ABSTRACT
A need for change is the preliminary and internal condition for mobility, while the actual movement is its external manifestation and implementation. Social mobility is a matter of fundamental significance. The role of the peasantry as a social source of recruitment is not the same among the different socio-occupational groups. The processes of social mobility have their own peculiarities under rural conditions. They are simultaneously simpler and more complex than in urban areas. They are simpler to the extent that the socio-occupational structure of the countryside is not as multilayered as in the city. Despite the existence of complex differentiation, the countryside is characterized by a large-scale shifting of population that promotes processes of integration. The collective farm-cooperative sector, whose social structure is simpler than that of the state sector, provides fewer opportunities for advancement in social status within the sector itself.
