This research focused on the gap in data and theory on occupational mobility between historians researching the nineteenth century and sociologists researching the twentieth century. City directory listings on Muncie, Indiana provided the source data for a re-assessment of the blocked-mobility thesis asserted by Robert S. and Helen M. Lynd in the Middletown (1928) study of Muncie. The Middletown Index of Association was developed to analyze rates and trends in intra-generational occupational mobility.The results showed that the rate of upward mobility varied on the basis of the rate of industrialization, and both phenomena declined in the period under study. Thus, while upward mobility was decreasing, as reported by the Lynds, that decrease occurred with the deceleration rather than the advent of industrialization.Out-migration significantly increased through time contributing to a decelerating rate of urbanization, but low-status laborers continued to migrate out of the labor force at a significantly greater rate than skilled and white-collar workers. The "floating prolitariat" continued as a phenomenon in Muncie into the twenties. As a city declining in regional dominance, Muncie served as a "stage" in the movement of rural populations into increasingly larger cities.The association of high status to persistence in the labor force was matched with significantly greater residential persistence by skilled and non-manual workers. Social control was found to be more plausible than affluence as an explanation of the strong individualistic faith of the Muncie working class.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/179937 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | Ray, Scott |
| Contributors | Hoover, Dwight W. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | xv, 302 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
| Coverage | n-us-in |
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