Social Stratification and Inequality

Social Stratification

• Refers to the division of large social groups into smaller groups based on economics.
• Members of society are arranged in a hierarchy based on their access to basic economic resources.
• Gives rise to inequality and "social standing."

Basis of Social Stratification

• Wealth
• Property
• Gender
• Access to political power
• Race and religion
• Access to material and cultural goods

Social Exclusion

• The process by which people are cut off from full involvement in wider society.
• This can be due to poor housing, lack of employment, inferior schools, or limited transportation.
• Leads to a lack of opportunities for self-improvement.

Systems of Stratification

• Closed systems impose rigid boundaries between social groups.
• Interactions are limited between members of different social groups or levels in the social hierarchy.
• Resistant to change in social roles.
• Open systems are based on achievement, allowing more flexibility in social roles.
• Increased social mobility and better interaction are characteristics of open systems.

Caste Systems

• Closed stratification systems where people can't change their social standing.
• Promote belief in fate, destiny, and spiritual power over individual freedom.
• People born into a caste society are socialized to accept their standing, with few opportunities for improvement.
• Brahmins are priests and teachers
• Kshatriyas are warriors and rulers
• Vaishyas are farmers, traders, and merchants
• Shudras are laborers
• Dalits (outcastes) are street sweepers and latrine cleaners

Class System

• A stratification system based on ownership of resources and occupation.
• A social class includes people who share the same background and characteristics like income, education, and occupation.
• Allows people to move between social classes and achieve higher status through education and employment.
• Openness in class systems leads to exogamous marriages.
• Exogamous marriages are marriages between people from different social classes.
• Endogamous marriages are marriages between people from the same social class.

Meritocracy

• A system of stratification determined by personal effort and merit.
• Social standing advancements depend on how well someone performs their social role.
• Remains an ideal and is primarily implemented in business or industry.
• Society is generally influenced by factors such as inheritance and pressure to conform.

Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification

• Functionalism's, Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism are all concepts relating to social stratification.

Functionalism

• Examines how different aspects of society contribute to its stability and continued function.
• Each part of society serves an important purpose.
• Stratification is based on the intrinsic value of social activities or roles.

Davis-Moore Thesis

• A social role with a greater functional purpose results in greater reward.
• Certain tasks in society are more valued.
• People who perform highly valued work are rewarded with greater income, prestige, and power.

Conflict Theory

• Takes a critical view of social stratification.
• Society benefits only a small segment of the population.
• Stratification causes inequality, drawn from the ideas of Karl Marx.

Karl Marx

• Social stratification is influenced by economic forces and relationships defined by factors of production.
• Society is split into two main groups:
  • Bourgeois (capitalists) own the means of production and are upper class.
  • Ploretariat are workers who provide manual labor and are lower class.
• Inequality causes workers to experience alienation, isolation, and misery due to their powerlessness, leading to class conflict.

Symbolic Interactionism

• A microlevel perspective that explains how people's social standing affects their daily interactions.
• Leads to interaction within the same class.
• Stratification groups people by interests, background, and way of life.
• People's appearance reflects their perceived social standing.
• Theory of Conspicuous Consumption: buying certain products to make a social statement about status.

Social Mobility

• An individual or group's ability to change positions within a social stratification system is social mobility.
• Encompasses upward or downward movement between classes.
• A major factor is economic status or accumulation of wealth.
• Upward mobility is the upward movement in social class through education, employment, or marriage.
• Downward Mobility is the lowering of social class, often due to economic setbacks, unemployment, illness, or dropping out of school.

Classification Based on Generation

• Intragenerational focuses on experiences of people in the same generation and changes in their mobility throughout their lifetime.
• Downward Mobility focuses on changes in individuals belonging to different generations.
• Structural Mobility involves large-scale changes that improve or decline conditions and the status of a large group.
• The Industrial Age is a main example of structural mobility.

Social Inequality

• Societies are characterized by divisions reflecting unequal distribution of status, wealth, and power.
• This leads to social inequality and poverty.