GROUP

GROUP
4
Presented By : Marizza Torres
 MEANING AND NATURE OF SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION

- Sociologists use the term Social

Stratification to describe the system of social
standing. There are various meaning of social
stratification and is defined as follow:
It refers to what sociologists call ut as
"Institutionalized inequality" of individual or
"social injustice".
It is an institutionalized pattern of inequality
in which social categories are ranked on the
basis of their access to scarce resources
Brinkerhoff & White, 1998.
It is the way people are ranked and ordered in
society.
 • It is the system whereby people rank and
evaluate each other as superior or inferior and, on
the basis of such evaluation, unequality reward
one another with wealth,. authority, power, and
prestige.
• It is the hierarchical arrangement and
establishment of social categories that evolve into
a social group together with statuses and their
corresponding roles.
• It is the differentiation of a given population
into hierarchically superposed classes.
 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IS DISTINGUISHED
FROM SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION
- Social differentiation refers to how people can
be distinguished from one another. Social
stratification refers to the ranking of people in a
society. In closed stratification, people cannot
change their ranks while those in open social
stratification, people can change their ranks. In
short social stratification is the separation of
people into social categories and these
categories are ranked as higher or lower.

• Status - The individuals position in the social

structure.
• Statuses - Statuses are social positions that individuals
occupy within a society, defining their roles, rights, and
responsibilities. They can be ascribed or achieved.
 • Ascribed status - Ascribed
status is a position in society or
group that a person has as a
result of their birth or other
circumstances over which they
have no control.
• Achieve Statuses - Are earned by the
individual because of his or her talent, skills,
occupation and persevernace.

Prestige - Refers to the evaluation of status.

04
You
have prestige according to your status.
 ACCORDING TO MAX WEBER, MOST
SOCIETIES WOULD FAVOR THOSE WITH
POWER,
PRESTIGE, STATUS, WEALTH OR CLASS.
ACCORDING TO WEBER’S COMPONENT
THEORY ON SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION, THESE THREE WOULD
DETERMINE A PERSON’S STANDINDIG IN 05

HIS/HER
 02
2. Prestige -refers to the
person’s position in the
01 society. This refers to 03
having a certain status
1. Power -refers to the that enables someone to 3. Wealth -refers to
ability to influence other have resources or the amount of
people. It is getting what opportunities. resources that a
they want despite the person has (Arcinas,
unwillingness of others to 2016).
give in to their desires.
 Types of Social Stratification and
their Characteristics
Generally, there are three (3)
known types of social
stratification: open systems, closed
systems and ethnic syste.
 OPEN SYSTEM
GENERAL 1. Upper Class - The people in this class
CHARACTERISTICS have great wealth and sources of
The class structure is an open system. It income. They constitute the elite
encourages people to strive and achieve something. wealthy group in the society. They
belonging People to one social class have similar
opportunities, similar have high reputation in terms of
lyfestyles, attitudes, and behavior possibly similar power and prestige. They live in
socio-economic positions. It is based on exclusive residential area, belong to
aachievement, movement allow and interaction
between layers and classes. exclusive private clubs, and may have
One person can move up or down to class through strong political influence in the system
intermarriages, opportunities, achievement. or People of government. They own several cars
have equal chance to succeed. Whether people do and properties and their children may
something to improve their lives not this depends on
them greatly study in exclusive schools.
 OPEN SYSTEM
2. Middle Class - The people in this class may belong to
the upper-middle class which is often made up of highly
educated business and professional people with high
incomes, such as doctors, lawyers,
stockbrokers, and CEOs or to the lower-middle class often
made up of people with lower incomes, such as managers,
small business owners, teachers, and secretaries. Aside
from generally command of high income, people belonging
to the upper-middle class often have college education, live
in comfortable homes, own properties, have some money
savings, and active in community activities.
People in the lower-middle class have not
achieved the same lifestyle of the upper -middle class but
somehow have modest income and live in simple life.
 OPEN SYSTEM

3. Lower Class -The lower class is typified by poverty, homelessness,

and unemployment. The people in this class belong to the bottom of
socio-economic ladder. They may be categorized into two: upper-
lower class and
lower-lower class. In the upper-lower class,people are considered the
working class or laborers. They have acquired little education, little
time to be involved in civic and community activities. Some of them
are underemployed, have many socioeconomic problems, with Ittle or
no luxuries at all. The people in the lower lower class are unemployed,
no source of income
except by begging or dependent from private and government relief.
Many of them live in squatter areas, under the bridge, in street
corridors, or with no house at all. Many of them are liabilities of
society because they may be involved in drug addiction and 08
criminallities.
 CLOSED SYSTEMS
CATEGORIES
General Characteristics
Closed system 1. Caste System - It is regarded as closed
stratification system in which people can do little or
accommodates little change in nothing to change their social standing. Social contact
social position. They do not is rigid and clearly defined. People are born and die in
their caste. Contact between and among the caste is
allow people to shift levels minimal and governed by a set of rules - especially
anddo not permit social those who belong to the lower degree, as this will
relationships between levels. tend to bring them down.
We do not practice caste sytem in the Philippines. It,
existed for centuries in India and this includes the
Brahmans who are associated with the priesthood,
the Kahatryias (the warriors),
the 08
Vaishyus (the businessmen and traders), and the
Shudrus ( the servants)
 CLOSED SYSTEMS

