A social elevator is ... Social elevators in modern society

It is not a secret for any of us that in any society there is a so-called social ladder. This is a certain hierarchy with the location of individual segments of the population on it. Some social group is on this ladder above, some - below. Some people throughout their lives do not leave the boundaries of their social stratum. They are standing on the same step of the stairs. Others rise or descend on it. However, the movement is very slow.

The concept of social elevator

In any society, there are certain prerequisites that allow rapid movement from one layer of the population to another. Ideally, this movement is directed upwards. Although there are cases of sudden movement to a lower level. This is a social elevator. Definition of this concept was given by Pitirim Sorokin. This Russian-American sociologist at the beginning of the twentieth century conducted an analysis of the movement of various social groups according to their status. At the same Sorokin was calculated in which cases, these movements will allow a person to grow in this life. The theory was very convincing, as it was written off from nature - an individual who comes from a family of a drunken artisan who lived in a small village in the Russian north.

Sorokin argued that a person, in order to grow, it is necessary to look for his own channel of mobility (social elevator). This will allow you to quickly change the existing status.

Mobility channels

According to Sorokin's theory, social elevators can be absolutely different for each person. Types of mobility channels of the population include the following elements in their list:

- the army;

- church;

- education (school);

- family;

- business (property).

In today's world, mobility channels have been supplemented by civil service, sports, politics, and art. Everyone who wants to change his status must find his own social elevator. This will allow you to start the whole climbing mechanism and start moving. Of course, you can use not a lift, but a ladder. However, this will take too much time and will become a very tiring process.

Types of mobility

Change by a group or an individual of his class or place in society can be both horizontal and vertical. The first type of mobility is the transition from one social status to another. These are social elevators, examples of which are the change of citizenship, the transition to a different religious community.

Vertical mobility is understood as the movement of a person (up or down) through the career ladder. This is also included in the concept of "social lifts". Examples of this movement:

- promotions (upward mobility);

- Degradation (downward mobility).

Vertical and horizontal channels of status change are influenced by various factors. Among them, population density and mortality, fertility, age and sex. Lifts of social mobility are most often used by young people. Many men aspire to change their status. The low-mobile groups of the population are mainly elderly people and women.

The transition from one layer of society to another can be done either by a group or alone. These are also different social elevators. Types of mobility in this case are divided into individual and group.

Collective social elevators exist in the case of available caste, race, class or other privileges. In this case, the population of the lower groups can arrange a riot in order to abolish the existing restrictions for it. This will allow collectively to rise to a higher step of the social ladder. Examples of social mobility of this species can be found throughout the history of mankind. This is the superiority of the varna priests over warriors in ancient India, as well as the rise of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution to the status of the former tsarist aristocracy.

Modern social elevators include the concept of vertical mobility. However, their definition is not given in the service context. Change in the status of an individual or group is understood as a change in position in the social hierarchy.

The main channels of mobility

The movement of people from one layer of society to another is present in any country. Sometimes a social elevator is used for this. This allows you to shorten the distance from one step of the ladder to another.

What are the channels for such mobility? The so-called social circulation becomes possible with the participation of various institutions. In their list there are channels of special interest. This is the army and the church, the school, as well as economic, professional and political organizations. These social elevators are typical for any society.

Army

This institution has special significance in wartime. These are the periods when civil and interstate armed clashes take place. The success of the war directly affects the fate of the whole society. And it does not matter what kind of social status the soldiers have. Their courage and strategic talent are especially valued precisely in such periods. Promotion of lower ranks to the command post during the war takes place, as a rule, in the presence of a commander talent. The power given to such people is further used to advance the career ladder. In addition, it allows looting and robbing, revenge, humiliation of their enemies, as well as receiving loud titles, swimming in luxury and being in the center of pompous ceremonies. The army in this case is a social elevator. This allows commoners to become generals, to receive the status of princes, monarchs, dictators and rulers of the world. And at the same time, many who are aristocrats, kings and rulers by birth status, lose their titles and social status.

Such examples of social mobility are numerous. They literally abound in history. Thus, rulers and leaders became the leaders of militant tribes. In addition, out of ninety-two Roman emperors, thirty-six reached such a high status only thanks to their service in the army.

Examples of social mobility have also been observed in modern wars. Many leaders of civil and international armed clashes rapidly climbed the career ladder. But at the same time, a huge number of military commanders who were defeated, demoted, eliminated, became slaves, in other words, plummeted, made a descending movement in the army social elevator.

As for the peaceful years, the role of this channel of vertical mobility is several times smaller. However, career growth is , naturally, also in this period.

