Mobility in Modern Society

Abstract

In considering mobility as an occupational process, we have drawn heavily on a selection of themes from the two main theories of contemporary society. From the Marxist tradition, the key element is the need of advanced capitalism to develop and organise its elaborate commercial transactions and its state apparatus. While it can be argued that Marxist accounts of the scale of the new occupations thus created, and their role in the class struggle, are less than satisfactory, we do at least have the germ of an understanding of occupational transition. Furthermore, we also have reasons for its occurrence, which are historical and based in the human motives of power and profit that are so evident in our experience of the everyday world. Despite the confusion of the internal disputes between post-Marxists, the political future of these new occupational groups is crucial in explaining current and future social developments.