Category: Social Mobility

Enterprise is a way employees can do their tasks from anyplace using a wide variety of programs and devices, to work. The term commonly pertains to the use of mobile devices, like mobile phones and tablets, for business purposes. However in addition, it covers the mobility of information and of workers. For instance, from their Personal Computer, a worker could upload a demonstration of business mobility into a cloud storage service, and after that access it from a Apple iPad to show in a customer website. PDF Mobile Software Management Software – Experts provide best practices for management and application delivery to help handle the flood of information protection requirements, new programs and devices. By submitting your information, you agree that its partners and TechTarget may contact you regarding special offers, merchandise and content. You I accept the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy and agree that you have read, and that your information could be transferred and processed in america.

Enterprise mobility management in addition to other technologies have emerged to address security risks and to assist IT departments enable workers. A strong use policy for employees may contribute to a thriving business mobility strategy. Enterprise mobility is essential – Enterprise is important since it gives employees choice and flexibility, which may enhance job satisfaction and increase productivity. Early enterprise class mobile devices, like PalmPilot personal digital assistants and BlackBerry mobile phones, were typically employer provided. These devices focused on providing personal info management capabilities, which included mobile access with e-mail, calendars and contacts. In the year 2007, Apple released the first iPhone, and Google followed with its own mobile OS, Android.

The iPhone and Android mobile phones targeted consumers, plus they helped introduce the concept of application stores to the masses. As more consumers purchased these mobile phones, and as more developers built enterprise applications for them, the bring your very own device trend was born. Employees began utilizing their personal mobile phones for work, frequently without employer permission, since the devices and their applications enabled them to do their tasks more rapidly and with a more streamlined UI. In the same time, American workers began to spend increasingly more time out from the office.

By 2017, 43% worked remotely on in least a part time basis, based on a Gallup survey. In reaction with these converging trends, organizations adopted BYOD policies and took other measures to formally embrace business mobility and flexible work styles. In a 2016 survey by research firm Clutch, IT professionals listed the productivity as the top advantage of embracing enterprise mobility. And a 2017 Gallup survey found that the capability to operate remotely and have a flexible schedule was a major factor for workers when choosing whether or not to take or leave a job. BYOD isn’t the only enterprise mobility strategy option, however.

When the topic social mobility arises, we naturally question ourselves: Is it possible to move through the hierarchy of a society? Social mobility is possible to a certain degree in most of the cultures and societies that exist nowadays. My purpose with this paper is to prove that more chances are available in the society we live in and that the term is not just a bedtime story, but an existing and working system. Social mobility is the movement of individuals, groups, families or households between the layers in the open system of social stratification.

This term is used in sociology the most, but it does apply to social history as well. We differentiate two major types of social mobility: vertical and horizontal. Horizontal mobility does not include the movement between social classes, the term is only used if there is a change in the occupation of the individual, it only involves moving within the given social status. On the other hand, vertical mobility is the classical type of social mobility that can be either upward or downward. In the age of capitalism, wealth provides upward movement; a working class person can easily achieve this if he or she owns some kind of social capital, possibly keeping this status and class for further generations, that is called intergenerational mobility. Social mobility can be witnessed by everyone, in most of the modern societies as it is now more likely to be decided by achievements, such as economic position, prestige or sometimes origin(noble ascendants).

