Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MOBILITY
MOBILITY
Mobility is high during a revolution and after a revolution, a system of social stratification may emerge and the rate of
social mobility may decline (to deviate). Similarly, during recession or depression, when the rate of growth slows down,
opportunities for mobility are greatly reduced. In such circumstances, the possibility of upward mobility will largely
depend upon the extent of downward mobility. Another factor having an influence on the mobility, when there is little
economic development, is that of differential fertility. If the upper and middle classes limit their families, the vacant
places maybe filled by individuals who rise from the lower classes. Such differential fertility has rarely been a major
influence on social mobility. Upward social mobility has often been promoted by international movement of
population . A very important example of this phenomenon is the colonial expansion of many European countries
from the sixteenth century onwards, which provided opportunities for individuals to move upward in society by
enriching themselves as traders or settlers and, at the same time as they subjugated (to bring under power) other people in
Asia, Africa and America. At a later stage, with the creation of new societies by European settlers in their adopted
countries (especially in North America and Australia), fresh opportunities for mobility were provided by large scale
immigration.
Vertical mobility may also have some undesirable consequences. Vertical social mobility, both upward and downward,
produces strain in the individuals striving for success and adapting to new social milieus. Such mobility may also be
disruptive (having an upsetting or unsettling effect) of families and local communities, (e.g., in
Kerala, where thousands of talented individuals have gone to work in the Middle East countries, disrupting their
family life). A high rate of vertical mobility may produce in a society the condition that the French Sociologist
Durkheim called "anomie" (meaning normlessness) and the resultant disorientation and anxiety ( a state of being anxious).
Under this condition, there is insufficient regulation of the individual behaviour, and the individual suffers from the
"malady of infinite aspiration (lofty hopes or aims)". The presence of such stress and strain may also give rise to a higher
incidence of mental illness among the highly ambitious and highly mobile individuals.
3.1.5 Channels of Mobility
Many social institutions like army, church, school, political party and occupational organisation serve as the channels
of vertical mobility through which individuals ascend or descend the social ladder. In any society, at a given period of
time, one of these institutions may play a dominant role, (the army in time of war). With the exception of the period of
anarchy, vertical mobility is strongly controlled by the elaborate social machinery of testing, selection and placement
of individuals with regard to various social positions. The family, the church and the school test the general
intelligence and character of the individual according to their standards. When the individual enters an occupational
institution, he is tested for the specific ability and skills necessary for the successful performance of definite functions.
These institutions, therefore, serve as social sieves. They perform not only the educational and training functions, but
the selective functions as well.
The process of vertical mobility exerts a number of important influences upon social life. Intensive vertical mobility
increases plasticity arid versatility of behaviour and stimulates progress in thought, discovery and invention. On the
other hand, too high a rate of social mobility seems to increase mental diseases when the individuals face difficulties
in adaptation to the new situation. Vertical mobility makes the social structure elastic, breaks the isolation created by
class and caste and stimulates rationalism. It’s direct and indirect influences on all aspects of social organisations are
very potent, but highly complex.
3.1.6 Current Trends in Mobility
The economic development of the Western industrial nations after the World War II and the provision of more
elaborate welfare services have generated significant changes in the class system. These changes have been
interpreted in many different ways by various sociologists. According to some authors, there has been a general
diminution (decrease) in class differences. This has resulted in a higher level of living, greater social mobility and a
limited redistribution of wealth and income. These social changes are reflected in a decline in class conflict. This
interpretation leads to the conclusion that the Western societies are moving in the direction of relative classlessness or
that they are becoming predominantly middle class societies. In sharp contrast to this interpretation, other social
scientists have argued that the social changes since World War II are leading to the formation of new social classes
like a new upper class consisting of managers and organizers of production in both public and private sectors.
3.2.3 Distribution
3.2.3.1 Problem of Income Distribution
It is not enough for a country to attempt to increase its national income by development programmes. The national
income must be increased; but it is also necessary to ensure that it is equitably distributed among various
sections of the society. Inequality of income is an important feature of capitalist economies. Even socialist and
communist countries, who have established systems for the purpose of reducing inequalities of personal
income, have failed to attain this equality, in pro-historic times, there was no need for a policy on income distribution
since man led a nomadic (a member of a wandering pastoral community life), always in search of food. Income distribution
came into force during the feudal (a right to the use of land, houses, etc in perpetuity) system and attamed great importance
with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Government policies to ensure a fair distribution of personal income are
among the most controversial and difficult issues of public policy.
