Absztrakt

Both the self-evident acknowledgment of hierarchies and the human ambition to move up in the ranks of society seem to be part of our ancient heritage. Accepting one’s superiors does not necessarily preclude attempts to climb the social ladder. However, this takes place in a social environment where rational considerations are only part of the overall strategy, as it can be seen in the interpretation of and responses to top-down designations; at the same time, behaviour is governed by habitus, which, in certain situations, causes cultural inertia or inflexibility in some groups. This inertia is not interminable, it can be changed by learning processes even in the course of a single individual’s lifetime. Upward mobility, however, is not wholly hinged on individual performance, but also on its context. The diverse social domains — including their institutions, the power positions within and between them, and the advancement opportunities achievable through the types of capital owned by the individual — constitute fields in which progress is only possible by exerting effort, similar to spaces familiar from everyday experience. As examples from the last decades of the Estate System clearly show, the synergy of social background, habitus, personal qualities, and external factors together can lead to both upwards or downwards mobility in the social hierarchy.