 Let us now discuss about another two very significant aspects of social mobility one is the open mobility and the other the closed mobility. Depending on the degree of openness or closeness of the stratification system of any particular society we have either open or closed systems of social mobility. Now open system of mobility as the name open suggests is a system where the change in position is allowed where an individual is allowed to change his position and status. An individual may be allowed to change his rank he might be allowed to climb up the social hierarchy okay that is an open system of mobility. An open system of mobility is generally a characteristic of those societies having occupational diversity a flexible hierarchy differentiated social structure and rapidity of change. So as we have already discussed every society is stratified. If we take the example of Indian society only we know we are stratified in terms of caste in terms of class in terms of gender in terms of ethnicity so on and so forth but the two prominent systems of social stratification are the caste and the class. So in case of open system of mobility where a person is allowed to change his social position we have to take the example of class. Class is an open system of mobility class position is not a position which is given to an individual by word no doubt he is born to a particular class he is born to his parents class but there is always the flexibility that he works hard he he works hard he toils and he can change his position but caste which is ascribed by birth which is given by birth which is hereditary is very difficult to change. So caste is an example of closed system of mobility because the hierarchy the ranking of the different caste groups in society is fixed and it is very difficult for a person to move up the social ladder so therefore because it do not give the caste system does not provide enough score to an individual to change his position to change his status it is a closed system of mobility. Mobility is open in those stratification systems which are flexible and encourages competition so that individuals compete and elevate their social status according to their capability as in the case of class. Class is an open system it is flexible there is a competition between people to achieve higher class thereby you know they they they compete with each other and try to achieve a higher class position and thereby their status also changes. Birth is not the sole determining factor of a person's status in this context so in case of open system of mobility your birth is not the sole determining factor you may be born to a particular class but you have the ability to change it because your achievement capability merit skills competence achievement all of these things count you are able to change your position you are able to change your status with your achievements with your merit with your skills so your status is not fixed in open system of mobility it is not just that it is determined by a birth and it remains throughout no you may be born with a particular class into a particular class but there is always a chance that you are able to change it thus a person's position or status in this system is not based on heredity it is not hereditary you know there is there is equality there is freedom a person is given the opportunity to achieve a higher position if he desires so it is not just heredity or not just birth which determines a person's position or rank in the open system of mobility let us now move on to the closed mobility as i have already indicated while discussing about open mobility closed mobility is a system where it is very difficult for a person to change his or her position your birth plays the key determining fact the birth is the key determining factor of a person's position the position is hereditary i inherit the position of my parents i inherit the status of my parents and it is really very difficult to change it whatever i have i have been i have been given at birth or you know whatever status i am born with there there is higher chance that i die in the same status this status is ascribed here let us think the example of the caste system the indian caste system which is how many varnas there are four varnas in indian caste system the brahmins the shatryas the vaishyas and the shudras okay so a person belonging to a shudra caste is hardly given the scope to change his position the system is very closed very very closed the hierarchy is highly rigid the upper caste people would find it very difficult or are very reluctant to accommodate the lower caste people or to elevate the status of the lower caste people so here it is very very closed the position is almost fixed and there is little scope for individuals to change their positions they the individuals here becomes the member of the group or the category to which his parents belong he acquires the positions and the status of his parents and continues with it throughout his life the position or the status that a person is born with he he in most cases he die in the same position there is hardly any scope for him to change position in this closed mobility or in societies having closed mobility in such systems in societies having closed mobility individuals are assigned their place in the social structure on the basis of descriptive criteria as I have said like the age, birth, sex so on and so forth however there is no such you know it is not always so that you know these systems are perfectly closed or these are highly I mean or they are totally absolutely closed there are no chances of changing position it is not always so there are examples of change in positions but those are very limited there are very few examples or there are very few chances given to a person few chances that a person has to change his position it is very limited most often it is closed so by open and closed mobility what we understand is that depending on the nature of stratification we first we have to remember that every society is stratified and depending on the system of stratification depending on the nature of the system of stratification that exists in a particular society there that that in determines whether a person would have the chance to change his position or not the nature of the social stratification system in a particular society decides whether mobility will be open for a person or it will be closed as we have already illustrated for if we talk about Indian society and if we talk about caste-based social stratification there is very limited scope for an individual to change his caste position but if we talk about European societies mostly dominated by class class system there are higher chances that a person would be able to change his position a person will be able to change his status so what happens is in societies which are open which have where does the nature of social stratification is open there are the mobility is open the individuals can move up and down the ladder the social hierarchy but in those societies where the social stratification is a closed one where the nature of social stratification is closed is rigid the mobility is limited as in the case of caste so having understood these two systems let us now understand the difference between the closed and the open system of mobility in an open system of mobility an individual's position or status is based on merit or achievement whereas in the closed system of mobility the status is ascribed it is hereditary here in open system of mobility is flexible is open it allows person it gives ample opportunities to persons to change their status but in closed societies in societies where social stratification is very rigid very close it only there are you know very limited chances or a person hardly gets a chance to change his position and in societies where there is closed mobility a person's status therefore is more or less fixed but in case of societies which have open system of mobility a person can always change his