Individuals, families, and other social units shift between places of variable benefit in a society's social stratification system through social mobility. The social status or prestige level of a job acquired by a person at a given point in his or her profession is heavily influenced by previous employment achievements, educational qualifications, and parental status, according to the research of the process of status attainment.
Individuals and groups move down or, less frequently, up the socioeconomic scale in terms of property, wealth, or status because social processes are designed in such a way that migrations between social strata are limited. Families and communities remain stuck at the bottom of the hierarchy in many countries. This means that children born at the bottom of the economic ladder have a lower chance of moving up and increasing their occupational status and wages than their parents and previous generations.