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Using the theoretical framework developed in the first paper ('Unfulfilled Systemic Functions of Social Mobility: A Theoretical Scheme'), we analyse the Polish case. We argue that the contribution of collective mobility to politico-revolutionary legitimation processes has been minimal and the contribution of individual mobility to the economic development and to economico-reformist legitimation processes has also been negligible. Our research strategy has been to demonstrate that many aspects of mobility processes taking place in Poland are incompatible with conditions that we have listed in the first paper as conducive to the formation of legitimation beliefs and the sustenance of economic efficiency. Specifically we demonstrate that (1) because collective mobility of the working class and the peasantry encompassed several changes in their economic and cultural positions but did not include major changes in their political position, it could not contribute to the politico-revolutionary legitimation and (2), because individual mobility did not occur according to the qualificational/occupational principle of allocation, promotion and remuneration, it could not contribute to the economico-reformist legitimation nor could it sustain effective utilisation of human resources in economic development. We conclude that the chance to use mobility for the systems's benefit has been wasted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the views of some Marxists, we are firmly convinced that social mobility is not a 'bourgeois problematic'. We believe that, given certain preconditions, mobility processes may contribute significantly to the effective functioning of a socialist socio-economic system. In this respect they have great potential but the effective utilization of that potential is problematic. So far the sociology of socialist countries has paid little attention to the systemic meaning of social mobility. In an attempt to change this state of affairs, we are endeavouring here to pave the way for research into two possible functions of mobility for the social system.' By such functions, we understand: (a) the legitimation of the social and political system; (b) an incentive to processes of economic development and to efficiency. Two types of mobility are distinguished in this text and linked to their potential contribution to the functioning of the socio-political system. The collective-class type mobility is considered relevant to 'politico-revolutionary' legitimation, and individual occupational-qualificational type mobility is considered relevant for both 'economico-reformist' legitimation and incentive for economic growth and efficiency. In this paper the authors try to develop a theoretical scheme for sociological and historical analysis, and in a following paper they spell out some tentative substantive hypotheses related to the Polish case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Employment in different industries and sectors of the economy influences the socio-economic status, occupational prestige, income and social mobility of individuals irrespective of characteristics such as class, education, gender, social background etc. In order to prove this claim, the paper places social mobility, class structure transformations and socio-economic achievement in their economic context characterised by the industrial and sectoral composition. The consequences of an individual's location in a so defined economic setting constitute the main topic of the analysis. The addition of a structural economic dimension increases our ability to explain these processes. Thus, the economic structure, defined in terms of industries and sectors, has to be interpreted as an additional dimension of social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the relationship between two periods of Pitirim A Sorokin’s life, career and scientific work: the Russian period (till 1922) and the American (1923–68). The main sociological problems of both periods are considered in the article, including: social behaviour, the positivistic system of sociology and famine (as the key problems of his Russian period) and revolution, social stratification, social mobility, social and cultural dynamics and altruistic love (as the key problems of his American period). The important point in the discussion is that the Russian period is a prototype of the American one rather than its polar opposite; and therefore that the concepts that characterize Sorokin’s American period are the development of his ideas that had emerged while he was still in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article demonstrates how social factors affect industrial organization by a comparative case study of South Korea and Taiwan. By applying the social networks analysis to the transaction costs measurement, the author argues that the mutual reinforcement between social network and business network has nourished the development of the industrial organizational structure of the two economies. The characteristics of social networks, on the one hand, determine the costs of information and communication, and, on the other hand, control the costs and benefits of force and fraud. Thus the transaction costs vary in different societies. Since trust and reputation can provide valuable services for each transaction, the behaviour of firms is regulated not only by law and morals, but more effectively by the economic incentives derived from social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of social transformation and opening to the outside world in modern China accompanied a process of rising importance and popularity of overseas studies. As a result, foreign education (mainly western education) gradually replaced traditional Chinese education as the dominating cultural capital and the most important means of social mobility in modern China. However, foreign education was by no means assumed valuable in the initial stage of its introduction, but experienced a long process of transformation from negative social meanings to positive cultural capital. The careers and life experience of the first group of returned students from the USA in the 1880s represent very well the process of such transformation. Three factors were crucial in the explanation of such a process: social contexts, occupational contexts and group formation. The unique social contexts of the mid-19th and early 20th centuries in China provided the first returned students' opportunities to demonstrate their outstanding performance and professional accomplishments. At the same time, the process of adopting western practices and lifestyles created increasing demand for western knowledge and western skills in China, and subsequently caused an occupational transformation which helped the rise of the new occupational sector in which the returned students made careers. Finally, the first returned students as a group actively promoted western education in China and constructed the identity of western-returned students as a positive social symbol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]