However, as mentioned before, in certain cultures or societies, social mobility is still limited or it does not exist. For example, in India the caste system still affects the life of people as you can not move from one layer or another, moreover intermarriage is not allowed either (endogamy) The ability of movement between different layers existed in medieval ages until early modern ages(until around the start of Industrial Revolution) as well. The so-called ’estates’ were used in feudalism where the society consisted of three estates: the clergy (first estate), the nobles (second estate) and later on the peasants (as the third estate).Movement between the layers was already possible, however it was limited to a certain degree and it did not occur very often. Now that I briefly introduced the topic and clarified the main concepts I will move on the main arguments. „Change originates not only from above, but equally from below, through the initiatives of masses of people” (Daniel Bertaux) As Daniel Betaux and Paul Thompson claimed, mobility is influenced by the masses mostly. The two authors also introduced a unique and new approach to social mobility research where they used qualititive methods instead of only statistics. This consisted of interviews, very similar used in oral history, and family case studies to be able to get a close look on the dynamics of social mobility.The studies show the degree of social mobility through decades in the given society. It has been proven that migration and marriage plays an enormous role in the procedure. As globalization is getting more and more relevant in the 21st century, migration is already a well known phenomenon. Many individual have the chance in different countries to gain various kind of social capital due tot he bigger variety of jobs abroad, this for example can be more effectively achieved in a Western and developed country, than in an Eastern one. Moreover, migration allows people to build several different relations (even marriages) that helps the change between the different layers in the hierarchy. Marriages give the chance to individuals to create a family which will most likely end up in children. By putting together the social capital of the parents, the children will most likely start off with better chances for a possible change in the open system of social stratification. However, not only financial factors increase the possiblity of movement, but the way parents influence the children while they raise them. The proper motivation they provide plays a huge role and can be essential in order to succeed at and older age. A study from 2006 called „Understanding Mobility in America” claimed that while only one percent of the poorer families have the chance to reach the top 5 percent of income distribution (against naturally wealthier familes who have 22 percent probability to reach this) they still do stand some kind of chance, additionally the USA has lower level of intergenerational mobility than other Western countries such as the UK.

Education also have a great impact on this. Facilities with educational purposes (for example school) also have a hidden curriculum alongside the formal one. While the formal curriculum is a series of planned objectives, learning experience and resource offering to the students, the hidden curriculum offers more than this. The unofficial curriculum consists of everything that are not in the official curriculum. For example our peers, the people we are surrounded by, greatly effects our future life, including our chances for a possible change in the hierarchy. The hidden curriculum includes every factor of the so called socialization, we learn different values and about meritocracy. Meritocracy,the idea of economic goods should be given out based on the given individual’s talent or merits.

As we all speak of this, there are still several factors that can not go unseen. As social mobility is more common and possible since the middle of the 20th century. By this time, the idea of origin became less relevant, and Western societies supported the idea of the equal rights of every fellow citizen. But what else happened during this century? The idea of equality is truly an outstanding concept, but in that time period. However, the increase that we can see during the 20th century regarding social mobility is mostly thanks tot he increasing amount of countries giving rights to woman. Woman started to acquire different kind of rights in this time period thanks to the feminists movements in that era. As woman had (sadly have sometimes) very limited amount of choice due to the patriarchal system, and were considered mostly as mothers who only act at home such as cleaning, taking care of the children, cooking and so on. With the increasing demonstrations, woman slowly started to gain various rights such as the freedom of movement, by the end of the 20th century they were able to work. Different kinds of inequalites have a huge impact if we are or we are not able to change our place in the hierarchy. As woman were able to work, decreasing inequality between the two genders, social mobility also became more and more flexible. They were able to gain different kinds of social capital or economic goods that helped them in a possible change. Not only work, but also with woman getting involved in education more commonly, the previously mentioned curriculum could affect a bigger amount of people as it now included females as well. But does this all mean that every type of inequality influences the chances of social mobility? Not neccessarily, but it definitely plays a huge role in the whole procedure. If we try to find other factors that influence our chances, we will most likely find more and more type of inequalites. For instance, if we look at an Afro-American, do they stand the same chance as for example other white people? The answer would be no. Not only inequalites between the two races decided this however. If we think about it throughly, racism sadly is still present and it also affects the possibilites of the individual. They might not get the same job as others resulting in a job that offers less social capital and economic goods, a lower capital means less chance for the changes in the hierarchy. Racism in a country can encourage migration too, and as it was mentioned before, migration offers a wider variety of chances for social mobility. Not only race, ethnicity and gender influences this. The religion of one is still relevant. Do we differ a muslim and a catholic? Sadly in our century, yes we do. These days we have strong prejudice against some religion and those who belong to that specific group of people, already stand a lower chance of possibilites.

