| See under vertical mobility (def. 1). |
| 1. | movement from one social level to a higher one (upward mobility) or a lower one (downward mobility), as by changing jobs or marrying. |
| 2. | cultural diffusion from one social level to another, as the adoption by one economic class of the fashions current or formerly current in a higher class. |
| upward mobility n. The state of being upwardly mobile. |