Channels of Social Mobility of Russian Society: World War I influence

The article deals with World War I influence on dynamics of social processes in Russia. The subject of the research is limited by the channels of social mobility, which mean horizontal or mainly horizontal movement in social space. The conclusions are based on studying statistic sources and modern historiography. In 1914–1917 due to war influence severe deformation of previously stable working channels of social mobility took place. Large groups of people who had not had any prerequisites of social status change started to migrate. Some channels almost stopped working, such as agrarian migration, seasonal work, but some new ones emerged, such as refugees, captivity, desertion. The war effaced estates boundaries and deformed class groups. Produced by war, the processes of society restructuring are characterized by high level of social entropy – the most important prerequisite of revolutionary explosion of 1917