As we saw, different kinds of inequalities limited the flow of social mobility through centuries. We can witness a very unique change if we look at the pattern starting from medieval ages up until nowadays. In medieval ages, when the so called „estates” shaped the social hierarchy, the three different estates were easy to recognise and separate. A king and a peasent barely shared the same social sphere at the same time. By the 20th century this changed. People from different classes and with different social status more often got near each other as through history public spheres became more important for everyone with the appearence of „free time”. These people could meet more and more often, occasionally creating weak ties. The weak ties theory appeared in the book called ’Getting a Job’ written by Mark Granovetter. According to the theory, with weak ties we are more likely to succeed with finding a job. Not only the idea of employmenet helps social mobility, but the fact people can create many weak ties. Through weak ties, we are more likely to be able to change in a positive (upward) way in the hierarchy as it provides new opportunities such as jobs that is proven to help social mobility of individuals. All this proves the fact that social mobility became widely spread and relaxed not only due to the growing equality, but also because of other, sociological factors. Weak ties are key important not only in social mobility but just generally in our life.

In medieval ages people did not have such opportunities, there were only a very small amount of people who could afford such a thing. Intermarriage was one the only possible solutions that was a rare occurance. Another great example however in Hungary is the election of Matthias Corvinus, who was elected thanks to the support of the mass, and to different kind of ties. While the title king is usually given in the form of nepotism, Matthias gained it by the support of the people, proving that social mobility was possible in a way even in the late 15th century. Medieval ages were not the only time when social mobility was present. At the age of the Industrial Revolution an enormous change could be seen in the society, greatly affecting the phenomena. With the revolution, urbanization rapidly increased first in Western, then later on in Eastern societies, resulting in a migration between the country’s boundaries from rural areas to the urban ones. The hope for a better quality of life encouraged masses to move to major cities. As cities became extremely important, they became a core element. It provided publich sphere, different kinds of schools for education purposes and also new jobs. Additionally, those who could afford life in the city possibly had a better life standard. A better life standard can be explained by higher income which explains why they had better chances in the urban areas. Spending more time with the children in early ages rapildy increases the chances of the mobiltiy in a later phase of the children’s life. As a study also shows: „Among older children, evidence suggests that the gap between high- and low-income primaryand secondary-school students has increased by almost 40 percent over the past thirty years. These differences persist and widen into young adulthood and beyond. Just as the gap in K–12 test scores between high- and low-income students is growing, the difference in college graduation rates between the rich and the poor is also growing. Although the college graduation rate among the poorest households increased by about 4 percentage points between those born in the early 1960s and those born in the early 1980s, over this same period, the graduation rate increased by almost 20 percentage points for the wealthiest households.”

Social mobility is “movement up or down the social class leader” (Henslin, 2017, p. 279). There are three types of social mobility. One type is intergenerational mobility, it consists of upward social mobility (moving up the social class ladder) and downward social mobility (moving down the social class ladder). As stated by Henslin, the second type is structural mobility which is “the movement up or down the social class ladder that is due more to changes in the structure of society than to the actions of individuals”. According to Henslin, the third type is exchange mobility which is “a large number of people moving up the social class ladder, while a large number moves down, it is as though they have exchanged places, and despite much social mobility the social class system shows little change”. Social mobility is also the movement of individuals, families, or households like my grandparents, parents, and my siblings and I in an open system of social stratification. My grandparents on my mom’s side are the first generation in my family. The social mobility they went through was intergenerational mobility. The social mobility went up and down based on where they lived and how they had to make a living for them and their family.

The social mobility my grandparents have experienced is they lived in Baghdad, Iraq for most of their lives and then end up moving around a couple of times. They had 7 kids in total, 4 girls and 3 boys. My grandpa owned a bar in the village and my grandma raised their 7 kids. My grandparents ended up moving to Syria because in their city there was wars and bombing’s going on. So, for them moving they had to start all over again in a new place. They had all their kids with them but once it got bad in that country, my grandparents thought it was best for them to disperse themselves around the countries. My two uncles went to Amsterdam, Germany and my mom and dad went to the United States. The rest of my aunts and uncle stayed with my grandparents to make sure they were safe and helped them out. My uncle soon after they settled in Syria, opened up a store for him and my grandpa to run. Business there wasn’t as heavy as it was back in Baghdad. My grandma left my grandpa for a couple of years to visit the United States to see my mom and our family here. She stayed with us for a couple years and saw what the United States had to offer. She loved being here but also hated being away from my grandpa. So soon after she went back to be with him. A couple years later, my grandma went to Amsterdam, Germany to stay with my uncles and their families. My grandma didn’t like being there alone, so my uncle went to Syria and picked up my grandpa and brought him to Amsterdam to be with my grandma. My grandparents couldn’t live without each other. The more they went up the social ladder, the more they had to go down and start over in a new place and less family around.