Church

At all times this channel of public mobility was second in importance. However, the church plays its maximum role only in those periods when its social role reaches its peak. And this is confirmed by the history of Christianity. In those periods when the most intensive increase in the importance of the church was observed, it was the easiest way to change the social status. On this channel of mobility, both slaves and serfs rose. And the ascent was sometimes carried out to the most influential positions.

This social elevator often became a means for the downward movement. An example of this can be heretics, pagans, criminals and enemies of the church. All of them were destroyed, ruined or put on trial. It is known that in the list of such demoted people there were kings and dukes, princes and lords, that is, representatives of the aristocracy.

Social elevators in modern society also include the church. However, its importance and the role of the means of mobility has been steadily declining. The movement that takes place inside the church staircase does not matter.

Religious organizations

The role of the social elevator in the society is played not only by the church. It can be attributed to the functions of other religious organizations. Their list includes the confessions of Judaism and Taoism, sects, etc. During periods of increasing influence, they allowed their members to grow not only inside the institution, but also in society as a whole. This made it possible for those people who had a simple origin to rise to the highest social steps. Clear proof of this is the life of Muhammad, as well as his first followers.

School

The system of social elevators at all times included the institutions of upbringing and education. In countries where the school is accessible to all segments of the population, it is an excellent channel of mobility for upward movement. If this education is not received by everyone, then it can be compared with an elevator moving only on the upper floors of a public building.

Examples of social mobility, when the movement occurs throughout the vertical, are particularly evident in modern European countries. In these states no one can take any noticeable position without graduating from a university or college. A graduate with an excellent diploma is able to easily move along the social ladder and occupy responsible posts irrespective of his origin.

The low-mobility groups of the population are those who do not have a diploma for obtaining relevant knowledge. A number of professions are closed for such people. In addition, their work, in comparison with the work of qualified professionals, is paid lower.

Educational social elevators in modern society provide sufficient ease in progress. This fact is understood by many. No wonder the number of people wishing to enter universities and colleges is steadily growing.

Examples of social mobility, which becomes possible with the acquisition of certain knowledge, are numerous. However, the most striking of them is the caste society of ancient India. It was in the period of its existence that knowledge and scholarship were evaluated especially highly. They were even raised to the rank of the second birth, more significant than the birth of the physical.

Political Organizations

All organizations - from political parties to the government - are one of the channels for the mobility of the individual. For progress on the social ladder in many countries it is enough to enter the civil service. With the passage of time, there is necessarily an automatic movement along the career ladder. In addition, clerks or officials, whose work is particularly appreciated, have a chance of a more rapid recovery with the help of this social elevator.

This fact is confirmed by history. Many people born in the families of artisans, peasants or servants managed to rise and occupy the most visible public posts. This picture can be observed today. The career path of many statesmen began with a lower-level official.

Professional organizations

This is also one of the channels of vertical mobility. Literary and scientific, as well as creative institutions can be referred to professional organizations. Entrance to them is free for all who have certain abilities. At the same time, social status does not matter. This mobility channel has become a means for the rise of many doctors and scientists, lawyers and artists, actors, singers, etc.

A specific type of professional institutions and an important type of social elevator is the seal. In today's world, we see the increasing role of the press. The printed word contributes to providing a great career for an outstanding personality.

Organizations that create wealth

Regardless of the specific forms of enrichment, these institutions in any society are social elevators for raising the individual vertically. Leaders still in the primitive tribes became richer people. And such a picture can be observed throughout the history of mankind. The analogy between nobility and wealth is broken only in exceptional periods, for example, during revolutions. However, this state of things will soon end. An impoverished nobility will certainly take value. The ways for this can be different, up to fraud and violence. And people who have become rich, will buy or gain privileges.

A vivid example of this was the rise of the bourgeois class. In the period of his emergence of a high position, those who had money sought to achieve. Notable estates rose from the lower strata of society, just as brave men once became knights.

A family

One of the most common channels of mobility of an individual is marriage with a representative of a higher social status. The consequences of this can be twofold. Sometimes marriage leads to the rise of a person, and sometimes - to its degradation. In olden times, marriage, concluded with a representative of the lower strata of society, led to a social fall of one who held a higher position. So, in Rome, it was legalized that a free woman married to a slave herself became a slave.

Conclusion

In addition to all the above channels, there are many others. At all times, social elevators have transported the streams of people up and down the vertical of society. But the one who did not even try to enter one of these lifts, remained forever in the lower strata.

Social elevators exist in any society. They have different shapes and sizes, but humanity needs to the same extent as blood vessels to a living organism.