Social Mobility in a Tribal Society: The Case of Papago Indian Veterans

Abstract

Papago Indian society has traditionally discouraged individual initiative, with the result that efforts toward upward social mobility by achievement-oriented persons have been negligible until recent years. Since the second world war, a contrasting pattern has been observed among former members of the armed forces. This study investigates and attempts to explain patterns of upward social mobility among Papago veterans. Conventional explanations of mobility are examined and found inapplicable to the Papago, but the relative deprivation and reference group concepts developed from Stouffer's studies of The American Soldier provide a hypothesis which links military experience and social mobility among veterans. This hypothesis is then tested with data from the Papago population register and confirmed. An alternative hypothesis suggesting that community modernization may account for the superior social status of veterans is examined and rejected.