My parents are the second generation of my family. My mom has been through structural mobility because of her divorce. No one supported her decision and stayed by her side because she was the first person to go through it in the family. Ten years ago, they got a divorce for many reasons. I live with my mom and my two siblings. My dad was a part owner/partner at a liquor store that he owned with his brother and sister. My mom didn’t work at the time before the divorce, she took care of us. I don’t know much about my dad and what he does now but that’s what he used to do. My mom after the divorce, took us in and tried to make a living for all of us. We struggled finding somewhere to live and my mom finding a job. We ended up moving two times in the past 8 years. We lived in a 2-bedroom apartment for the 5 of us for 5 years and now living in a 3-bedroom condo for the 4 of us for 3 years now. My grandma stayed with us for 3 years while living in the apartment. My grandma had to go back a year after that because of my grandpa. My mom ended up finding a job at the Arab Chaldean Council as a secretory. She has been there for 10 years now. Before she was a secretory, she was a cleaning lady for the office. My mom has been through a lot. Going from being married to divorce, from not working to working, to living in a house to living in a condo, to taking three kids under her wing and raising us to be who they are today. She went up and down the structural mobility for many years with going through divorce, taking care of us, and trying to make living for herself and us. For my mom, nothing came easy. She had to work her way up and nothing was handed to her.

My generation is the third generation. We go through exchange mobility. I say that because while me and my sister move up the ladder, my brother stays the same and doesn’t change. I have two other siblings, a brother and a sister. My sister is the oldest (23), I’m the middle child (21), and my brother is the youngest (20). I have been through most out of my siblings. My health has been a big issue for 5 years now and I’m the only one who is sick in my family. I have two diseases called crohn’s and colitis which is also mixed up with psoriasis. I have been dealing with it on and off. I maintain everything in my life while having the diseases on the back of my mind. I work full time and go to school full time. Growing up, I had it hard because of what my parents went through and what they put me and my siblings through. My sister and brother took it the hardest. From my parents getting a divorce to me being sick with diseases that have no cure, it was really hard on them. My sister is a full-time worker. She completed high school and some college but didn’t know what she wanted to do so she kept working full time to help support our family. She took my parents’ divorce hard as well. She had insomnia and couldn’t sleep most nights because of the fear of my father. For a couple years, she has gotten through it and sleeps better now that she feels safe. For her moving up the social class ladder, my brother continues to move down. My brother on the other hand doesn’t work or go to school. He dropped out in his sophomore year of high school because he couldn’t handle everything going on in his mind. He has ADHD, ADD, and anger issues. He also might be depressed because he doesn’t leave the house at all. For my brother, it was hard for him to focus on anything. He just had this rage. He has little change from the exchange mobility, to this day he is like that. What we seen from my parents it was very hard to cope with because we were all so young, but we saw things that we shouldn’t have seen. We grew up differently than what our childhood was like. As kids, we barley had clothes, food, water, etc. My mom was doing the best as she can until she got back on her feet. Now, we have everything we could of dream as kids. Life turned around for us for the better and we all couldn’t be happier to be living under a roof with everything we need.

The ways their social mobility affected my ideas, beliefs, behaviors, and life experiences is by my grandparents made everything better because they supported my mom and helped us financially until my mom got herself back on her feet. My grandparents made me realize that family is what matters and for them doing what they had to do to survive, showed that with family anything is possible when were all together. My parents affected my ideas, beliefs, behaviors, and life experiences in so many ways. I didn’t get the childhood I dream of wanting as a kid, they made me see things in a negative way and never thought there was a positive outcome to anything, they shut me down more times than I can count, and I didn’t believe in things they wanted me to believe in. Seeing how they both raise us in their own different ways was hard. My mom wanted the absolute best for us, and my dad didn’t. He didn’t want us. My siblings did affect me because the way they turned out to be was hard on me and my mom especially my brother. For my brother to go through all that and not talking about anything going through his mind is hard to deal with. Everyone gets affected by these things just in their own ways.

