Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS
THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
Bobby L Porter
South University of Georgia
Introduction to Sociology
Professor Jim Castleberry PH.D
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
What are some of the factors that affect social mobility?
Having lack of social mobility cannot affect one’s ability to adapt to new environments.
Factors concerning lack of social mobility are deriving from early childhood development to
adulthood of family influences, employment experiences, health, and location (Factors
Influencing Social Mobility, 2007).
Example: Family influences, a child being born into poverty, his or her maternal
educational background is lacking, and family dysfunction and changes in family structure such
as divorce. These factors can negatively affect the social mobility of a child. In comparison to a
child who was born into a working to middle class family, maternal educational background is
moderate to strong, and comes from a very loving and caring family. These factors can positively
impact the growth and development of social mobility in the child’s future (Factors Influencing
Social Mobility, 2007).
Example: Health plays a major role in social mobility, someone with the flu will be
distant and lethargic (Flu Symptoms, 2012). However, when he or she recovers from the illness
will then resume his or her social mobility. Unfortunately, there are illnesses that are not as easy
to detect and cure like the flu. Mental illness affects the lives of many in a negative and
debilitating way. Clinical depression or major depressive disorder unless medicated, greatly
affects the sleep, appetite, energy level, pleasure, and psychomotor activity. These symptoms
directly affect not only sociable mobility, but also interpersonal communication skills.
Schizophrenia is believed to be the most severe mental illnesses. People with this illness will
experience social dysfunction, delusions, and hallucinations. Both clinical depression and
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
schizophrenia can be treated with the proper medication, so those with the illness can live normal
and healthy sociable lives (Socioeconomic Position and Major Mental Disorders, 2004).
Example: Geographical location, Ineffective public transportation can contribute to a
person not being able to get an appropriate occupation that best fits their skills, thus hindering
one’s ability to improve social mobility in the workplace. Low-scoring schools within low
income school districts will hinder children from having the social mobility to go through college
in comparison to a middle to upper-class child whose had the proper education to freely with no
hindrance to socialize comfortably and effectively (Factors Influencing Social Mobility, 2007).
Can these be overcome, Social mobility is an ongoing process. It starts when a person is
born and ends at the end of their lives. There is always time to improve social mobility, but it is a
matter of how hard a person is willing to put the negative factors that have affected their social
mobility before, and move forward into the future (Factors Influencing Social Mobility, 2007).
Structural-functionalist, Structural functionalists argue that social inequality plays a
vital role in the smooth operation of society. The Davis-Moore thesis states that social
stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society. Davis and Moore argue
that the most difficult jobs in any society are the most necessary and require the highest rewards
and compensation to sufficiently motivate individuals to fill them. (Moffitt. K, 2003) Certain
jobs, like mowing grass or cleaning toilets, can be performed by almost anyone, while other jobs,
such as performing brain surgery, are difficult and require the most talented people to perform
them.
Social Conflict, Social conflict theorists disagree that social stratification is functional
for a society. Instead, they argue that social stratification benefits some at the expense of others.
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
Two theorists, Karl Marx and Max Weber, are the primary contributors to this perspective.
(Moffitt. K, 2003)
Karl Marx based his theory on the idea that society has two classes of people: the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat. (Moffitt. K, 2003) The bourgeoisie are the owners of the means
of production (such as factories and other businesses), while the proletariat are the workers.
Marx argued that the bourgeoisie (owners) give proletariats (workers) just enough to survive, but
ultimately the workers are exploited. As a result of this exploitation, Marx foresaw a workers'
revolution. He believed that oppression and misery would eventually drive the working majority
to come together and overthrow capitalism. The result would be a socialist utopia where such
extreme class differences would cease to exist. Despite Marx's prediction, capitalism is still
thriving. (Moffitt. K, 2003)
Why?
While both theories identify the fact that some people in society have more money and
power over others, only one of them supports this imbalance of power. Social conflict: because
there are many in society who is in conflict right now of trying to make ends meet. With the
recent depression there were many in conflict just trying to make ends meet. Alarming number
of people have lost their jobs, home, vehicles, and those things that we take for granted just to
live day by day.
1. How does the media reflect attitudes on gender as far as depicting women and men in very
traditional roles?
There are many influences on how we view men and women, media are the most pervasive
and one of the most powerful. (Wood. J, 1994) Woven throughout our daily lives, media
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
insinuate their messages into our consciousness at every turn. All forms of media
communicate images of the sexes, many of which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical, and
limiting perceptions. Three themes describe how media represent gender. First, women are
underrepresented, which falsely implies that men are the cultural standard and women are
unimportant or invisible. (Wood. J, 1994)
Example 1: A primary way in which media distort reality is in underrepresenting women.