It has been found that the constant (x (the slope of the straight line) is approximately equal to 1.5 in all countries at
present. In addition, all ranges of income distribution follow the same linear relationship for all countries at present. It
follows, therefore, that because of the unchanging and unchangeable nature of the whole range of income frequency
distribution, economic welfare can be increased only through an increase in the total
amount of income. It is obvious that the Pareto's law is of great importance for major questions of economic theory as
well as economic policy. Many economists and statisticians have directed their attention towards testing of its validity.
Results of such cumulative analysis have shown that the Pareto's law is quite inadequate as a mathematical
generalisation. Because of the heterogeneity of the frequency distribution curve (due to grouping together of income
from various economic categories), it is unlikely that any mathematical law describing adequately the entire
distribution of income can ever be formulated.
Other attempts to substitute for the linear distribution with another mathematical expression have also been found
unsatisfactory for describing the distribution of income. However, a French economist, R. Gibrat, has obtained
successful descriptions of a large number of frequency distributions of income by using a modification of the normal
distribution curve of errors. The curve employed by Gibrat is:
Y-r""
Vii
Z=aloste-x„)+b………………………………………….
where y is the number of income recipients, X is the variable size of income, (X - x3 is a selected income constant,
while a and b are constants to be found from empirical statistics. The assumption in which eq. 3.2.4.2 differs from
the normal distribution curve is that the effect of each of the numerous contributory factors is not independent but
proportional to the effect of other factors.
3.3.4 Crime
Antisocial conduct (known popularly as "crime") may be regarded as a universal phenomenon or a function of group-
life. Its extent, particular form it takes and the reaction it provokes (to call up or evoke (feelings, desires, etc)) are intimately
dependent on the cultural status and social organisation of the group. The term "crime" is used
indiscriminately by the layman to denote antisocial, immoral or sinful behaviour. What the law calls crime is merely
conduct, which is declared to be socially harmful by the groups, which are powerful enough to influence?
legislation in a state. The existence of crime in a community is a challenge to its members since crime is harmful for
ordered social growth. Combating (a struggle) crime involves huge economic burden and enormous waste of
misdirected energy. The progress of the science of human behaviour in the last several decades has increasingly
centred its attention on criminal behaviour. As a result, the last half century has seen the development of the science of
criminology- Official and private agencies for the study of criminals and their treatment have also multiplied rapidly
during this period. The reason is that the task of dealing with crime and criminals is such that it demands knowledge
of facts upon which an intelligent programme of study and treatment may be based. Given the serious nature of crime
and its adverse effects on society, much thought has been devoted to its control. Two general lines of thought have
emerged for the purpose of controlling crime, the ameliorative (to improve) and the repressive (to keep under control;)
philosophies. The ameliorative philosophy asserts that as the ranks of the middle class grow in a society, fewer and
fewer people commit crime. Moreover, as the middle class grows, more people may become intolerant (too bad) of
crime and they commit offences more frequently. As a result, criminal acts that do occur can be treated more
effectively. In order to control crime, it is necessary to bring about the middle class by upgrading socio-economically
the lower class. In contrast to this, the repressive philosophy regards the modern society (especially in developed
nations) inherently prone to criminal behaviour due to the decline of informal community control, greater
secularisation (pertaining to the present world) and more egoistic (the 'I' or self, that which is conscious and thinks) moral code.
Consequently, modern society may at best be expected to produce an affluent population lacking in personal restraint
(forcible control) and civic consciousness. In the first place, punitive (punishment) methods must be employed to redress
offences and efficient organisation must be used to prevent crime. Regarding enforcement of law, administration of
justice and rehabilitation (restore to former privileges, rights,)
Of criminals, the above two contrary lines of thought have given rise to three strategies (or policies) to combat crime.
These three strategies are referred to as punitive, therapeutic (relating to the curing of disease) and preventive respectively.
The punitive approach regards the offender not. Only as justifying punishment morally, but as being
also susceptible to deterrent measures. Punishment is, therefore, exercised to incapacitate the criminal for the present
and to keep him away from engaging in any criminal act in the future. In many developed countries, the
punitive method has lost ground to the other two ameliorative methods. As a result, the capital punishment has already
been abolished in most countries. The therapeutic approach, on the other hand, deems the offender to
be malfunctioning and is in need of psychological or sociological treatment. In the US, about 20% of the staff
employed for law enforcement and administration of justice deal with corrections, with rehabilitation as their
primary goal. The preventive approach centres on modifying the interaction of social and individual conditions to
forestall offensive behaviour. This method calls for improvement of sociological environment, strengthening of
social structure and development of conforming personalities. Education and recreation can play a vital part in this
respect, and so can a wide range of other practices like vocational placement and community organisation.
