Social Mobility
According to Fairchild, Social mobility is a movement from one condation to another.
Bredemeyer and Stephenson say that social mobility is moving of an individual or group of people from
one status to another.
From these definitions it is clear that social mobility.
(1) Is a movement of an individual or group of people from one condition to another;
(2) Is adoption of a change which may be social progress; or
(3) Is rejection of previous social condition and adjusting into the new change of life.
Social mobility is change in occupation, in residential place and in statues upward or downward.
Every society of the world has social mobility. Though the rate of mobility is different in all the societies
depending upon their cultural condition. The following are in the factors which bring about social
mobility.
Causes of Social Mobility:
(1) Dissatisfaction from previous condition: The people stick to the same condition does not fulfil the
purpose of new social ways of living. They leave it and attend to the new condition of life.
(2) Adoption of new conditions: The people leaving the vious conditions adopt the new ones which are
functional according to the new ways of living. This adoption of new way of living is called.
(3) Industrial and Technological Development: The development of technology and industry brings
about a have in the socio economic structure of society. The modes of living of the people are changed
which bring about change in attitudes, ideas, habits, customs and sentiment of the people. It means
total socio-cultural life is changed. He we get social mobility.
(4) Education: The progress of education is imperative in n industrially advanced society. The
development of technology industry and education are simultaneous processes being correlated.
Advancement in education makes a society mobile.
(5) Urbanization: The development of urban population and modern attitude is called urbanization It is
also attached with the development of education, technology and industry. These factors are
interrelated together. The population of Faisalabad showed the highest increment (927%) in 1961-72
census. This factor of urbanization is being guessed due to high rate of expansion in technology industry
and education in this city.
(6) Means of communication and Transportation: The means of communication and transportation
play great role in bringing about social change. The people get traditional attitudes changed and accept
modern ways of living by these sources of information.
Types of Social Mobility:
There are three types of social mobility.
(1) Territorial Mobility: It is the change of residence from one place to another. In rural area of Pakistan
this mobility found because the people of a community dislike leaving their ancestral place of living. In
urban areas the people sell one house and purchase on other, one and get another on rent; leave one
city and migrate to another.
In Karachi 70 to 80 thousand people enter the city annually from other parts of the country. In 1959 the
migrants constituted 82% of the total population. Within the last 30 years, the population growth rate in
Karachi has been 7% annually (Figures taken from the 10th annual conference 1977 of Pakistan
Sociological Association Journal on Urbanization in Pakistan). According to an estimate 4% of the
population is shifting from rural to urban areas of Pakistan.
Some people migrate to cities due to modern facilities of education, health, recreation and
transportation. Some for Jobs and some migrate for other reasons.
(2) Vertical Mobility: It is defined as any upwards or downward change in the absolute or relates rank of
any individual or group. Promotion in Job, change in income marrying a woman of high status, are the
expels of vertical mobility. The upward mobility is from down to upward and taken place when one is
progressing in income, status, Job, education or any other role. The downward move takes place, when
there is less in business, loss in income, fall in status or Job or loss of wealth and property. In both the
cases the social change is there. Vertical mobility in upward direction is at its fast ratio in urban areas.
Because here the socio-economic conditions are rapidly progressing. In rural areas this rate of upward
mobility is slow due to limited socio-economic resources. The downward mobility is seen when
inefficient son wastes his inherited property in adultery gambling, drinking and other social evils. After
some time her comes down to lower class from upper.
(3) Horizontal Mobility: An alteration of Profession with no significant movement up or down in the
system of social status is called horizontal mobility.
Amanger or store shifts to another store on the same rank, Pay and Prestige, will be called horizontal
mobility. It is a change in Profession with no change in income and status. A person working on medical
store opens education department shifts to health department at the same pay and facility, it is
horizontal mobility.
The rural people in Pakistan are frequently changing their profession. It means horizontal mobility is
least found there. In urban areas all the members in a family almost belong to different professions. It is
due to high rate of change in horizontal mobility.
