Importance of Social Mobility

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MOBILITY

1. Increase in Social prestige: When upward vertical social mobility takes place, a person moves from a low social status to a high social status. Thus, social mobility leads to an increase in social prestige.

2. Development of latent talent: Social mobility helps us develop our latent ability that will otherwise remain passive. If we remain confined to our current status, position, class or occupation, it is impossible to develop our latent ability. For example, if we remain confined to the occupation- farming – without moving to another occupation, say teaching, we cannot develop our latent ability to understand the subject matter that we teach and to teach it in an effective manner. We may have a latent ability to become a great leader. We can develop it through social mobility by moving from the farming field to political field. Thus, social mobility results in the development of our latent ability.

3. Modernization of agriculture and industrialization: Modernizing agriculture and industrialization is impossible without people with relevant expertise. Without social mobility, the society cannot develop the manpower with relevant expertise required for the modernization of agriculture and industrialization. The labour force required for industries cannot be available in urban areas without social mobility. Thus, the importance of social mobility also lies in the fact that it at least facilitates modernization of agriculture and industrialization.

4. Social change: In a society where no social mobility takes place, no social change takes place. If the members residing in a society do not change their current social position, the society will not develop.

5. Economic Development: When upward vertical social mobility becomes widespread, economic development takes place. In other words, when a large number of people move from low status as poor people to a new and high status as rich people, it is an indication of the fact that economic development has taken place. If these poor people had not moved from their original class of poor people to a new class of rich people, it would have indicated that economic development is yet to take place at least at micro level.

6. End of caste-based discrimination: Social mobility leads to the end of caste-based discrimination against so-called low caste people by so-called high caste people. Open social mobility ends the discriminatory and unfairly hierarchical caste system because it encourages the social mobility completely independent of social norms delimiting the area within which social mobility is to be taken place.