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Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, second unified edition, English volume

Social group

Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, second unified edition, English vol.
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Social group  (SOCIAL group)


In many studies, the population is divided into a number of social status groups 1 or into socioeconomic groups 1 according to occupation, income, education or similar indices of economic status. The term social class 2 has a sociological connotation which is only approximated by the type of grouping generally used in demographic work. The division of society into a number of such groups is called social stratification 3. Movement between different social status groups is called social mobility 4; a distinction is made between upward mobility 5 and downward mobility 6 in the social hierarchy. The mobility of children with respect to their parents’ social class is called inter-generational social mobility 7.

  • 3. A caste is a closed social group in which social status and position in the social hierarchy are ascribed.
  • 7. Social mobility by an individual in his or her own lifetime is called intra-generational social mobility.

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