Social Mobility and the Great Gatsby

Social mobility is “movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy.” Basically, social mobility is an individual’s movement from social class to another. There are two main different types of movement an individual can make. Vertical mobility is when an individual goes from a lover socioeconomic class to a higher. For example, if a manager of a company becomes the owner. His income has most likely changed due to the job change therefore he has moved up. But if he is demoted to a lower position with a pay decrease then he has had a downward mobility shift. Finally, a third is presented but it is fairly stagnate in what type of social class shift an individual can make. A horizontal shift is when an individual changes occupations within the same social level without altering social class or status.

When we are born, we are given the social class that our parents are, although physically at this age in infancy we look the same there are no physical attributes like clothes or baby accessories that distinguish one from another. Yet, as the infant grows to be a young man or women there are differences as soon as high school graduation approaches. One young man how has grown up in a higher class than his counter parts will most likely be attending an elite college. While another will enter the blue collar work force like his father before him and finally the last young man is in the lower socioeconomic class may become a part of the service industry. But is it possible to surpass your parent’s socioeconomic status, to be become better?

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the perfect example of all three social mobility shifts. The first character to examine is Jay Gatsby, his family was considered to be in lower socioeconomic status. Once Gatsby moved to the city and began entering various arrangements that increased his income, surpassing his parents. Nick, the narrator of the story has a more horizontal mobility because he remains the same neither changing social class or status as anything more than Gatsby’s neighbor. The final character that signifies another horizontal social mobility is that of George Wilson, he does not change in any sort of way but supports the idea that often children do not surpass their parent’s socioeconomic status. Although not all the characters made major social moves like Gatsby, a reader can identify each character with their associated movements.

Social mobility can be related to the achievement of the American Dream. "Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry." (Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 1925: p.52) The Great Gatsby is the perfect example one trying to better themselves and that one is able to move social classes instead of remaining stagnant and suffering a downward shift. Social mobility in the United States consists of a movement between social classes not stagnant like in India with the caste system. Movement suggests either an economic decline or a boost depending upon the era. In the case of The Great Gatsby, his novel was set right before the Great Depression which resulted in a downward mobility shift for most of the country.

References:

"social mobility." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551322/social-mobility>.

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925