User:Xstallatsx/Globalization in India

Social mobility
Social mobility is the degree to which people can change their socioeconomic status and move between different social strata. Globalization and economic liberalization have driven social mobility in India in various ways.

One factor that influences social mobility in India is occupation mobility, which refers to how a parent’s career determines that of their children, or how people can change their careers within a single generation. Globalization has enabled occupation mobility in India through the "high-tech revolution" and the employment it has driven. Occupation mobility has risen due to increased employment opportunities stemming from the entry of new global industries and FDI, which has contributed to the gradual dismantling of existing social structures, including caste. A reduction of poverty and consequent upward movement of members of lower classes has been attributed to a trickle-down effect resulting from faster economic growth that globalization has enabled. This has helped people from lower socioeconomic classes enter higher social strata by enhancing their skills and income through education and training.

However, this social mobility is selective and has also resulted in an intensification of inequality. The WEF ranks India as 76th in its Global Social Mobility Index, explaining that in economies like India's, there may be a gross upwards shift in income across the whole population, strata may remain unchanged. Rigidity of social strata has been noted as being especially high in developing countries like India.

Social mobility affects the values, aspirations, and lifestyle of people who experience it, as they have to adapt to their new class's changing social norms and expectations. This has been observed both with second-generation industrialists acquiring higher levels of education in order to better fit into their new social class, as well as in a "keeping up with the Joneses"-esque consumption culture that has become widespread among the Indian middle class. Both the need for higher degrees of education and increased consumption are underpinned by an operationalization of the ideals of respectability and social image. Globalization has enhanced this consumption culture through the increased exposure to, and the influx of, foreign brands and products, as well as the consequent consumer acculturation.