Social Stratification

Course Code: SOC101

Course Teacher: Farhana Sultana
(Fns)
 Introduction
• The status of people is often determined by
how society is stratified - the basis of which
can include;
– Wealth and income
– Social class
– Ethnicity
– Gender
– Political status
– Religion (e.g. the caste system in India)
 What is Social Stratification?
• Social Stratification: ranking of individuals and
groups in any given society.
– the division of society into classes, categories or
ranks
– the way in which different groups of people are
placed within society
 Social Stratification Defined
• R. W. Murray defines social stratification as,
“arrangement of any social group or society
into hierarchy of positions that are unequal
with regard to power, property, social
evaluation and psychic gratification ”.
• Social psychological research indicates that
people make attributions about themselves
and others, compare themselves with others,
form judgement about who is better and
develop beliefs that justify inequalities.
 Basic Concept of Inequality
• Social Inequality: Unequal sharing of scarce
resources and social rewards.
• The situation in which the economic goods in a
society are distributed unevenly among different
groups or categories of people.
• The power of the elite within society is based upon -
– Income
– Wealth
– Network of social connections
 Dimensions of Stratification
• These are the categories that separate people
or objects:
– Wealth or income
– Inequalities of power
– Inequalities of prestige
 Wealth and Income
• What people own and
inherit is called wealth.
It consists of the value
of everything a person
or group owns.
• Income refers to how
much people get. It is
the amount of money
one person or group
receives
 Inequalities of power
• Sociologists define
power as the ability to
control one’s life
(personal power) and to
control or influence the
action of others.
 Inequalities of prestige
• Social recognition that a person or group receives from
others.
• Esteem, respect or approval that is granted by an individual
or a collectivity for performance or qualities they consider
above the average.
• Societies differ in what attributes they attach prestige to:
– Religion, holiness, zeal
– Occupational ranking
– Consumption patterns
– Leisure activities
– Membership in organizations
 Methods of Determining Class Division
• Subjective Method: Personal ascription of the
class one belongs to.
• Reputational Method: Old-timers identify the
social classes that exist in the community and to
place each resident in one or another category.
• Objective Method: Division according to
income, occupation, education and type of
residence.
 Types of Stratification System
• Open System
• Closed System
• Estate System
 Open System (Class System)
• Positions are awarded on the basis of merit,
and rank is tied to individual achievements.
• Status is said to be achieved depending on
what the individual accomplishes and what he
can do by his own efforts.
• It provides people with an equal chance to
succeed.
 Open System (Class System)
• It consists of a category of people who share
similar opportunities, similar economic and
vocational positions, similar lifestyles, and
similar attitudes and behaviour.
• Class boundaries are maintained by limitations
on social interaction, intermarriage, and
mobility into that class.
 Typical of Class System
• Upper Class have great wealth, often going back
for many generations; are recognized by
reputation and lifestyle; have an influence on the
society’s basic economic and political structures.
• Upper-Middle Class is made up of successful
business and professional people and their
families; Have a college education, own property
and have money savings; live comfortably in
exclusive areas
 Typical of Class System
• Lower-Middle Class shares many
characteristics with the upper middle class but
they have not been able to achieve the same
lifestyle because of economic or educational
shortcomings; usually high school or vocational
education graduates with modest incomes; less
professionals, clerical, and sales workers
• Working Class is made up of factory works and
other blue-collar workers
 Typical of Class System
• Lower Class are people at the bottom of the
economic ladder. They have little in the way of
education or occupational skills and are
consequently either unemployed or
underemployed.
 Closed System (Caste System)
• Status is ascribed and determined at birth and
people are locked into their parent’s social
position.
• Ascribed characteristics determine social
position, and individuals opportunities are
limited accordingly.
• Caste lines are clearly defined and legal and
religious sanctions are applied to those who
attempt to cross them
 Closed System (Caste System)
• It is a rigid system. People are born into and
spend their entire lives within a caste with
little chance of leaving it.
• Contact between castes is minimal and is
governed by a set of rules or laws.
• Access to valued resources is extremely
unequal
 Estate System
• A person’s social position is based on
ownership of land, birth or military strength.
• An estate is a segment of a society that has
legally established rights and duties.
 Theories of Social Stratification
• Conflict Theory
• Functionalist Theory
 Conflict Theory (Karl Marx)
• Stratification is the result of the struggle among
people for scarce rewards and it persists in society
because the “haves” (exploiters) are determined
and equipped to preserve their advantage by
dominating and exploiting the “have-nots”
(exploited).
• Class conflict over material privilege and power;
those who own the means of production
(capitalists or bourgeoisie) and those who sell their
labor (worker or proletariat)
 Conflict Theory (Karl Marx)
• Viewed the: nation or state as an instrument
of oppression; religion as a method of
diverting and controlling the masses; the
family as a devise of keeping wealth and
education in the hands of the few
• People’s lives are centred on how they deal
with the material world. The key issue is how
wealth is distributed among the people
 Conflict Theory (Karl Marx)
• Four ways in which wealth can be distributed
– To each according to need. Basic economic needs of
all of the people are satisfied.
– To each according to want. Wealth is distributed
according to what people desire and request.
– To each according to what is earned.
– To each according to what can be taken - by using
whatever means. Everyone ruthlessly attempts to
acquire much wealth as possible without regard for
the hardship that might be brought on others.
 Conflict Theory (Max Weber)
1. People are motivated by self interest.
2. Group conflict is a basic ingredient of society
3. Those who do not have property can defend
their interests less well than those who have
property
4. Economic institutions are of fundamental
importance in shaping the rest of society
 Conflict Theory (Max Weber)
• Those in power promote ideas and values
that help them maintain their dominance
• Only when exploitation becomes extremely
obvious will the powerless their dominance.
 Functionalist Theory (Kingley Davis and
Wilbert Moore)
• If all the positions that have to be filled in a
society were equally important and everyone
were equally capable of doing their jobs, there
would be no need of stratification. But this is
not the case. Some tasks are clearly more
necessary than others, and some require a
great deal more talent and training.
• Social inequality is viewed as both necessary
and constructive.
 Similarities of Stratification Theories
(Theodore D. Kemper)
• Both theories acknowledge that the evaluation of
the contributions of jobs to society also determines
unequal rewards.
• The Marxist theory leans heavily on the significance
of power in the distribution of resources; while the
functionalist emphasize the necessity of assigning
some position or work higher status than others.
• Both theories recognize that social power plays a
part in determining the unequal distribution of
rewards.
 Comparison of Stratification Theories