2. Estate System - It is somewhat a closed

system in which the person's social standing is
based on ownership of land, birth, or military
strength.
Individuals who were born into one of the
estates remained there throughout life but in
extreme cases there is social mobility, that is
people could change their status. In the middle
ages there are three (3) major estates in Europe 08
- nobility, clergy, and the peasants
 ETHIC SYSTEM
General Characteristics
This type of social stratification is based on national
origin, laguage and religion. Ethinicity sets segments of
society apart and each group has a sense of identity.
People interact more freely with those people
belonging to the same ethnic category. During the
Spanish and American colonial systems in the
Philippines, the colonizers perceived themselves to be
occupying the upper social class than the Filipinos or
the natives whom they called as Indios. Immigrants
usually belong to a lower status than the inhabitants.
The Gaddangs, Itawis, Ituweraw, Ilonngots, and other
ethnic minority groups are considered inferior than
the others
 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND
SOCIAL MOBILITY
Social mobility refers to the movement of
individuals within a society’s social structure,
changing their social status. This can involve
moving up or down the social ladder, with
examples including a poor person becoming
wealthy, a bank clerk becoming an officer, or a
farmer becoming a minister. While all societies
allow for some social mobility, the degree to which
individuals can change their social status varies
greatly.
 - Kinds of Social Mobility
In democratic societies like the Philippines, individuals
have the opportunity to improve their social status,
though the ease of doing so varies. An ideal “open
system” would provide equal opportunities for
everyone to compete for roles and status regardless
of background. There are (3) three main types of
social mobility: social mobility (changing social status),
geographical mobility (moving to a different location),
and role mobility (changing roles within a society).
1. Social Mobility -refers to the movement upward or
downward among the social positions in any given social
stratification. It may be upward (vertival) mobility and
downward (horizontal) mobility. Vertical mobility
refers to the movement of people of groups from one
status to another. It involves change in class, occupation
or power. For example, the movement of people from the
poor class to the middle class. Horizontal mobility is a
change in position without the change in status. It
indicates a change in position, within the rage of the
status.

2. Geographical Mobility -is otherwise known as physical

mobility. It may be a vluntary movement of people from
one geographical area to another due to change in
residence, communiting fro home to office, making
business trips, and voluntary migration from one country
to another. It may be also a forced migration which
include forced relocation or residence, eviction,
dispossession of unwanted people, and transportation of
slaves.
3. Role Mobility -is the individual’s shifting from role to
role. Every member of a society has roles to play.
Different situations call for enactment of various roles.
For example, the father is the bread earner of the family
but may be a teacher in school, or the leader at home or a
follower in the school or office. A daughter may be
submissive at home but very active and active as a
campus student leader. A teacher may have varied roles
such as being a mother, a wife, a guidance counselor, a
community leader.

THEORITICAL PERSPECTIVE AND ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL

STRATIFICATION
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION CAN BE EXAMINED FROM
DIFFERENT SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES—
STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM, CONFLICT THEORY, AND
SYMBOLICINTERACTIONISM.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS/ANALYSIS
STRATIFICATION IS NECESSARY TO
STRUCTURAL - FUNCTIONALISM INDUCE PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL
INTELLIGENCE, KNOWLEDGE, AND SKILLS
TO ENTER THE MOST IMPORTANT
OCCUPATIONS. FOR THIS REASON,
STRATIFICATION IS NECESSARY AND
INEVITABLE.
CONFLICT
STRATIFICATION RESULTS FROM LACK OF
OPPORTUNITY AND FROM DISCRIMINATION
AND PREJUDICE AGAINST THE POOR,
WOMEN, AND PEOPLE OF COLOR. IT IS
NEITHER NECESSARY NOR INEVITABLE.

STRATIFICATION AFFECTS PEOPLE'S

BELIEFS, LIFESTYLES, DAILY
SYMBOLIC - INTERACTIONISM INTERACTION, AND CONCEPTIONS OF
THEMSELVES.
 SOCIOLOGY
CONFLICT
THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE IN THEORY ARGUES THAT SOCIAL
SOCIOLOGY SEES SOCIETY AS A SYSTEM STRATIFICATION BENEFITS ONLY A
WHERE ALL PARTS WORK TOGETHER FOR ITS SELECT FEW, CREATING AND
WELL-BEING. THIS VIEW ARGUES THAT
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, THE UNEQUAL MAINTAINING INEQUALITY. IT CRITIQUES
DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES AND POWER, IS THE FUNCTIONALIST VIEW, SUGGESTING
NECESSARY FOR SOCIETY TO FUNCTION. THAT THE POWERFUL USE THEIR POSITION
ACCORDING TO DAVIS AND MOORE, THE TO STAY AT THE TOP, EVEN IF IT MEANS
IMPORTANCE OF A ROLE DETERMINES ITS OPPRESSING THOSE AT THE BOTTOM. THIS
REWARD, MEANING THAT MORE VALUABLE THEORY EMPHASIZES THE CONFLICT
ROLES REQUIRE GREATER COMPENSATION. BETWEEN THE “HAVES” AND “HAVE-NOTS”
THIS THEORY SUGGESTS THAT SOCIAL IN SOCIETY, WITH THE POWERFUL USING
STRATIFICATION REFLECTS THE INHERENT
DIFFERENCES IN THE VALUE OF VARIOUS THEIR INFLUENCE TO MAINTAIN THE
JOBS. EXISTING CLASS STRUCTURE.
 SYMBOLIC-INTERACTIONISM
A THEORY THAT USES EVERYDAY
INTERACTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS TO
EXPLAIN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. SYMBOLIC
INTERACTIONISM
EXAMINES STRATIFICATION FROM A
MICRO-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE. THIS
ANALYSIS STRIVES TO EXPLAIN HOW
PEOPLE’S SOCIAL STANDING AFFECTS
THEIR EVERYDAY INTERACTIONS.
THANK
YOU