3.3.5 Competition
Competition is an important term in social theory. It is by competition (of persons, firms, industries, nations, races or
cultures) that the fittest survives. Competition arises out of rivals (a person pursuing an object in competition with another),
which is a universal fact in life and society. Rivalry (competition) is manifested in a struggle among germ cells among
plants for sunlight and growth and among animals, for food and mates. Rivalry is evident in the striving in our daily
life and appears in every social order under which men live. It is due to rivalry that conflicts occur among primitive
tribes for hunting grounds and among capitalists to bag huge profits. In the march of history, a machine process wins
its way against ancient crafts, a novelty called "business" displaces custom and authority in the control of industries
and a modern creed (any system of belief or set of principles) replaces outworn dogma in domination over human mind. The
subject of competition has invited varied and often conflicting
statements from various authors since a single explanation of a complex social phenomenon like competition are
inadequate. Competition is hardly distinguished from free enterprise and capitalism. On the one hand, competition is
the gigantic/ huge motor which causes the individuals to use their mental and physical powers to the best advantage to
go ahead. Competition develops in the individual the habit of self-reliance. Competition has lifted
the human race to a standard where the mode of living of common labourers in developed countries is more
comfortable than the daily existence of ancient kings. On the other hand, competition is a nice new name for the
brutal/ senselessly cruel; fact of all against all, without pity or mercy. Carried to its logical conclusion, competition may
turn into anarchy. in recent times, competition has invited attention of social thinkers and activists. One group
demands that competition be preserved in all its native simplicity, while another group would like to eradicate/ to
destroy or get rid of the evil of competition and substitute it with a moral economic order. But since the shortcomings of
competition lie in its specific performance, the general demand has been to mend the system and make it work. As a
result, the arrangements of competition have been modified from within in many cases. Businessmen, for example,
form trade, industrial or commercial associations (e.g.. Truck Owners' Association) with an aim to make
Competition less ruthless and more rational. Similarly, farmers organise co-operatives (e.g., Anand Milk Union
Limited, better known as "AMUL") to escape the tyranny of an uncontrolled market. Labourers form trade unions
only to secure a bargaining power equal to that of their employers. Often, the state interferes in private matters for
several reasons, to conserve natural resources, to ensure the quality of goods by standardisation, to fix hours of
labour, to provide compensation for accidents and so on. But even the use of formal authority in such cases leaves the
rival firms in an industry as free to compete as before. In the wake of collective action and state intervention/
interference, competition is not eliminated; it merely becomes more regulated. A constructive effort has been made to
maintain competition. An inherent weakness of competition lies in its dependence upon contract. So long as
buyers want goods and sellers are willing to accept money, the liberty of contract promotes order. The greed for more
money makes it advantageous to the producers of goods to agree among themselves to control production
capacity, to regulate output and to stabilise prices. In such cases, the state is invoked to make the rivals compete rather
than co-operate. Freedom of contract is encouraged along vertical lines (i.e., between buyer and seller)
and has to be prohibited along horizontal lines (i.e., between buyer and buyer and between seller and seller).]
