Understanding Social Stratification

• Societies consist of different groups with their own social structures; some groups are higher or lower than others.
• All societies, regardless of size, have a social structure.
• Social stratification occurs when one group has a functional importance in the community that others don't have
• Social stratification can be examined using a sociological perspective to understand the concept, characteristics, and forms of stratification systems

Meaning and Nature of Social Stratification

• Sociologists use "social stratification" to describe the system of social standing involving inequality or "social injustice" due to social categories.
• An institutionalized pattern of inequality ranks social categories based on access to scarce resources.
• Social stratification refers to how people are ranked and ordered in society.
• It is a system where people evaluate each other as superior or inferior, unequally rewarding wealth, authority, power, and prestige.
• This differentiation creates social levels.
• It is the hierarchical arrangement of social categories into social groups with statuses and roles.
• Social stratification differentiates a population into hierarchically superposed classes, manifesting in upper and lower social layers.

Social Stratification vs Social Differentiation

• Social differentiation refers to how people can be distinguished from one another based on characteristics like skin color, hair color, race, and abilities.
• Social stratification refers to the ranking of people in a society as higher or lower.
• In closed stratification systems, people cannot change their ranks, while in open systems, they can.

Indicators of Social Stratification

• People are treated differently based on social status, power, income, and prestige.
• An individual's position in the social structure is called their status, with higher or lower positions resulting from social stratification.
• Statuses can be ascribed or achieved.
• Ascribed statuses are assigned by society based on fixed categories like sex, family background, race, and ethnic heritage.
• Achieved statuses are earned through talent, skills, occupation, and perseverance, including educational attainment and earned wealth.
• Prestige refers to the evaluation of status, where individuals gain prestige based on their status.
• Power is the ability to influence others.
• Prestige is the person's position in society,.
• Wealth is the amount of resources one has.
• One's position in the upper or lower social strata depends on dimensions such as sources of income.
• Inherited wealth is acquired at birth without effort, while acquired wealth is achieved through talent, income, or marriage.
• Occupation determines a person's social position.
• Educational attainment characterizes a person's status in the community.
• Types of house dwellings are categorized from permanent to poorly constructed houses.
• Location of residence is also a factor.
• Kinship or family affects status.

Types and Characteristics of Social Stratification

• Three known types of social stratification: open systems, closed systems, and ethnic systems.
• Sociologists distinguish between open and closed systems, while anthropologists include ethnic systems.

Open System

• Encourages people to strive and achieve.
• People belonging to one social class have similar opportunities, lifestyles, attitudes, behavior, and socioeconomic positions.
• Based on achievement, allowing movement and interaction between layers and classes.
• Individuals can move up or down through intermarriage, opportunities, or achievement, offering equal chances for success.

Open System Categories

• Upper Class: Possesses great wealth and income sources, high power and prestige, resides in exclusive areas, belongs to private clubs, and has strong political influence.
• Middle Class: Includes upper-middle class with highly educated professionals and high incomes, and lower-middle class with lower incomes such as managers and teachers.
  • The upper-middle class have college education, comfortable homes, properties, savings, and active community involvement.
  • The lower-middle class have modest income and live simply.
• Lower Class: Characterized by poverty, homelessness, and unemployment, existing on the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
  • Includes an upper-lower working class with little education and civic involvement.
  • Also, includes a lower-lower class that is unemployed and dependent on relief, often involved in drug addiction and criminalities.

Closed Systems

• Accommodates little social change in social position.
• It do not allow people to shift levels and do not permit social relationships between levels.

Closed Systems Categories

• Caste System: A closed stratification system where individuals can do little to change their social standing.
  • Social contact is rigid, defined by birth, with minimal interaction between castes governed by strict rules.
  • The Philippines does not practice a caste system.
  • They exist in India and include the Brahmans, Kahatryias, Vaishyus, and Shudras.
• Estate System: Based on ownership of land, birth, or military strength.
  • Individuals born into an estate remain there for life, and major estates in Europe during the Middle Ages included nobility, clergy, and peasants.

Ethnic System

• Based on national origin, language, and religion.
• Ethnicity sets segments apart, creating a sense of identity where people interact more with those of the same category.
• During Spanish and American colonization in the Philippines, colonizers viewed themselves as a higher social class than the natives.
• Immigrants usually belong to a lower status than inhabitants.

Social Stratification and Mobility

• Social mobility refers to movement within the social structure or change in social status.
• All societies offer some opportunity for mobility.
• The extent in which individuals can move from one class or status level varies.

Kinds of Social Mobility

• People continue to move up and down the status scale.
• Social Mobility: Movement upward or downward among social positions.
  • Vertical mobility involves changes in class, occupation, or power.
  • Horizontal mobility indicates a change in position without a change in status.
• Geographical Mobility: Physical mobility from one geographical area to another due to change in residence.
• Role Mobility: An individual's shifting from role to role in society, adapting to different situations and roles.

Theoretical Perspective and Analysis of Social Stratification

• Functionalist Perspective: Recognizes that all societies maintain some form of social stratification.
  • Social stratification must have important functional consequences.
  • The greater the functional importance of a social role, the greater the reward should be.
• Conflict Theory: Focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality.
  • Benefits only some people, drawing on Karl Marx's view of class societies.
  • Stems from conflict between the powerful and the weak.
• Symbolic Interactionism: Examines stratification from a micro-level perspective, through everyday interactions.
  • Looks at how stratification affects people's lifestyles and interactions.
  • People tend to interact primarily with others who share the same social standing.