Social mobility refers to movement along the social ladder. The mobility could be upwards or downwards depending on the prevailing circumstances. In most cases, social mobility is used to refer to movement between social classes. Some of the factors that affect social mobility include education, income, gender, ethnicity, marriage status, religion etc. These factors can be overcome and when this happens, one moves from one social class to the other hence social mobility. For example, after graduation and one manages to secure an employment, their social status changes from a student to a working class.
I don’t think the structural functionalist theory can explain social mobility because this theory drums up support for status quo. In short, this theory implies that for the society to function well, everything should stick to its position in order to make the functioning of the society tick. For example, according to this theory, women should remain subordinate to men. This goes against the concept of social mobility which states that the social position of a person can change depending on the prevailing circumstances.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The contemporary media is against the traditional belief that women should be inferior to men and that their roles are confined to giving birth, raising children and doing household chores. On the contrary, the media depicts the modern woman as an equal of the male species and the slogan ‘what a man can do a woman can do better’ is a perfection illustration of the current situation. For example, in most TV stations, women are increasingly occupying roles that were a reserve for men for example news anchoring and currently, there are even football pundits who are females! UN women is another media platform that is currently being used to champion for gender equality.
In my opinion, class holds more power over the rest of the groups because regardless of the race or gender, as long as one hails from a high social class, it is possible to command respect from all the other groups. The theory of intersection refers to a situation where one is oppressed from multiple directions/factors. For example, one can be discriminated due to their race as well as gender. African-American women were see to wield less power as compared to the Native White women but over time, the dynamics are shifting. For example, Michelle Obama wields more power than most White women despite her skin color.
