Rising Beyond Boundaries: The Social Mobility of Belarusian Urban Commoners (1860s – Early 20th Century)*

Abstract

The article analyzes the process of social mobility among the urban commoners (meshchane) of Belarusian lands, which was significantly influenced by the socio-economic, political, ethno-confessional, and cultural development in the region in the second half of the 19th to the early 20th centuries. The study examines the trajectories and scope of social mobility, tracing their evolution from the social reforms of the 1860s to the outbreak of the First World War. Vertical social mobility was associated with the transition to more privileged social categories (nobles, clergy, honorary citizens, merchants, etc.) and increased throughout the period. Downward mobility was linked to marginalization, criminalization and, consequently, the loss of all estate rights. Opportunities for horizontal mobility were limited by the passport system, the requirement to obtain permission to leave the estate corporation (meshchanskoye obshchestvo), and residence restrictions for Jews within the Jewish Pale of Settlement. The legislative foundations of the estate division of society, which persisted until the end of the Russian Empire, were in contradiction with the emergence of new social groups and the actual stratification of society, which depended on other – primarily economic – factors.