DEFINITION OF SOCIAL MOBILITY: EVOLUTION AND MODERNITY

Abstract

The article highlights theoretical approaches to the interpretation of the social mobility concept in the context of historical aspects and current challenges and threats posed by the full-scale war and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The approaches of foreign and domestic scholars to the definition of social mobility through the perspective of education, skills, occupation, income, wage, social status, and migration processes are studied and analyzed. The social mobility concept is substantiated, characterizing the latter through socio-economic indicators according to the level of analysis, concepts, and components. The connection between social institutions, changes in the structure of employment, economic growth, human capital development, and social mobility processes is considered. The author examines the interpretation of the social mobility concept by international institutions and constructs his own vision of the concept of social mobility of employees, which involves changes in career, income and wage, education and occupation, acquisition of new skills and experience, as well as social protection. It is determined that social mobility of employees is a process that allows an employee to change from one type of activity to another, successfully master new technologies, implement vertical and horizontal career growth, and adapt to the internal and external environment. The importance of the impact of socio-economic transformations on the processes of social mobility during the post-war recovery of human capital and the economy is emphasized. Attention is focused on the importance of studying the processes of social mobility in the period of post-war reconstruction, namely during the post-crisis economic recovery and the necessary development of the educational and labour potential of the state. The author emphasizes that the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, strategic leadership, and coordinated interaction between employers and state institutions should be considered in theoretical and practical studies of increasing the social mobility of employees.