ABSTRACT

The older sociological literature of "culture conflict" between first and second generations portrayed vividly the anguish of both parties to the mobility contests. When a complex organization is dealing with an aggregate of mobile individuals, the issue of control is likely to be somewhat more complicated. Two contingent problems confront both the organization and its aggregate of mobile individuals. The organization (and its representatives) must, first, exert control over the shape of the total aggregate's mobility. Second, it is concerned with the shape of each individual's mobility, especially insofar as each may deviate from the norm for the total aggregate. When aggregates evolve into active groups, they can cause organizational or agential havoc and radically alter the normal shape of aggregate mobility. Arguments concerning occupational life extend into arguments over the character of social mobility. Disagreement of the desirability of one or another type of mobility involves disagreement over the meaning of success and failure.