SOCIAL MOBILITY AMONG THE COASTAL COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY IN KUALA TERENGGANU

Social mobility is a process of change or movement involving an individual or a group of people from one position to another, involving either mobility between generations or within generation. This article argues that no one single factor can fully explain social mobility because it requires a multicausal or multifactor approach. For upward social mobility, an individual requires a combination of contributory factors namely education, as well as economic and sociocultural factors, with the actor acting together in unison with the family, community and the state. The study on the coastal community in Kuala Terengganu involves a survey of 300 respondents as well as interviews and observation. Based on an analysis of four generations of the fisherfolk (the respondent, his father and grandfather, as well as the respondent s children), the study shows that a major transformation has taken place in this coastal community. By using the mobility measurements developed for the study, four patterns of social mobility have been identified. This study is a contribution to the corpus of knowledge on the sociology of development, in particular, on social change and mobility among the coastal community. The results of the study have reaffirmed the importance of having a correct approach towards the problems of the coastal community so that the government and other stakeholders may formulate and implement appropriate programmes to stimulate and manage change and development in this marginalised community.