status so it is not fixed so I think you have understood the difference the cracks of the difference is that in open systems of mobility one can change his position because here his position is not fixed or determined solely by birth he can always change his position through his achievements as in the case of class but in case of closed systems it is birth which determines his social status his social status more or less remains fixed it is descriptive and therefore there is very rare chance that he would be able to change his position in his lifetime so this is what is the difference between the closed and the open systems of mobility with this let us move towards understanding what are the factors affecting social mobility so we have by now learned that social mobility implies change in the position of a person in some societies a person is given ample opportunities to change his position while in some societies some other societies the chance to change one's position is restricted or very very limited so what are the factors which affects social mobility which helps in social mobility the first and the foremost important factor is education with the help of education with the help of knowledge a person can change his status a person may be born maybe born in a lower class a person may be born poor okay but with education with requisite qualification with knowledge okay he can rise to a higher position he can achieve a higher position so education is a very very important factor which affects social mobility along with education comes skills and training a person being skilled and trained becomes qualified to becomes qualified to get himself employed if I'm educated I'm skilled I'm trained I have a better chance in the job market I have a better chance when I face interviews when I'm being able to project myself as being trained as being skilled as having the required requisite education project myself as a better candidate and this helps me in achieving a higher position or this helps me in getting a job this helps me in seeking a position somewhere and that affects my social mobility I may move from a jobless unemployed to an employed person I might move from a lower position to a higher position from so the education skill and training are very important especially when we talk about class okay in societies which are stratified on the basis of class a person can with his education with his skills and trainings change his position another factor which affects social mobility is achievement and failures which we have which we have already discussed in our discussion on vertical I mean on upward and downward social mobility with my achievements I climb up and with my failures I climb climb down I may be born I may be a child of a very very wealthy family a very very rich very very prosperous very very well-to-do parents but if I do not or I cannot achieve something in life on my own I mean if I'm not taking I do not go for education if I'm not skilled if I'm into drugs if I'm into bad habits I might completely ruin myself I might lose the social esteem that my parents had or that I I inherited through my parents I might lose everything so depending on my achievement and failures also I either move up the social ladder or hierarchy or I move down either my social positions move I mean my social position changed to a better position or it falls down next is migration which is very very important because you see with there are three more important points migration industrialization and urbanization these three are very important factors of social mobility and they are interrelated let us talk about industrialization first before going to migration we all know that industrialization brought massive changes to the european society at in the beginning to england and then it spread across the world with the booming of industries setting up of factories people began to move from rural areas to urban areas to work in factories and industries they came to a new socio-economic social setting where you know getting a job in these industries or factories changed their socio-economic position so their position changed their socio-economic status changed their lifestyle changed so with industrialization began urbanization growth of cities and which led to migration people began to migrate their their changes changes to place in different social institutions like family there was once traditionally joint family system which subsequently declined with the formation of cities because families began to be began to have a more nuclear structure you know so they are there were different kinds of changes that were taking place in society even if we talk about caste system in India do you think the the the rigidity of the caste system has remained till date definitely no it has changed in cities today in the metropolis today the caste status hardly matters what matters is one's class position the rigidity of the caste system the practice of untouchability you know the practice of isolating one caste group from another you know or the the the tendency of one caste group to remain separated to remain isolated or to remain in distance from another has changed tremendously today in cities especially in cities in towns where you know people of different caste groups work together come together eat together sit together the caste status hardly matters okay so in the rural areas when one's caste status used to used to determine his position used to determine his lifestyle used to determine his social interactions social relationships have faded with industrialization with urbanization with migration he the the person now comes to a city gets a new job gets a new life interacts with people across different cast in communities and thereby has a different social standing or a different social status so these are different factors which leads to change in the position of a person either through education through skill through training through achievements or failures or through you know or by migrating to another place and finding a better job better livelihood opportunity a person is able to change his status so this is what we have discussed today the unit 14 of the paper introduction to sociology where we have mostly talked about the meaning of social mobility what is social mobility imply the types of social mobility the forms of vertical mobility and the openness and the closeness of social mobility and the factor that determines the factors that determines social mobility the only thing that we need to understand here is that depending upon the nature of social stratification social mobility of a person is governed the societies which have open systems of social stratification like caste people can easily change their positions people can people get numerous opportunities or they are given numerous chances they are given avenues to change their position but in those societies where the social stratification is system is very rigid which is where the hierarchy is very rigid it is very very difficult for a person to change his or her position but with the changing times with the passage of time with modernization with industrialization with the ample I mean with the different avenues of livelihood that have emerged with people migrating to cities and towns the concept of completely closed mobility or the notion of completely closed system of stratification is gradually fading even though it exists but its rigidity has somewhat declined but yes we have to say that in case of caste the hierarchy still remains though a person in might get a chance to change his position but that is very rare otherwise the completely the closed social stratification is also no longer very very closed as for its definition there is a fluidity and a person with his own achievements with his own skills with his own merit has the chance to change his or her position in a society so that is what we have discussed today we'll come back with another unit next time till then thank you stay safe