Social in * Mobility Bogota,

ALAN B. SIMMONS

York university, , Canada

A KEY issue in the study of social inequality in is the extent to which urbanization and associated economic changes are breaking down the traditional class structure of the region. This paper seeks to contribute to existing knowledge on this issue through an examination of selected features of intergenerational (father to son) occupational mobility in Bogota, Colombia. To facilitate the interpretation of the findings for Bogota, comparative findings derived from secondary analyses of occupational mobility data for (), Sao Paulo () and Monterrey () are also presented. Three general questions are of particular interest in this study: 1. Do men born into the manual stratum move up to higher occupational positions only when technological change has created an "excess" of positions at the higher levels which can not be filled by men born in the higher strata? Or do we find a situation in which men from lower status origins are able to obtain skilled jobs while men born into the skilled stratum often obtain manual jobs? Hutchinsonl has referred to the latter situation (simultaneous upward and downward mobility across the same occupational boundaries) as "exchange mobility". The important feature of exchange mobility is that it necessarily produces reversals in relative status, and as such may be held to reflect an "openness" in occupational recruiting. While Latin America has been popularly charac- terized by the relatively "closed" nature of its status structure, research in several large of the region (such as Sao Paulo, Brazil; , ; and ) reveal substantial levels of exchange mobility.2 Evidence for less industrialized cities such as Bogota is currently not available. 2. High proportions (in some cases the majority) of urban workers are rural born. Do rural-born men participate to the same extent as urban born men in upward occupational mobility? Lipset and Bendix3 present evidence from various nations suggesting that rural born men are relatively disadvantaged when competing for skilled urban jobs. However,

* Support from the Population Council for the survey on which the social mobility data for Bogota are based is gratefully acknowledged. The Bogota data were collected under the auspices of the Colombian Association of Medical Faculties (ASCOFAME), Population Division. The Minor Research Grants program at York University provided support for the computer tabulations and preliminary statistical work on this project .Special thanks go to Gordon Darroch and Arthur Conning for useful suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper, and to Ramiro Cardona, who collaborated with me in collecting the data on which this analysis is based. 1 B. Hutchinson, "Structural and exchange mobility in the assimilation of immigrants to Brazil." Population Studies 12, no. 2 (November 1958) : 111-120. 2 See B. Hutchinson, "Social mobility rates in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Sao Paulo, a preliminary comparison." Amirica Latina 5 (October 1962). 3 S. M. Lipset and R. Bendix, Social Mobility in Industrial Society (Berkeley: University of California, 1959): 19-23. 229

Raczynski's findings for Santiago, Chile,4 and Balan's findings for Monterrey, Mexico,5 suggest that, for these two cities at least, rural background in itself may not be a dis- advantage, and that rural-born men participate extensively in mobility into the urban middle and upper strata. Further evidence is required before any conclusions on this issue may be drawn. 3. Who fills in the "middle sector" occupations? Some time ago, Beals6 pointed out that two distinct arguments had been made regarding the social origins of skilled workers, administrators and office workers in the larger cities in Latin America. One view, stressed by T. Lynn Smith7 for Colombia is that this occupational stratum is heavily composed of downwardly mobile sons from families in the elite and sub-elites of the nation. Patterns of net downward mobility which would partially support this hypothesis have been noted more recently for , $ and for Santiago, Chile.9 Other studies have stressed the view that the middle sectors are composed primarily of upwardly mobile men from below. 1° Of course both processes may be in operation.

The present paper approaches these questions at both a methodological and at a substantive . The organization of the paper is as follows: First, a section on the data discusses the nature and context of each sample in the analysis. Second, a methodological section discusses (a) problems in measuring occupational status and mobility, and (b) several important limitations of standard occupational mobility tables derived from survey data. Third, an analysis section presents substantive findings related to the preceding questions about social mobility in Latin America. Finally, a discussion and summary section reviews the findings, noting some possible distinctive features of the Latin America patterns.

THE DATA

Selection of comparable studies Data concerning intergenerational occupational mobility in Bogota were obtained through a 1968 survey. In this survey, 875 men 20 to 50 years of age, resident in Bogota, were interviewed on a range of topics, including their work experience (an occupational history was recorded) and their father's principal occupation. The sample was stratified (by residential social-strata, in three groups). By design, single men were under represented. For analysis, the sample strata have been weighted and combined to form a representative sample of - 4 D. Raczynski, "A note on migration and social mobility in Chile." International Migration Review6, no. 2 (Summer 1972): 182-199. 5 Jorge Balan, "Are farmers' sons disadvantaged in the ?" Rural Sociology33, no. 2 ( 1968) : 160-174. 6 R. L. Beals, "Social stratification in Latin America," AmericanJournal of Sociology58, no. 4 (January 1953): 327-339. 7 Cited in Beales, ibid., page 331. 8 Centro de Investigaciones Sociales por Muestreo (CISM), AlgunosAspoctos de Estratification, MovilidadSocial yMigracion en Lima e Iquitos. (Lima : Servicio de Empleo y Recursos Huma- nos, 1968). 9 D. Raczynski, 1972. 10 For example, see Hutchinson (1958, 1962) with regard to patterns in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina; and Balan (1968) with regard to Monterrey, Mexico.