Functionalist View Conflict Theory

1. Stratification is universal, 1. Stratification may be
necessary and inevitable universal without being
necessary and inevitable

2. Social organization (the 2. The stratification system

social system) shapes the shapes social
stratification system organizations (social
system)
Comparison of Stratification Theories (Cont.)

Functionalist View Conflict Theory

3. Stratification arises from 3. Stratification arises from
the societal need for group conquest,
integration, coordination competition, and conflict
and cohesion

4. Stratification facilitates 4. Stratification impeded the

the optimal functioning of optimal functioning of
society and the individual society and the individual
Comparison of Stratification Theories (Cont.)

Functionalist View Conflict Theory

5. Stratification is an 5. Stratification is an
expression of commonly expression of the values
shared social values of powerful groups

6. Power is usually 6. Power is usually

legitimately distributed in illegitimately distributed
society in society
Comparison of Stratification Theories (Cont.)

Functionalist View Conflict Theory

7. Tasks and rewards are 7. Tasks and rewards are
equitably allocated. inequitably allocated.

8. The economic dimensions 8. The economic dimension

is subordinate to other is paramount in society
dimensions of society
Comparison of Stratification Theories (Cont.)

Functionalist View Conflict Theory

9. Stratification systems 9. Stratification systems
generally change through often change through
evolutionary processes revolutionary process.
 Prestige
• It consists of approval and respect an individual
or group receives from other members of
society.
– Honour that is associated with specific statuses in
society
• Esteem consists of the appreciation and
respect a person wins in his or her daily
interpersonal relationships.
 Wealth
• The total economic assets of the individual or
a family is known as wealth.
• Poverty is a condition in which people do not
have enough money to maintain a standard of
living that includes the basic necessity of life.