Q3 - W3 - Concept, Characteristics and Forms of Stratification Systems - PPTX Without Quiz

CONCEPT,
CHARACTERISTICS
AND FORMS OF
STRATIFICATION
SYSTEMS
AFTER GOING THROUGH THIS LESSON, YOU ARE
EXPECTED TO:
1. identify the concept of stratification using a pyramid of social

classes;
2. compare and contrast the characteristics of two forms of stratification
systems using a Venn diagram;
3. identify social mobility and social inequality in understanding
stratification systems in sociological perspectives; and
4. view stratification systems as a way for social mobility and a reason
of social inequality in the society.
REVIEW:
CONCEPT OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• Have you ever wondered why people don’t have the same status in life when they were
born?
• Why are there rich and poor people in the society?
• Have you ever thought this idea wondering what if you were born rich?
• On the other hand, what if you were born poor? What if the society is some kind of
Utopia where everything is just perfect and equal?
• Yet, whatever social class one belongs to in a society, it is hope that one may find reasons
to still be grateful, and live a life that is full of opportunities.
• The idea of rich and the poor may be too familiar to everyone. It can be seen in Pinoy teleseryes or Korean dramas that you watched back then, and it can be seen in
reality just like in the society where you are belong.
This is called Social Classes and the layering of these social classes from
higher to lower class is called Social Stratification.
Social stratification is defined as the hierarchical arrangement and
establishment of social categories that may evolve into social groups
together with statuses and their corresponding roles in the society
(Cordero-McDonald, et al., 1995, 380). Let’s take a look on the pyramid
of social classes shown below:
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IS DIVIDED INTO
THREE SOCIAL CLASSES
1. Upper Class
 This class in the society is described by the sociologists as elite
individuals or group of people that are most prolific and successful in
their respective areas.
These people may be stockholders and investors in very huge well-
known companies from different industries here and abroad.
EXAMPLE: Henry Sy, Sr. and Lucio Tan, Sr. are both considered elite who belong to the upper class of social
stratification
According to the “List of 50 richest Filipinos in 2014” of Pinoy Money Talk website (as cited by Lanuza and Raymundo
2016, 109), Henry Sy, Sr. and his family had a net worth of $12.7 billion, while Lucio Tan, Sr. and his family had a net
worth of $6.1 billion. These people may own big companies and huge mansions here and abroad, mingle with the same
class, own fancy cars, and value wealthy heritage.
2. Middle class
Middle class are mostly professional individuals or groups of people like lawyers,
doctors, managers, owners of small businesses in the locality, and executives who work in
the corporate world, etc.
They are able to meet both their needs and wants without even worrying about
their finances because of the job and salary they have. They live in spacious houses and
situated in best suburbs.
Their income can afford them a comfortable lifestyle. They value education the
most since education to them is the most important measure of social status.
3. Lower Class
 the lowest part of the pyramid of social classes.
These are the skilled and unskilled artisan, farm employees, underemployed, and
indigent families. Because of the given status in life, these people lack revenue or income
and educational training or background.
• Without the proper education, some of them are jobless or have difficulty to find a job in
order to make ends meet. They also lack support network that could lift them up.
How did stratification system started? Remember the lesson about the earliest form of
human societies. According to the sociologists and anthropologists, in earliest societies,
people shared a common social standing; there was no social class back then.
• As societies evolved and became more complex, it began
to elevate some members of the society through land
acquisition and social status or social entitlement. In the
earliest civilization, there were kings and priests as the
upper class, scribes, merchants and artisans as the middle
class, and slaves as the lower class.
CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATIFICATION
SYSTEMS
• Imagine two extremely wealthy people. One of them inherited

their money, acquiring it through the luck that comes with being
born to parents or owners of immense amounts of property and
wealth, while the other person worked for what he/she had. That
person started at the bottom, and through years of hard work
and strategic dealing in life was able to build a business empire
of their own.
•
SYSTEMS
• Now, which one would you say deserves the wealth?

Sociologically, the interesting aspect isn’t your answer to
the question; it’s the fact that different societies, in different
times and places, have different answers because the
question of what it means to deserve wealth, success, or
power, is a matter of social stratification.
SYSTEMS
1. Universal but variable.

Social stratification is what we are talking about when we talk about social
inequality and social mobility. Society categorizes people and ranks them in
a hierarchy. Everything, from social status, prestige, to the kind of job one
holds, or to the chances of living in poverty, is affected by social
stratification.
• Stratification is universal but variable because it shows
up in every society in the world, but how exactly it
looks like, how it divides and categorizes people, and
what the advantages or disadvantages are that come
with that division - vary from society to society.
2. NOT A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
• People are obviously different from each other, so we might assume that
stratification is just a kind of natural outcome of differences, but in reality, it is
not. We know we can see the effects of social stratification on people regardless
of their personal choices or traits. For example, children of wealthy families are
more likely to live longer and be healthier, to attend college, and to excel in
school as compared to children born into poverty. Moreover, they are more likely
to be wealthy themselves when they grow up.
3. PERSISTS ACROSS GENERATIONS
• Stratification serves to categorize and rank members of society

across generations, resulting in different life chances. Yet
generally, society allows some degree of social mobility, or
changes in the position within the social hierarchy. People
sometimes move upward or downward in social class, which is
the basic concept of social mobility.
4. A SOCIAL BELIEFS.
• A society’s cultural beliefs tell us how to categorize people, and

they define inequalities of a stratification system as being normal,
or even fair. If people don’t believe that the system is right, it
won’t last. Beliefs are what make systems of social stratification
work and it is through these beliefs about social stratification that
inform what it means to deserve wealth, success, or power.
•
FORMS OF STRATIFICATION
SYSTEMS
• 1. CLOSE SYSTEM OF STRATIFICATION

