Category: Social Stratification

Introduction

Social stratification entails the arrangement of a cluster of people in a society as depicted by their social status. Power, wealth, and prestige are the major determinants of social stratification in any given society or nation.

It is important to note that social stratification affects the entire life of an individual through a myriad of factors. These factors may include positions held in the society, life expectancy issues, and the level of accessing resources within the society.

Social stratification assumes different shapes and forms depending on the mode that is applied. The three major forms of social stratification are identified as class, caste, and estate. These forms depend on legitimating rationales that are held by a given society.

Forms of social stratification and their legitimating rationales

“Caste” is a term that emanated from a Portuguese word known as “calta.” The word denotes a particular group of items or people. “Caste,” as a stratification system, is not common in many parts of the world. India is probably the only place that embraces the system.

Individuals maintain a given caste throughout their life and, thus, it stays irrevocable. In other words, once an individual is born in a particular caste he cannot switch to another level or category in the society.

This implies that social status in this particular case is inherited and, thus, it lacks social mobility. The caste system remains intact as a result of different castes that do not support any kind of mixture.

People from different castes are not allowed to do things together. Religion is the main enhancer of the caste system in India and it has existed for over three thousand years. It was abolished in 1949, but traces of its prevalence are still evident.

“Estate” is a form of social stratification which emerged much later, especially in Europe. The system basically comprised of the commoners, the nobility, and the clergy.

It is important to note that legitimization in this particular case is enhanced by legal justifications where the feudal believed that they had an upper hand over the commoners. The feudal basically comprised of the serfs and the clergy and they owned most of the land.

Ascription is the biggest method of placement as opposed to achievement. Unlike the caste system where people from different castes have limited contact, here, contact is evident though impersonal.

The Class system does not necessarily portray many restrictions as it is seemingly evidenced by other systems. Here, individuals are free to move up the ladder of opportunities as much as they want.

It basically depends on an individual’s hard work and dedication in his/her endeavors. The system is quite open and achievements are facilitated by constant struggle. Its legitimization also lies in legal justification.

Roles played by legitimating rationales

The legitimating rationales that influence social stratification play a major role in this discussion. They not only enhance particular placements in the society, but they also serve to maintain or change a particular individual’s classification in the society.

The legitimating rationales basically influence an individual’s reasoning, and in most cases they remain psychologically unprepared to take advantage of changing circumstances. These circumstances can easily lead to important social changes.

For instance, legitimating rationales psychologically encourage some members of the community to enslave others and vice versa. These indications are generally embraced across the society and, thus, inequality is bound to continue for longer periods.

Functions of social institutions

The basic function of a social institution in the society is to help that particular society or nation to grow. Strong social institutions serve to discourage corruption and typical vices that weaken the society. It is evident that strong social institutions base on merit as opposed to personal satisfaction.

This aspect is evident in progressing countries. Lack of effective institutions indicates that the society will most likely suffer from illiteracy, huge debts, poverty, and corruption. Social institutions are typical relational structures that create relationships and obligations.

There are several social institutions in a society namely; family, religion, government, education, and economy. For example, the functions of the economy help pave way for production of services and goods.

On the other hand, the functions of religion are meant to instill a moral code among the members of a particular society.

List of achieved and ascribed statuses

There are two categories of statuses that an individual can portray at any given time. The two include achieved and ascribed statuses. An achieved status is basically acquired through merit; it is made by a person and portrays his/her expertise, efforts, and talents.

Doctors, nurses, and teachers are examples of individuals with an achieved status. The issue of race is a typical example of an ascribed status. An ascribed status is depicted by an individual’s limited possession of control over that same status.

Currently, my prowess in athletics, my writing skills, and my career in music, stand out as achieved statuses. These were achieved as a result of hard work and intensified practice. Sex and race, on the other hand, qualify as my ascribed statuses.

The difference between the two categories is that the former entails abilities and talents that I worked so hard to achieve, whereas, race and sex are issues that I had little control over. In other words I did not choose my gender or race, but this automatically happened at birth.

Introduction

Stratification is the act of arranging people into social classes. This would categorically place people into various classifications depending on factors and conditions around their lives. The classifications could range from financial status, education to politics. This paper seeks to discuss social stratification system in the United States in relation to economic status of individuals. The paper will look at the characteristics of economic status at each class and contribution of economic status to social stratification.

Social Stratification System in the United States

Social stratification is a common aspect of human life all over the world. The major social classes that are equivalently evident in the United States of America are the upper class, the middle class and the lower class. The classes play a major role in defining peoples’ lives both in the current and the future times.

Social stratification arises when inaccessibility to “resources, services and positions in a society” (Kerbo 10) varies and the general system dictates opportunities. It is also important to note that stratification only exist when there are regulations pertaining to the accessibilities of social amenities (Kerbo 10).

Economic Status

Economic status is one of the aspects generating the social classes. Others are prestige and political power. All these aspects seems to have a degree of association for example, it has been noted that wealthy people stand higher opportunities up the political ladder than the ones in poverty. Economic inequality was established in the United States as much as other industrialized countries by the early years of 1980s.

