Social Mobility and Class Structuration1

Abstract

The long tradition of empirical studies on social mobility has given us a rather comprehensive knowledge of that process. The relevance of this knowledge to class structuration is the main problem discussed in this article. Social mobility viewed as a phenomenon creating blurred class boundaries and a low level of class structuration is questioned. It is argued that the effects of social mobility are highly conditional. Primarily as a result of the decline in the farming population, a relative increase in the number of white-collar workers, and weaker market capacity for certain white-collar groups, the character and effects of mobility may change. These changes may in turn facilitate the acceptance of socialistic values among white-collar workers as well as create greater homogeneity among manual workers. Social mobility in the future is not assumed to be an obstacle, and may even contribute to a higher level of class structuration where the relevant working class is composed primanly of salaried employees and not just manual workers.