3.3.6 Unemployment
Work satisfies many needs of the individual and the community. For the individual, work satisfies the need to exercise
his faculties and to participate in the collective work of society. In addition, work also gives the individual
a claim upon social products, enabling him to support himself and his family. In case of the community, work is
necessary for survival and progress of civilisation. In traditional societies, in which the productivity of agricultural
labour is very low, virtually the entire population must be employed in farming. When productivity reaches a certain
level, the demand for primary goods (i.e., agricultural products) drops in relation to the demand for other goods like
clothing, shelter and manufactured products. The production of these secondary goods ultimately becomes organized
in factories and expands dramatically. As the demand for manufactured goods grows and remains high, employment
in the secondary sector also remains high. In addition, there is also a tertiary sector of employment comprising of
services like teaching, administration, medical care, tourism and other similar pursuits that are not carried out in
factories. In countries with high standard of living, the demand for products of the tertiary sector keeps increasing. As
a result, employment in this sector increases more rapidly than in the primary or secondary sector. The great shrinkage
of employment in the primary sector is one of the most important phenomena of modern history. Men who abandon
the soil have to change not only their means of livelihood but their residence and way of life. For a long time, the
migration from a peasant culture involving millions of people went mainly towards the factories. Although the output
of the factories continued to increase, the same was not the case with factory employment. In the US, employment in
the secondary sector peaked at about one-third of the labour force from 1920 to 1970 and since then, the expansion
has been in the tertiary sector. Technological progress would have led to unemployment (or much reduced working
hours), had it not been for the expansion of the tertiary sector. The same is more or less true in case of other developed
countries. The consumption of primary or agricultural goods eventually reaches a point of saturation. The
consumption of manufactured goods passes
through a phase of increase and then another phase of relative decline. It is the tertiary sector, however, that absorbs
most of the manpower freed by technological progress in the other two sectors. The result is that
employment as a whole does not decline over the long run because of technological progress. In the wealthy and
technologically advanced countries, neither the size of the work force nor the number of working hours per week has
shown any tendency to decline in the last fifty years. Of course, there have been economic crises (like depression and
recession/ the state of being set back) giving rise to unemployment; but the unemployment created in this way was
eventually absorbed. A dynamic economy requires that the labour force be mobile enough to move out of the sectors
in which technological advances have reduced the need for manpower and into the sectors in which labour is in short
supply. Such a migration, however, is inevitably accompanied by some degrees of unemployment or
underemployment. During the Great Depression of the 1903s, the rate of unemployment in
the western capitalist countries reached very high levels. In the US, the rate of unemployment reached 25% of the
labour force in 1933. In Sweden, unemployment reached 25% twice (in 1921 and 1931). Even in Great Britain,
unemployment was above 15% during the period of Great Depression. Since the Second World War, unemployment
rates in developed countries have remained far below such catastrophic levels, but they are quite high in most of the
developing nations. Even when the overall rate of unemployment is low, it remains a serious
social problem. While some workers may be temporarily out of work (or passing from one job to another), others may
remain unemployed for a long time. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics has studied the incidence of unemployment
quite thoroughly. The figures of this Bureau show that women have more unemployment than men, young people
more than adults and persons without education or special skills more than educated persons do.
Since the Second World War, the governments of many countries (especially the developing ones) have become
committed to a programme of reducing unemployment and underemployment. The constitution of France
explicitly charges the state with assuring full employment to its citizens. Similar goals have been set up with varying
degrees in many other countries. Even, the Charter of the United Nations makes employment a major
objective for its members. Different governments have followed various policies in the pursuit of full employment.
One general approach towards this end is to improve the supply of manpower; another is to alleviate / to make light; the
adverse effects of unemployment and underemployment. A third approach to full employment seeks to maintain the
economic activities at a high level through fiscal policies. Finally, there is the method of economic planning where the
government's Planning Commission sets targets for various sectors of the economy that are linked to forecasts of
available manpower. This approach is based on the belief that the complex problems of unemployment and
underemployment cannot be separated from other problems of economic and social developments. Moreover, all the
developed countries and many developing ones as well try to soften the impact of unemployment through some forms
of unemployment compensation. In some cases, governments seek to induce employers to retrain workers for new
jobs rather than laying them off. The problem of unemployment is often a regional matter. When this is the case,
attempts are made by governments to mitigate it through regional development programmes. The efforts to deal with
the instability of employment caused by technological and economic progress involve providing information on the
state of the labour market and on the qualifications of those seeking work. This is done by government or private
employment agencies in the hope of directing job seekers more efficiently to existing jobs or helping them to prepare
for occupation in which manpower is likely to be needed. Most countries now have such agencies, designed to bring
together the two sides of the labour market. Information provided by such employment agencies leads to guidance,
and guidance leads to education, training and retraining. Many governments endeavour/ to attempt to provide or
subsidise training programmes for those whom couldn’t benefit from them. The use of monetary and fiscal/ pertaining to
the public treasury or revenue policies to keep the economy functioning at a high level of employment has been undertaken
in many countries since the Great Depression/ a lowering. In periods of recession or of growing unemployment, the
government may increase the aggregate demand by expanding the money supply or by increasing its own spending.
This approach was quite
successful in the US during the 1960s, when a major reduction in the income tax, incentives for business investments,
and a large increase in federal spending for both war and non-war purposes brought the unemployment rate down to
3.5% (in 1969). In the years that followed, the US was faced with the problem of serious inflation/ undue increase in
quantity of money in proportion to buying power . In order to solve the problem of inflation, efforts were made to stabilise
prices; but these efforts directly led to rising unemployment. In contrast, the French government undertook national
planning on a broad scale in the 1950s and 1960s and succeeded in it.