Also important in the classification criteria are factors like education. On top of the social class, the upper class is however dominated by descending generations of former elite. The economic basis classifies people into upper class of the economy’s top earners, middle class and the lower class of the relatively poor people of the economy (Kerbo 55).

Upper Class

According to Morton (2009), the upper class consists of just about 1.4 percent of the American population. Most of the members of this class inherited their wealth while others have acquired it through investments (Morton 1).

The class however small by percentage composition of the American population, own about 25% of the economy. This class, being exceptionally rich, lives in extravagance as regards their homesteads and their social places. They also have the privilege of affording their children the best schools in America (Cliff 1).

The Middle Class

The second class in the ladder is the middle class. It consists of educated professionals ranging from secretaries to teachers all the way to the highly educated people like “businessmen, doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers and CEOs” (Cliffs 1). This group has a relatively average income (Cliffs 1). In the American economy about 30% of the population falls in the middle class with their household income averaging from $50,000 to $90,000 and an average individual income ranging from $27500 to $52500 per year.

The Lower Class

The lower class forms about 45% of the America’s population. Their household earning ranges between $12000 and $50000 per annum (Cliffs 1). This class is quite underprivileged and misses some of the best services provided by the best social institutions in the society.

Moving Across the Classes

Locklin claimed that moving from one social class to another requires steps and measures that can help one jump from one class to another. Locklin argued that jumping to the upper class would require steps like making wise decisions investment issues, one’s parents, participating in some kind of sports and attending some special schools.

These suggestions are actually out of natural reach in general. It is common knowledge that one cannot choose his/her biological parents as in the case of adoption. Sports are also talents that can only be nurtured and not taught. The school to attend is also to a large extent dependent on your parents’ income, a direct relation to a social class. Locklin in other words is bringing the implication that it is relatively hard for one to quickly from one class to another (Locklin 1).

The economic status of an individual is a major contribution to the social inequality structure. This applies to an individual as well as the individual’s descendants. This is the view under the consideration that climbing the social class ladder would imply an increased income. A lower class member earning $12000 per annum would for example require capital to either invest in a business or in education.

The low income which could barely be enough to sustain the household can not provide the capital. This to a large percentage is applicable to moving from low to middle class as well as from middle to upper class. A restrictive boundary is therefore observed maintaining the status quo of people in their respective social classes over generations. There are however exemptions like where a child from a lower class possessing football or basketball talent end in a top club and gain economic advancement.

Conclusion

The structured inequality in America is just an illustration of natural imbalance. External forces like government and private sectors’ support is needed to boost people economically. Support from the government can offer affordable loans, sponsorships, among others. This could help in meeting education cost into well paying professions. A change in government policy like the tax policy could also relieve the poor of the tax paying burden at the expense of influential upper class people who use politicians to influence these policies.

Works Cited

Cliff, Note. Types of Social Classes of People. Cliff Notes, 2011. Web.

Kerbo, Harold. Social stratification and inequality: class conflict in historical, comparative, and global perspective. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print.

Locklin, Scott. Social Classes: the Upper Class in America. Alternative Right, 2010. Web. <http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/zeitgeist/social-classes-the-upper-class-in-america/>

Morton, Linda. Social Class Segmentation Reveals Class Characteristics. Strategic Market Segmentation., 2009. Web.

Social stratification is a set of attributes and criteria that condition a community’s social stratification and structure. The division of a community occurs in different ways: by the number of people, their income and status, their demographic and individual characteristics. This division can lead to conflicts because of the complexity of accepting that each member of society has a role to play. Social stratification is expressed in the tangible division of the community into privileged and non-privileged classes.

The existence of stratification explains Davis-Moore’s statement, which is based on the potential benefits derived from one person or another. There are qualifications, higher education, and skills to build houses, design roads, or heal people (Griffiths et al., 2022). At the same time, some jobs do not require qualifications, so they are available to any segment of the population: jobs such as cashiers or janitors. Davis-Moore’s thesis indicates that this division is beneficial because it allows the unprivileged to strive for recognition and a correspondingly vertical movement in society.

The presence of stratification may not justify the pursuit of development – this is the main argument against the Davis-Moore thesis. Opponents of their thesis believe that the division into classes leads to the oppression of unprivileged structures and reduces their social significance (Griffiths et al., 2022). Not all occupations are paid according to one’s qualifications, so it is unclear what grounds low-income individuals should be expressly restricted from achieving more.

Finally, racial conflict continues to exist in the present society, echoing an outdated stratification – slavery. No basis exists from a social point of view to indicate that pressure on non-white races is necessary, so Davis-Moore’s theses do not work in this case. A similar situation can be seen in gender stratification: men and women are supposed to be equal, but historical effects unreasonably delay women’s upward movement.

Thus, the above arguments indicate that the existence of social stratification is negative rather than positive when viewed in terms of the Davis-Moore thesis. Their theses explain how qualifications affect earnings, and we can agree with that because education and training affect professional development. However, they do not indicate for what reasons descent, race, or gender should be grounds for constraint in vertical social dynamics.