Whether it is prime-time television, in which there are three times as many white men as
women (Basow, 1992 p. 159), or children’s programming, in which males outnumber
females by two to one, or newscasts, in which women make up 16% of news casters and
in which stories about men are included 10 times more often than ones about women
(“Study Reports Sex Bias,” 1989), media misrepresent actual proportions of men and
women in the population. This constant distortion tempts us to believe that there really are
more men than women and, further, that men are the cultural standard.
Example 2: White males make up two-thirds of the population. The women are less in
number, perhaps because fewer than 10% live beyond 35. (Wood. J, 1994) Those who do,
like their younger and male counterparts, are nearly all white and heterosexual. In
addition to being young, the majority of women are beautiful, very thin, passive, and
primarily concerned with relationships and getting rings out of collars and commodes.
There are a few bad, bitchy women, and they are not so pretty, not so subordinate, and not
so caring as the good women. Most of the bad ones work outside of the home, which is
probably why they are hardened and undesirable. The more powerful, ambitious men
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
occupy themselves with important business deals, exciting adventures, and rescuing
dependent females, whom they often then assault sexually. (Wood. J, 1994)
2. When you think of various groups (race, class, and gender) in society, which ones have the
most power and which ones have the least? Using Intersection Theory, identify two groups
that have unequal amounts of power and resources, being specific and using the text and
outside resources.
Racial formations and processes of racialization keep changing, in large part because of
struggle and resistance: African Americans, immigrants, Native Nations and others have
struggled against racial oppression since the early colonial days. With each success (or failure),
old control mechanisms were updated and new ones were created. (MC. Escher, 2000)
Example 1: 1676. Bacon’s Rebellion, Poor white workers joined together with Black and
white indentured servants and slaves in protest against wealthy planters and their colonial
lawmakers. The Colony moved quickly to drive a racial wedge between white and Black
servants, making legal and social distinctions between ‘servants’ (white) and ‘slaves’ (Black).
(MC. Escher, 2000)
Example 2: 2006-today. Immigrant rights organizing. Immigration reform, including a
pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the
U.S., and the Dream Act. (MC. Escher, 2000)
3. For each group, has the power dynamic changed over time? Do you think it will change in
the future? Why or why not?
No I do not think it will ever change, Racial differentiation has been created, and is
constantly being re-created, to serve a social and or economic purpose. It is maintained through
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
social, legal and political controls (from slavery to Jim Crow laws to ghettoization to uses of
‘law and order’ and the criminal justice system, restrictive immigration policies, etc.) It is
reinforced by belief systems, such as the notion of white superiority, and/or associating
“American” with whiteness, and asserting U.S. dominance over the Western Hemisphere. (MC.
Escher, 2000)
The effects of racialization accumulate over time. Some of the effects are altered, at times
sharply, as in the case of the passage of civil rights legislation, but they are not erased, even with
the election of the first Black President. (MC. Escher, 2000)
References
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Running head: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT SOCIAL MOBILITY
Basow, S. A. (1992). Gender: Stereo-&& and roles (3rd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Retrieved on Friday, August 15, 2014. From
http://www.udel.edu/comm245/readings/GenderedMedia.pdf
Cloud. C. (2007). Factors Influencing Social Mobility. Retrieved on Friday, August 15, 2014.
From http://www.worldissues360.com/index.php/factors-that-affect-social-mobility2576/
Cloud. C. (2004). Socioeconomic Position and Major Mental Disorders. Retrieved on Friday,
August 15, 2014. From http://www.worldissues360.com/index.php/factors-that-affectsocial-mobility-2576/
Flue. gov. (2012). Flu Symptoms. Retrieved on Friday, August 15, 2014. From
http://www.flu.gov/symptoms-treatment/symptoms/index.html
Oxford (2004). Socioeconomic Position and Major Mental Disorders. Retrieved on Friday,
August 15, 2014. From http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/53.full
MC. Escher. (2000). Race, Power and Policy: Dismantling Structural Racism. Retrieved on
Friday, August 15, 2014. From
http://www.strategicpractice.org/system/files/race_power_policy_workbook.pdf
Moffitt. K. (2003). Social Stratification: Definition, Theories & Examples. Retrieved on Friday,
August 15, 2014. From http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/social-stratificationdefinition-theories-examples.html#lesson
Study reports sex bias in news organizations. (1989, April, 11). New York Times, p. C22.
Retrieved on Friday, August 15, 2014. From
http://www.udel.edu/comm245/readings/GenderedMedia.pdf
Wood. J. (1994). Gendered Media: The Influence of Media on Views of Gender. Retrieved on
Friday, August 15, 2014. From
http://www.udel.edu/comm245/readings/GenderedMedia.pdf
Mr. Bobby L Porter
South University of Georgia
College of Arts & Sciences
Science Degree in Health Science - Public Health
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