Social mobility is the movement of individuals or groups between different social postions. Mobility can occur in two forms, intergenerational mobility and intragenerational mobility. Intergenerational mobility is the movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy from one generation to another. Intragenerational mobility is the movement up or down social stratification hierarchy within the course of a personal career. Structural mobility and exchange mobility is another important distinction. Exchange mobility is the exchange of positions on the socioeconomic scale such that talented people move up the economic hierarchy while the less talented move down. Exchange mobility would only happen in a hypothetical society where everyone
