Artikel

Kritisch overzicht van de literatuur over sociale mobiliteit

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Abstract

Critical review of social mobility research - Ever since the publication of Sorokin’s classic study, social mobility, as the dynamic part of stratification analysis, has been the subject of many sociological studies. However, and this is common knowledge, modern mobility studies have either been concerned with the testing of Sorokin’s statements without going beyond them, or they have been characterized by increasingly sophisticated techniques for measuring mobility rates. For purposes of clarity we have divided the literature dealing with social mobility into four categories : first, there are those studies that measure the amount of social mobility in the form of rates, in order to set up trends or for comparison sake; secondly, there are mobility studies that focus on the determinants or causes of mobility of groups or individuals within a system or society; thirdly, some studies have mainly concentrated on what may be labeled channels of mobility; fourthly, there are studies dealing with the consequences or effects of mobility. This general review of the literature shows to a more or less extent that the theoretical fruitfulness of past mobility research for stratification theory has been restricted for several reasons. First, most studies use the concepts of social mobility and occupational mobility interchangeably, thus not only neglecting the analytical difference between the two concepts, but in fact reducing social stratification to a hierarchical occupational order. Secondly, most studies have focused their attention on rates of intergenerational mobility and on questions dealing with the causes, consequences and channels of intergenerational mobility. Thus, such studies avoid explanation of the process of social mobility as it takes place in the life cycle of individuals, but deal mainly with the structural framework within which occupational mobility operates. In other words, thus far mobility studies have not shown us how individuals actually change their social position in society, and how social mobility functions within a relatively open or permeable society. Generally speaking, it seems that if the concept of social mobility is to be useful at all, it first of all requires conceptual clarification; only by doing so will one come to a better understanding of social stratification conceived of in functional terms. J2 Finally, some suggestions — with theoretical implications — are made as to what direction social mobility research could follow in order to arrive at such an understanding.

How to Cite:

Brutsaert, H., (1972) “Kritisch overzicht van de literatuur over sociale mobiliteit”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 17(1), 32–50. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95904