Social mobility hits us all differently, it has its ups and downs in the social class ladder. The three types of social mobility are all different ways the social class ladder moves but there are only two directions, up and down. With my grandparents, they moved around a lot and had to start over many times to get where they are now in a healthy stable home in Amsterdam, Germany. My mom had to jump through obstacles to maintain a life for her kids and herself. For my siblings and I, we struggled all our lives but with my mom sticking by our side we got through everything. No matter how far up or down you go, you can always find a way to be in the ladder.

Do you comply with your social status? Social mobility is the shifting of social status, It is a change of social status relative to one’s current social location within a particular society. Pitirim Sorokin shared this concept of social mobility with his book “Social and Cultural Mobility”, stating that there is no society that is either completely open or closed, examples he used being the class and caste systems. There are many types of social mobility including; Forms Of Vertical Social Mobility “individuals and groups may improve their position in the hierarchy by moving upwards or their position might worsen and they may fall down the hierarchy”, Intergenerational Social Mobility “It is a change in status from that which a child began within the parents, household to that of the child upon reaching adulthood”, Intra-Generational Mobility “it refers to the advancement in one’s social level during the course of one’s lifetime,”bStructural mobility “Structural mobility refers to mobility that is brought about by changes in stratification hierarchy itself”, Individual mobility “religion, level of education, skills, determination, occupation, place of residence and health determine individual mobility”, Absolute Mobility “measures whether and by how much living standards in a society have increased or decreased”, Relative Mobility “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”. A person can go from an intern to the manager, those different positions accommodate different pay salaries and when you go through that change, you show social mobility. Education has the biggest impact on people’s lives, deciding social status; lower class, middle class, and upper class. The different social statuses link with how much money you make. Having a record of any type of education always ends with benefits; a better perception, position, salary, and health. Education provides positive benefits to approve social mobility.

Education, education leads to many benefits from; economic growth, economic stability, a happier, healthier life “Women with post-primary education are five times more likely than illiterate women to be educated on the topic of HIV and AIDS”, and societal benefits like unity and trust. Having a record of education can reduce poverty “One extra year of schooling increases an individual’s earnings by up to 10%”. Even not having a high-school diploma will leave you with a job being a janitor, barely having you be stable, possibly leading to poverty. Though with any type of diploma or certificate like a GED, can earn you a spot in a job like construction, having higher pay and leading to at least a stable life. With not worrying about money or anything having to do with money.

Leading to the psychological standpoint of a happier life. Even a healthier life, stress can lead to depression and depression can only go downhill, from alcohol to drugs and just a negative mental state overall. Poverty webs from the projects (housing), foster care “If the enrollment rate for secondary schooling is 10 percentage points higher than the average, the risk of war is reduced by about 3 percentage points”, and being homeless in general. With Education as stated before will guarantee a stable life and definitely having you with a high paying job. With that type of salary the percentage of poverty will be decreased “420 million people would be lifted out of poverty with a secondary education, thus reducing the number of poor worldwide by more than half”. Child marriage is formly the force in young girls getting married to a man, precisely because she will be secure of money by being “taken care of by a man” and become a house wife “Each year of secondary education reduces the likelihood of marrying as a child by five percentage points or more”. But education will prohibit that because instead of living off a man and really anybody, independence will be gained which is what everyone strives for. When and if a women or even couple has a job that only suffices them but then if a new life had(s) been created, all these thoughts are running through the mind the main being “can i support this child?” And if no which is most, will lead to the decision of abortion and hopefully adoption. With having an education the stress of making money to support not only yourself but a child, will not lead to the decision of abortion but reduce maternal death “If all mothers completed primary education, maternal deaths would be reduced by twothirds, saving 189,000 lives”. Including not only maternity but children as well “A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of five.” As well as preventing disaster related deaths “The vicious confluence of poor educational opportunities, low skills and limited employment prospects can trap people in situations where they are also are far more likely to be exposed to environmental hazards and violence”. In education knowledge is gained with so much information being told and taught. Opening up the mind to many different things, and with that exercise promotes gender equality “One additional school year can increase a woman’s earnings by 10% to 20%”. In which will resolute to society unity eventually leading to societal trust as well.

