What are some of the factors that affect social mobility? Can these be overcome?

Do you believe the structural-functionalist or the social conflict approach best explains social stratification? Why?

 

Factors that affect social mobility include;

Motivation

• Each person not only wants to have a better way of living, but also wants to improve his or her social status. It is possible to attain any rank in an open system. This transparency motivates individuals to work hard and develop their skills in order to gain greater social standing. It is unlikely without such inspiration and actions on the part of individual social mobility.

Achievement and Failures:

• Here, achievement refers to extra ordinary, typically unforeseen success, which draws a broader public's attention to a person's skill. In social mobility, not all successes can result. Achievements only impact status if they are extraordinary. For example, his reputation would be enhanced by a poor man who has gained wealth or an unknown writer who has earned a literary prize.
• Failures and misdeeds impact downward mobility in a similar way. Fraudulent bankruptcy would strip blue books from a member of the upper classes; he will receive no dinner invites from his peers and he will become ineligible as a marriage partner. His wife can divorce him if he is already married. He's going to have to withdraw from his clubs and from any position he holds. He will not however, become a part of the lowest stratum, even though it will be hard for him to find a new organization.

Education

• Education not only allows a person to gain skills, but is also a higher-prestige occupational passport. One has to be trained in science subjects to become a doctor. Similarly, one must be at least a graduate to participate in a competitive review of the I.A.S.
• It is only after receiving a minimum of formal education that people will aspire to hold higher positions. The representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are not only able to change their traditional occupation in modern India through schooling, but have also begun to occupy higher prestige jobs. Education is a fundamental prerequisite in a modern industrial society where status can be attained.

Skills and Training:

• Each society makes provision for the younger generation to impart skills and training. One has to invest a lot of time and cash to learn skills and preparation. Why do these individuals waste time and money? The explanation is that certain individuals are given rewards by society. They are entitled to high positions when they finish their training, which are much better than those positions that they would have taken without such training.
• Society not only grants greater social status to those people who have this experience, but also offers greater economic incentives and other privileges. Holding these rewards in mind, individuals undergo such preparation with the intention of rising up the social ladder. In other words, skills and preparation promote role enhancement, which contributes to social mobility.

Step-by-step explanation

Do you believe the structural-functionalist or the social conflict approach best explains social stratification? Why?

• Social stratification refers to a system by which a society in a hierarchy classifies categories of people. It is abundantly clear in the United States that certain groups have greater standing, influence, and resources than other groups. Such distinctions are what has contributed to social stratification.

Four key concepts drive social stratification:

• Social stratification, not only a result of human differences, is a trait of culture.
• Over centuries, social stratification continues.
• Racial stratification is universal, but variable (it happens everywhere) (it takes different forms across different societies).
• Racial stratification requires not only injustice, but also convictions (inequality is embedded in the philosophy of a society).