Youthful Alienation and Social Mobility: A Re-evaluation of the Whole Social Mobility Ethos Is Urgently Needed

Abstract

Some of the alienation of our young people results from the North American ethos of stationary or preferably upward social mobility. Society has a negative, hostile cultural attitude to individuals who do not meet this standard and become downwardly socially mobile. This ethos ignores human limitations. In a society whose demands and expectations exceed the capacities of many individuals, alienation and membership in the alienated subculture become preferable to the painful loss of self-esteem from conventional downward social mobility. W e need a re-evaluation of the whole social mobility ethos with its strong approval of upwardly socially mobile individuals and its strong disapproval of downwardly socially mobile individuals.

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