Achieving social mobility assist of ambition! With prioritizing stuff like; vouchers for housing, having public housing in all areas, especially the ones that are in need, fair housing rules by HUD, infrastructure investments, and definitely promoting school choice, effectively! To target all these components, have to have obtained qualities such as determination, confidence, hope. Social mobility is mostly important to lower class since the only decision for them is to move up in the social status. But changes need to be made! Social mobility is the transition of people from their social status, the best way to achieve social mobility is to understand what each placement of status is, determines, and needs. For example the lower class “the social group that has the lowest status; the working class”. The middle class “the social group between the upper and working classes, including professional and business workers and their families”. And the upper class “the social group that has the highest status in society, especially the aristocracy”. So what is determined? “The lower middle class is often made up of less educated people with lower incomes, such as managers, small business owners, teachers, and secretaries. The upper middle class is often made up of highly educated business and professional people with high incomes, such as doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, and CEOs”. But what is needed for the lower and middle class to not have those labels, with the vouchers “Vouchers reduce rents for low-income families at a lower cost to the government than other forms of housing assistance”. The situation with vouchers is the landlord keeps a copy as well the resident but which is the right voucher when there is a rent issue? In which there has to be a more effective procedure to how rent and vouchers are handled, which also correlated with Better enforcement of fair housing rules by HUD. There is awareness when property is built in certain areas its a business method so to accumulate with social mobility public housing should be built in low-poverty areas, instead of highpoverty ones. The biggest and best way to achieve social mobility is to promote school choice!

Money is the most powerful thing in the world!it affects the actions and decisions made, depending on how much money is made determines everyone’s social status. Social mobility and social status interrelates, when either going up or down of social status, like moving from lower class to upper class or vise versa, demonstrates social mobility. The biggest factor to making money is education, education as well determines what placement in the social status everyone is placed in. If having a low level of education will place you in the lower class, but if having a high education will place in the upper class. Since education determines people’s placement, that defines how much money you make, with a history lacking education, that places you in the lower class affirming that a low wage of money is made. Imparting that education plays a role in social mobility. When education is “deciding” the placement of everyone social status that process is simply social selection. In which provides certainty of education ascendency to social mobility assessing social selection by grounded individuals obtained rather than assigned characteristics. Many think can be determined between the relationship of education and social mobility, for example if a person parents’ social status is in the lower class range, data determines the future of that person even if they do not have not even entered the world yet. Knowing that a child will be in the lower class range implies that their education record won’t be the best and unless they go through social mobility their income is low as well. Another thing that can be determined in areas with either high income status or low income status and the relation to social mobility “It is widely documented that places with higher levels of income inequality have lower rates of social mobility”.

To reiterate social mobility is a process that most people come across especially low class individuals. The best way to achieve social mobility is through education. Education declares your social status; low class, middle class and upper class. And if you are not compliant with your status which the low class would feel more. Then obtaining an educated background will definitely move you vertically up the scale, portraying social mobility!

As the market and money economies came to replace the predominant agricultural society, social mobility began to develop within Tokugawa Japan. Those from social classes lower than the samurais as peasants, artisans, and merchants, who were formerly restricted by the class tradition, were now opened to the world of business, and, therefore, to the roles of employee and employer as well as to the new patterns of relationship. Although such a shift demonstrates the common belief that economic development creates social mobility, the mobility could also, in the other way around, potentially support economic growth as well. Therefore, this essay aims to exhibit how social mobility of different class contributed to the economic growth of Tokugawa Japan.

Perhaps to understand the connection between improving social mobility and Tokugawa’s economic productivity, one should begin with how social mobility operated within Japan’s proto-industrial society. To start with the farmer class, basing primarily on the case of cotton and silk textile industries, the expansion of domestic market acted as an agent of social change as it “reorganized rural relations of production” (Houston and Snell 473-474). As the market expansion was accompanied by the need for additional income from non-agricultural tasks, farmers or rural producers no longer bonded to monopolized middlemen. They became more independent on the occupational options as well as on formerly limited capital sources and entrepreneurial commission. To participate in the non-agricultural market, the villagers began to develop handicraft skills that were embodied mostly in cotton processing, which, later, helped to turn cotton textile production into a villagecentered industry. With such skills, they also became the targeted labors that the factories wanted to incorporate into their businesses, bringing them into labormanagement relations. Cotton processing skills become a significant factor in transforming the demand for labor and consequently contributed to the increased employment rate, wages, and income potentiality for female agricultural workers who were capable of weaving. Therefore, the villagers’ social mobility can be concluded as a more variety of career’s choices and new sources of capital.

