SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SIBERIA AS A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY: SOCIAL MOBILITY AMONG THE RUSSIAN PIONEERS

Abstract

On the basis of individual biographies, we explore the social mobility patterns among the Russian colonists of Siberia (members of Russia’s service class) in the 1600, with reference to theories relating to sociology of labor and social stratifi cation. We show how peasants, hunters, fi shers, and déclassés were co-opted into the service class and how their social status changed at all levels— horizontal, vertical, geographic, individual, group, inter-generational, and within-generational. Occupation, skills, and income were important factors affecting social mobility. For nearly all categories of migrants, the most common tendency was migration of entire families, though younger single migrants were more likely to move over longer distances. In Siberia, where social regulation norms copied those of the metropolis, upward social mobility occurred nearly exclusively within institutions. Social service provided maximal opportunity for the individual’s promotion and for the current and future status of his relatives. This was an effi cient mechanism securing high mobility in the Siberian society. By the early 1700s, mobility level decreased, downward mobility increased, and social system became more sustainable.