three sociologists, Andrea Tyree, Moshe Semyonov, and Robert Hodge (1979), compared social mobility in 24 nations. They found mobility to be highest in Is­rael, Canada, Australia, and the United States— four nations which share a recent history of hav­ing received large numbers of immigrants. High rates of immigration imply rapid population growth and more extensive social change. These factors contribute to an expansion of job oppor­tunities, which in turn facilitates social mobility. Conversely, the researchers (Tyree et al., 1979:417) found that mobility was lowest in na­tions such as Italy, the Philippines, Brazil, and Colombia, all of which have comparatively low rates of immigration. Sociologists continue to pursue comparative studies of mobility, because they can be of great significance in examining social inequality in various cultures.

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