The resulting high death rate among small children in such families (poor) often reinforces the tendency to have more
children and, the vicious cycle continues. Money is a crucial factor in health care. Also suitable mental
hospitals, child guidance and marriage guidance clinics and schemes for the care of alcoholics and ding/ Doctor of
Engineering addicts are essential. There should be significant developments in the treatment of maladjusted members of
society. The fragmentation/ division into fragments of earlier health service organisations (such as single-disease-oriented
programmes and the separation of curative and preventive services) is now giving way to more comprehensive
organisations. Health promotion, disease prevention, curving of the ill and rehabilitation are
brought together into one network of integrated services that reach the community level. Decisions of great
complexity are involved in allocating limited resources to provide health services to a large number of people. In
order to achieve optimum results, there should be an increasing emphasis on the health planning process and on the
design of more effective public health service systems. An important aspect of national health planning should be
close co-ordination between planning, budgeting, implementing and evaluating of health-care programmes. No public
health service can be fully effective unless the concerned government will take care to this aspect.
Several programmes for family and child welfare have been formulated and implemented in India since
independence, but an explicit national policy in family and child welfare has not yet been evolved. The major
emphasis present is on the integrated approach to provide welfare services to family and children. At present. Family
and Child Welfare Projects are the important programmes directed towards the welfare of women and children
especially in rural areas. The Family and Child Welfare Projects normally cater to the children in the age group of 0-
16 years and greater attention is paid to the children in the age group of 0-6 years. The Family and Child Welfare
Projects are implemented at the block level. The responsibility of fulfilling the statutory obligations for family and
child welfare under various central and state legislations rests mainly with the government agencies. The voluntary
social welfare organisations deal mainly with non-statutory senders for the welfare of women, children, the
handicapped and other vulnerable groups. Thus, the voluntary social welfare organisations share a major
responsibility in the implementation of social welfare policy. Voluntary organisations in the society can play a crucial
role in the field of family and child welfare due to their vast and pioneering experience in social welfare and their
humane approach (in contrast to the bureaucratic approach by government agencies). The society has thus a pivotal
role to play for family and child welfare.
MODEL QUESTIONS
(Essay/Long Type)
3.1 Define and explain "social mobility". 3.2 Explain in detail the vertical mobility.
3.3 Write in brief the consequences of mobility. 3.4 What is understood by "income"? Explain in brief.
3.5 Define and explain "national income". 3.6 Write a note on income distribution.
3.7 What are the causes of inequality of income? Explain in brief.
3.8 What are the consequences of inequality of income? Explain.
3.9 Explain the causes behind social tensions. 3.10 "Class struggle creates social tensions"-Justify the statement.
3.11 Explain "political corruption". 3.12 Define crime. Give reasons behind crime. Suggest steps to control
crime.
3.13 Write a note on "Competition". 3.14 What are the major causes behind unemployment ? Suggest some
measures to reduce the rate of unemployment.
3.15 List the societal responsibilities and explain each in very brief.
3.16 "Public health services. Public education. Welfare of backward
classes and Family and child welfare are the major societal
responsibilities" - Explain to justify the statement.
3.17 What is understood by "social institutions"? Explain. 3.18 Writeinbriefthefunctiorlsofsocialinstitutions.
(Objective/Short iype) 3.19 What is a horizontal mobility ?
3.20 Give an example of a vertical mobility. 3.21 Define real income.
3.22 Listthepossiblemeasurestoreduceinequalityofincome. 3.23 Write the Pareto's law mathematically.
3.24 Draw the Lorenz Curve for equal distribution of income. 3.25 The strategies to combat crime are:
(a) Punitive (c) Preventive
(b) 3.26 Match the following: (A) Communist Manifesto (B) NCC
(b) Therapeutic (d) All the three. (a) Nigeria (b) KarIMarx (0 Corrupt country (c) Mahatma Gandhi (D)
Tertiary sector (d) India
3.27 Write true or false:
The mobility is said to be mtergenerational when an individual movesvertically upward or downward within his own
lifetime.
3.28 Write true or false:
Opportunities for mobility are greatly enhanced during a recession or a depression.
3.29 Write true or false:
The total income of an individual is the total money value of the services received by him from all sources, including
his own activity.
3.30 Write true or false:
Social institutions are never the organized ways to meet the basic needs of society.
3.31 Name the odd ones:
(a) Health promotion (b) Family welfare (c) Class conflict (d) Rehabilitation.
3.32 Fill up the blanks:
The five main causes of social tensions are __________, __________,