Introduction
The article titled Sponsored and Contest Mobility Turner (1960) by Ralph H. Turner presents the concept of upward mobility or the dream of career growth of individuals and the way they can achieve it. Turner compared the American and English secondary education systems and found them to be vastly different. The article presents the idea of contested mobility and sponsored mobility through which individuals can move forward in their careers. The article clearly presents how an individual can start moving up the ladder right from the point of grammar school to joining the workforce. Thus, the main Turner argues that social and cultural differences in societies actually change the way individuals would want to pursue career growth. That is why Turner believes that there is a difference between the American and English education systems. It is argued that it is due to the difference in the social control of the system that the American and English education system differs so vastly on its content, importance placed on education, a system of examination, etc. Thus, the article by Turner provides a broad view on how an individual can aim for career growth and how one should go ahead in achieving it.
Career history
Career growth is the main idea presented in the article. The central question posed in the article is if how individuals can pursue a career and how one can be prepared in order to ensure upward mobility. The article points out that the main aim of individuals to build a career is to gain upward mobility (Turner, 1960). Every individual intends to build a career to gain social mobility. The other side of the spectrum, as presented in the article is sponsored mobility. According to Turner’s theory, the American education system is prone to contest mobility. Contest mobility implies that individuals put in the effort to move ahead, and their achievements are directly proportional to the effort they put in. Thus, the system puts stress more on hard work rather than skill or intelligence. Thus, Turner points out that individuals strive to achieve elite status, which is the desired goal, and the status is determined by society. Thus, the objective aim of individuals is to get an education, as Turner points out the desire of Americans to educate themselves to move upward. This theory actually establishes the definition of career management by Greenhaus, Callanan, and Godshalk (2010). Upward mobility is the ultimate goal of an individual in the path of setting a career goal. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the concept of a career from the social system point of view and how provides a different understanding of a career.
Career concepts
The study by Turner is conducted through a survey of American and English secondary students. The author has presented brief notes of the findings of the survey. However, the primary data collected has not been presented by the author in form of an appendix.
Reflection: process and content
The article provides rich insight into the concept of a career. The data is collected through a qualitative survey conducted by the author and is a useful tool for conducting this kind of study. The article has shown that a career is not restricted to one type of job, rather can be attained through any field. Further, the paper distinctly makes a division between the education system of the UK and the US. Therefore, in many countries like Hong Kong or in Australia, where the UK system of education is followed, the career growth prospect becomes more as that can be observed in the UK. However, in these countries too, the main aim of students melts down to social upward mobility as pointed out in the article.
Style and grammar
The paper is moderately easy to understand. The style of writing of Turner is confusing at the beginning, but the ideas become clearer once the reader reaches the middle of the article. The article is well-written and error-free.
References
Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A., & Godshalk, V. M. (2010). Career Management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Turner, R. H. (1960). Sponsored and Contest Mobility Turner. American Sociological Review Vol. 25 No. 6 , 855-867.