For the artisans and merchants, despite the economic success of their enterprises based on the developed agricultural production, the uncultivated lands also became beneficial as well. In the same time that their financial power extended into agrarian villages, their social status was also significantly increased by their becoming landlords (Honjo 72-73). In local cotton villages, merchants and artisans earned both by loaning out raw materials and tools to weavers which they collected interest in exchange, and by owning rice fields to get the annual stipends of rice, although did not engage in farming. Besides, apart from the possessing of farmer’s status, the merchants saw another opportunity to socially elevate themselves from the Tokugawa’s strict establishment of classes’ duties. Since the samurais were not allowed to operate any form of business, merchants turned themselves to be moneylenders, and so created the samurais’ financial dependency upon them (Sheldon 478-481). While the merchants’ businesses continued to do well, the samurais came to suffer from the government’s policy that required them to reside in the castle town where the rental prices would be added upon their expenses. The merchants, thus, were able to perform the farmer’s role and to be superior to the samurais in certain extents in the meantime. Therefore, although the outward forms of social discrimination were still carried on, their substance became void.

Both the farmers and the merchants, thus, were socially advanced in their own ways, illuminating how the account of economic development brought about social mobility. However, while the relationship between the two accounts is usually studied in the above direction, how the improving social mobility, in return, also facilitates economic growth is frequently remained undiscussed.

Social mobility is critical for a healthy society and a good state of mental well-being. Equal access to education and skilled employment is vital to boost families’ movement from any community within a society’s social strata and raise the living standard. Since 1980 economic mobility has slowed in Great Britain, and currently, the nation ranks near the bottom among OECD countries for income mobility (Owens et al., 2017). Continued reduction in job opportunities and the high unemployment rate among migrants leads to severe social mobility issues in the United Kingdom, although it has been seen noticeable improvement in education mobility.

Job opportunities creation has decreased since 1980, causing a reduction in skilled jobs with wealthier salaries and increased difficulties for disadvantaged individuals to get a professional career. The lower creation of workplaces than in previous decades causes considerable difficulties in getting to the higher social classes or improving living standards. Furthermore, the research revealed that between 1976 and 2000, the probability of getting a well-paid job in the professional sector was six times higher if a parent had a professional job too. This rapid increase of parent salaries influences on future children’s salaries is a vital issue for further improvement in social mobility (Owens et al., 2017). Recent research has shown that situation for working mothers has improved over the last years. However, women still have difficulties returning to previous employment or positions after maternity leave. They are often forced to take part-time hours or less paid positions in the company (Nunn et al., 2007).

Another reason to consider social mobility in the United Kingdom as a serious issue is the high unemployment rate among migrants. According to Li (2016), migrants are more likely to be unemployed than British people. First-generation migrants are at the most significant risk of not moving within social strata in society. Moreover, difficulties in getting a well-paid job could also be seen for second-generation immigrants. As the language barrier could explain why first-generation migrants might be at the risk of unemployment, it is unidentified why their kids who finished British schools have still double the unemployment rate compared to British people. Research suggests that the background still has a significant role during the recruitment process.

However, some people argued that social mobility in the United Kingdom is not a severe issue. It has been seen a significant improvement in educational mobility and the educational attainment gap’s closure over the past decades. Between 2011 and 2012, GSCE results improved, and more students over 19 getting a higher education. The improvement could be especially seen in London schools. It is also seen (13%) increased between 1970 and 2012 in acceptance to elite universities like Cambridge or Oxford for students from low-income families, minorities, and women. Although there is an improvement in Russell Groups’ universities access, advantaged students are still more likely to get the place (Owens et al., 2017).

In conclusion, the continued decrease in job opportunities among professional sectors and the high unemployment rate among immigrants are harming social mobility in the United Kingdom. However, it has been seen improvement in educational mobility over the last decades. Although noticeable improvements in the attainment gap have been noticed, students from wealthier families are still more likely to get a place in elite universities than disadvantaged students. This essay has shown that social mobility in the United Kingdom should be considered as a serious issue, and it is crucial to improve the situation.