ABSTRACT
A controversy arose about the psychological effects of rapid social change. If the general interpretation presented here is at least broadly justified, then the very changes in social values and norms that first rendered a rise in social status hazardous will in due course have the effect of reducing the risk of conflict and maladjustment. In Ghana the evidence indicates that the chances of social mobility tend to be a combined function of parental literacy and father's occupational level. In analyses of the vocational aspirations of adolescents according to the variables no significant differences in aspiration levels were discerned. Investigations in Ghana yield a picture of vocational aspirations closely resembling that reported by Schwab for Gwelo, where about two-thirds to three-quarters of parents questioned about their children, and of young people themselves, aspired to professional or at least white-collar jobs.