India’s Caste System is probably one of the best-
known forms of close system of stratification. While it
is a social system of decreasing importance, it still
holds in parts of rural India, and has a strong legacy
across the country. The traditional caste system contains
• It consists of Brahmin, or priests and academics in their
native language, as placed at the top of the hierarchy;
followed by Khsatriya or the rulers (kings), warriors, and
administrators; then Vaishya or merchants and
landowners; and last is the Shudra or the commoners,
peasants and servants.
• The system required endogamy - marriage within your own caste category. In
everyday life, the caste system determines whom one could interact with, and
how, with systems of social control, contact between lower and higher castes
is restricted. This whole system is based on a set of strong cultural and
religious beliefs that living within your own category is a moral and spiritual
duty - the reason why gods are on the top of the pyramid because caste
system is governed by religious beliefs of Hinduism.
2. OPEN SYSTEM OF STRATIFICATION
• Class System is one of the best examples of open system of stratification and is not based
solely on ascribed status at birth alone. Instead, it combines ascribed status and personal
achievement or achieved status in a way that allows some social mobility. Statuses are
not the same.
• We get different statuses in different ways and chances.
• Some are ascribed statuses, which are assigned or given by the society or group based on
some fixed category, without regard to a person’s abilities or performance.
• Examples of ascribed status are sex, family background, race, and ethnic heritage or
wealth. A person did nothing to earn these statuses, nor has control over these
characteristics and had no opportunity or chance to choose family, sex, and race.
• On the other hand, achieved statuses are earned by the individual. The following
scenarios serve as examples.
• A poor teenager becomes an actress-singer after winning in a television contest. A college graduate lands
a good job because the quality of his or her performance satisfied his or her employer. With achieved
statuses, one establishes which statuses he or she wants. Frequently, a person struggles and exerts more
effort on others to get hold of them. Class is the system of stratification we have in Philippine society.
The main difference between caste and class systems is that class systems are open, and social
mobility is not legally restricted to certain people. It is possible that through hard work and perseverance,
a citizen can move up the social hierarchy, and achieve a higher-class standing. Instead of ancestry,
lineage, or race being the key to social division, the Philippine system of stratification has elements of
meritocracy: a system in which social mobility is based on personal merit and individual talents. Every
Filipino’s dream is that anyone, no matter how poor, can “pull himself/herself up” and become
upwardly class mobile through hard work and perseverance.
•
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. FUNCTIONALISM
At the beginning, we may think of social stratification as merely
only creating social inequality among groups of people. In some aspects
of social life, it is true. But social inequality brought by social
stratification base from wealth, prestige, and power of social groups, is
indeed functional in the society according to Functionalist Theory.
• Every social class has its purpose or role to play a part in the society.
• We can’t expect the owner of a certain business empire to do a construction works;
but instead, he will hire someone to do it for himself.
• The upper class, although they are getting richer because they have the capacity to
exploit natural and man-made resources simply because they have the money.
• Their role in the society could create job opportunities for other social classes below
them. In fact, there are jobs not requiring a college degree.
• In this sense, those who are not able to finish their studies can still be hired. Those
with college degree can be employed with a higher paid salary and good position in
a company.
• 2. CONFLICT THEORY.
This sociological perspective is the opposite of the latter.
Karl Marx viewed social stratification as creation of inequality between the rich and the poor, or the
powerful versus the powerless. Let’s say for example: The bourgeois capitalists owning high-producing
businesses or factories and hire people who work for them. They can enjoy the luxury of life because they
earn billions of money. However, proletariats are the working class earned skimpy wages and experiencing
isolation to the society. The very essence of life is to enjoy it with loved ones. However, working class did
not experience this joy because they are isolated to do the labor for long hours each day to earn money at
the end of the month. Marx argued that proletariats were oppressed by the money-hungry bourgeois.
•
•
3. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Symbolic interactionism view social stratification on a micro level where

individuals affect others whom they have interacted because of their social class
status. In most societies, people can only interact only to those with the same
social class status.
For an instance, it is rare for a royal prince or princess to marry a commoner
because the commoner don’t have the same class status as to royal prince or
princess. But now, there are royal marriages already break this tradition.
•
•

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CONCEPT,

1. identify the concept of stratification using a pyramid of social

• Imagine two extremely wealthy people. One of them inherited

• Now, which one would you say deserves the wealth?

1. Universal but variable.

• Stratification serves to categorize and rank members of society

• A society’s cultural beliefs tell us how to categorize people, and

• 1. CLOSE SYSTEM OF STRATIFICATION

Symbolic interactionism view social stratification on a micro level where

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