Occupational mobility in developing countries: Conceptual issues and empirical findings

This paper discusses current methods for measuring and analysing occupational mobility, and the way in which methods designed for the analysis of developing countries may need to be modified when applied in other contexts. The paper discusses particular features of some developing societies, such as their large and complex agricultural and informal sectors, and the problem of 'equivalence of meaning', which arises when stratification systems involve rather different institutional arrangements, for example with respect to land tenure. The paper concludes with a discussion of absolute and relative mobility in Chile, China, Egypt, and India, bringing out both the similarities and the differences between these countries in their absolute and relative rates of mobility and intersectionality with gender.