social mobility and types

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SUBJECT: INTODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY.
TOPIC: SOCIAL MOBILITY AND IT’S TYPES
 INTRODUCTION
 DEFINITIONS
 TYPES
 HORIZONTAL MOBILITY
 VERTICAL MOBILITY
 TERRITORIAL MOBILITY
 RELATIVE MOBILITY
SUBMITTED TO: MA’AM SADIA
DEPARTMENT: BS ENGLISH
SEMESTER: 3RD
SUBMITTED BY:
 NABIA NAZ
 SUNDUS SYED
 LAILA SABA
 MINAHIL KHAN
 GORGORA AFTAB
CONTENTS:
GROUP MEMBERS TOPICS PAGE NO
LAILA SABA DEFINITIONS 2
SUNDUS SYED HORIZONTAL
MOBILITY
4
MINAHIL KHAN VERTICAL MOBILITY 5
GORGORA AFTAB TERRITORIAL
MOBILITY
7
NABIA NAZ RELATIVE MOBILITY 7

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INTRODUCTION:
Social mobility is an important feature of modern society. It refers to the movement of a
person from one social role to another. Modern class system cannot system without social
mobility. Is is because class system is based upon achieved social roles and status. Some
people change their status from lower to higher while others may lose their higher status to
lower
DEFINITIONS:
FAIRCHILD:
Social mobility is a movement from one condition to another.
BREDEMEYER AND STEPHESON:
Social mobility is moving of an individual or group of people from one status to another.
M. IQBAL CHAUDHRY:
The movement of individuals with in social structure is called social mobility.
HORTON AND HUNT:
Social mobility may be defined as the act of moving from one social class to another.
OR
Social mobility is movement up and down in the social status and usually income and may
be experienced by individuals or by entire group.

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TYPES /FORMS OF SOCIAL MOBILITY:
Social mobility is of different types. Some of them are given below:
 Horizontal Mobility
 Vertical Mobility
 Territorial Mobility
 Relative Mobility
HORIZONTAL MOBILITY:
DEFINITION:
Horizontal mobility refers to switching from one position to another without a change in
social status.
OR
In other words, its when we change our positions within our same level of social status,
and we do not move up or down in the social hierarchy.
EXPLANATION:
In order to get a clear idea about horizontal mobility we must discuss the term social status
since two terms are related. Our social status refers to our rank in the social hierarchy and
is based on several factors including our occupation, wealth, achievements, education, race
and ethnicity, marital status.
EXAMPLE:
Susie is the third-grade teacher at Wilheim Elementary School in the small suburban city.
After two years of working at Wilheim Elementary School, Susie decides that no longer
wants to live in small town and would rather live in major city. Susie interviews for a job
in Chicago in hopes of relocating to one of these cities. After three months of looking Susie
was offered a new position as a first-grade teacher at a school in Atlanta. Susie switching
jobs is an example of horizontal mobility.
EXAMPLE:
If a clerk is transferred from one department to another with same status i.e. with the same
pay scale, the mobility in this case will be called horizontal mobility.
EXAMPLE:

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A factory worker who finds a new job as construction worker
VERTICAL MOBILITY:
DEFINITION:
The movement of individuals or groups to positions in society that involve a change in
class, status and power.
EXPLANATION:
It is a type of social movement in which a person or group moves up or down in status..
Vertical mobility can also apply outside of social situations to any type of movement that
goes up or down a hierarchy of some type.
VERTICAL MOBILITY TYPES
TYPES:
1: Upward Mobility
2: Downward Mobility
UPWARD MOBILITY:
Upwards involves an individual moving from a group in a lower stratum to a higher one or
the creation of a similar group with a higher societal position, instead of side by side with
its existing group
Those who gain are called upward mobile
EXAMPLE:

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When a person born to poor parents becomes a well-educated, wealthy businessperson, this
is an example of upward vertical social mobility.
DOWNWARD MOBILITY:
The movement of an individual from one social level to a lower one
is called downward mobility.
Those who move in opposite direction are called downwordly mobile
EXAMPLE:
Downward mobility occurs for example when a businessman incurs losses in his business
and is forced to declare bankruptcy, resulting in a move to a lower stratum of society

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TERRITORIAL MOBILITY
DEFINITION:
The change in locality, territory or resistance when an individual move from one place to
another place is called territorial mobility.
The trend of territorial mobility is common in urban areas as compared
to rural areas.
EXPLANATION:
In rural areas people dislike to leave their places but in urban areas the people leave
one place and gent another on rent and leave on city and migrate to another.
EXAMPLE:
Migration of rural people to urban is a common example of territorial mobility
RELATIVE MOBILITY:
DEFINITION:
A measure of a person’s upward or downward movement in the social hierarchy
compared to the movement of other members of their inherited social class.
Relative mobility refers to the fluidity of a society where if one person moves up in relative
terms another by definition must have moved down i.e it is zero sum proposition. In
contrast absolute mobility is a zero-sum game.
EXPLANATION:
Relative mobility looks at the mobility of a person in comparison to the mobility of others
in the same cohort or their parent. In more advanced economies and OECD (
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries there is
more space for relative mobility than for absolute mobility. This is because developed
countries or advance economies have a baseline for the conditions in which people
live that is better than it was years ago

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RELATIVE MOBILITY EXAMPLE:
The expectation that children's status would exceed parents is an example of relative
mobility.
The opportunities presented to a middle class child born in a particular area of the
United States, who might be predicted to attain a college level education and a
maximum income of $80,000.
CONCLUSION:
It is concluded that social mobility is very important for the stability of modern society.
However ,too much social mobility can lead instability in social structure.
We also concluded that individuals within the society need to move in order to improve
their status and social structure.
QUESTIONS:
What do you understand by social mobility?
How horizontal mobility differs from vertical mobility?
What do you know about territorial mobility?
What is relative mobility?
REFERENCES
 Introduction to Sociology lecture notes by “Zerihun Doda” (June 2005).
 Principles of Sociology by “DR. Anwar Alam’’.
 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/socialmobility/
 www.dictionary.com
 www.study.com
 www.boundless.com
 studylecturenotes.com › social-mobilitydefinition-types-of-social-mobility
 www.sociologyguide.com/socialmobility/types-of-mobility.php

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