SOCIAL MOBILITY AND RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM.

The study of social mobility has been largely neglected by sociologists, despite its functional significance. One reason for this slight might be the long-term implications of such a program of study. The present study offers the means of investigating differences in satisfaction and radicalism-conservatism. Furthermore, it makes some provision for the intensity function. When a sample of 300 persons made estimates of their community social position for the year 1940 and these ratings were compared with estimates of their present community standing, the group as a whole gave evidence of social accession, but not to a marked degree. Occupational mobility as gauged by generational interstices has certain characteristics. It is a fluid bi-directional process. It occurs on a fairly large scale but is limited in range. The occupational transition between generations is more gradual than abrupt. No one occupational or educational group displayed a unique or viscid mobility trend. In as much as this does connote fluidity, it might be construed as socially beneficial.