Theoretical considerations for an empirical study of the dissociative thesis

Comments on the article ‘Mobility and Social Inclusion’

Abstract

In issue 4 of 2019 the Social Science Review published an article entitled ‘Mobility and Social Integration’, which aimed to empirically examine the potential negative consequences of social mobility. In this paper, I would like to draw attention to the need for a theoretical clarification of that article’s conclusions regarding the dissociative thesis of Sorokin. The central question of the present paper is whether it is conceivable that Hajdu and his colleagues are right that ‚mobility’ has no negative consequences on psychological wellbeing or on social relationships, while Sorokin was not necessarily wrong either. The empirical results are not challenged here, but some key theoretical elements of the dissociative thesis are highlighted that need to be considered in order to ensure it is really a test of Sorokin’s thesis, and not of something else.