Discuss social mobility in open and closed system. (UPSC CSE Mains 2022 - Sociology, Paper 1)
Social mobility is the process of changing one’s social class. A change in social class could be either upward or downward. Mobility can occur between one generation and another; if a man graduates college, and his parents didn’t, he will likely experience upward social mobility. A change in social class can also occur within one’s lifetime. For example, a middle-aged engineer whose job is “downsized” and who ends up working as a security guard, he has obviously experienced downward social mobility.
Open: Class system refers to the classification of people based on their economic positions in society. Classes began to emerge as individuals started amassing wealth; social classes are not rigidly defined like estates and castes. It is an open system with increased social mobility. Though individuals born in wealthy families and influential families have better access to resources, class system is based more on achievement than birth; the status is achieved than ascribed. Sociologists rely on income, wealth, level of education, type of occupation, material possession and lifestyle to classify people into classes.
Closed: The estate system of stratification was part of the feudal system and prevalent in Europe during the middle ages. It is a closed system in which a person’s social position is defined by law based land ownership, occupation and hereditary status. The estate system consisted of feudal lords, clergy, merchants and craftsman and serfs. Wealth was concentrated in the hands of the few who enjoyed hereditary status and prestige. On the whole the estate system involved a hierarchical order based on hereditary and social mobility was restricted. The caste system represents a rigid form of stratification based on hereditary status, traditional occupation and restrictions on social relationships. Caste is hereditary, endogamous, usually localized group having traditional association with an occupation, and a particular position in the local hierarchy of castes.
However in the modern liberal era, no social system is perfectly open or closed. The degree of openness has increased due to liberal democratic measures by the political system through positive affirmation policies like reservation etc.
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