Social Mobility

Abstract Social mobility is the movement from one position in a society's stratification system to another. Open stratification system and closed stratification system describe the degree of social mobility in a society. The belief in an open system with the possibility of anyone getting ahead is widespread in the United States. Social mobility is measured in changes in income or occupational prestige. Data show a degree of stickiness in both the bottom and top quintiles, or fifths, of the income distribution with a significant proportion staying within the income group though out their lives. Sociologists have long documented the fact that the class system is even more rigid for African Americans and women than others.