Reference

Griffiths, H., Keirns, N., Strayer, E., Sadler, T., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Vyain, S., Bry, J., & Jones, F. (2022). Introduction to sociology 2. OpenStax.

Introduction

Social stratification can be considered to be the root of all discussions and debates regarding social inequalities. Even though there have been constant calls for equality, modern society remains highly stratified with gaps ever-widening. Social class is perhaps one of the most prevalent forms of inequalities, especially in capitalist societies where resources are owned and controlled by a few. The lower and middle classes dominate much of the global population. This essay defines the various forms of stratification and addresses the issues of intersectionality and accessibility.

Categories of Stratification

Social class can be described as a classification of people possessing similar socioeconomic status. According to Manstead (2018), social class shares compatibility with the term ‘subjective social rank,’ where material resources classify people as lower, middle or working, and upper class. Therefore, socioeconomic status is gained by the wealth that people accumulate for themselves. Race entails a group of people sharing similar distinctive physical characteristics. Most commonly, the color of people is used to define their race. However, several other traits can be used to define race, including hair texture. The definitions of race in such countries as the United States may be changing with time. Currently, racial lines include white, Asian, black or African American, Native Hawaiian, and American Indian or Alaska natives.

Gender is another form of social stratification, which majorly revolves around masculinity and femininity. However, contemporary society is seeking for further inclusion of such categories as common and neuter to include people who do not classify as either male or female. The idea is that biological differences are used to distinguish between people. Lastly, age entailed the number of years or the length of time that people have lived. Basic categorizations include infants, children, adolescents, and adults, even though alternatives may be used. No universal rule exists to dictate how age is classified as the context may differ. The rationale is that several terminologies can be used to describe a particular age group to which a person belongs. Examples include teenagers, which denotes people between thirteen and nineteen.

Applying to Life

Few categories may apply to my life, even though most are a matter of self-perception. However, one of the most visible aspects of my life is that I have been born and raised in a working family. The rationale is that both parents are employed and have been so for all their adult life. In this case, I can only consider myself to be similar to them because my path will most likely be similar to them. Upon graduation, my sole focus will be on finding and building a career. However, situations may change, considering that I am an ambitious person. Even though I might choose to pursue a different path from my parents, the same classification may hold until my socioeconomic status has changed.

However, age, gender, and race may also apply to me but I tend to ignore them in light of recent social developments. In other words, association with race has become a controversial subject due to the overwhelming opposition to racism. Personally, racial abuses are a vice, and modern society would be better if all races were to be held in the same regard. Regarding age, I can consider myself a young person approaching adulthood. I do not have any reservations regarding age as opposed to the other forms of classification. Neutrality is perhaps the best approach because it raises few concerns when subjects of inequality, discrimination, and racism are broached.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is a concept that has come to dominate the current literature on such subjects as gender and feminism. Debates on intersectionality often offer a critical analysis of how men, women, and children from different families experience or suffer privilege and marginalization (Few-Demo & Allen, 2020). The concept of intersectionality was developed by Black critical thinkers and other activists to conceptualize the disadvantages suffered by Black women, including oppressive experiences. Today, intersectionality has had a massive influence on multiple scholarly fields where a diversion has been made from the initial radical origins (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). Therefore, intersectionality has become an analytical tool of social stratification, whose purpose is to challenge the notion of single and fixed social hierarchies. Sensitivity to alternative classifications has become a pressing concern for many people.

There are a few examples of intersectionality in my life, especially in the life of a student. Today, most societies are racially and ethnically diverse, which is felt across all contexts of social life. In school, the subject of sensitivity is becoming more common, especially when society fights against all forms of discrimination. Therefore, I have always avoided identifying myself racially, especially when I am in the company of other people. Most importantly, I have always avoided any discussions that may cause any form of division among people close to me. However, my own experience of intersectionality is the refusal to classify other people along any lines of stratification.

Accessibility

The question of accessibility should be considered as another category of stratification. The term accessibility can be used in the context of resources and other necessities of life. For example, accessibility in education can be used to imply that all students access education regardless of their classification, which includes disability status (Zhang et al., 2020). Privileges and marginalization have all been determined by the accessibility to resources. Therefore, accessibility should easily be integrated into the discussions of social stratification.

However, the question of redundancy may arise, especially if the term accessibility is solely tied to resources. The argument is social class and socioeconomic status are better suited to describe access to resources. Even in the educational context, access to the best schools is determined by the economic wellbeing of the people. The term accessibility may need further expansion before it can be included without causing these redundancies. At the moment, privileges are for those with easy access to economic resources while marginalization faces those with limited access.

Conclusion

Social stratification is becoming a contentious subject, especially because it is tied to such vices as racism, inequality, and discrimination. The main forms of stratification have been discussed, including class, gender, race, and age. As many people, including scholars, acknowledge the need for sensitivity, the subject of intersectionality is becoming more popular where people are encouraged to accept alternative forms of social hierarchies. Real-life examples of both intersectional and social stratification have been offered. The most important aspect is that reservations have been made for certain forms due to sensitivity and experiences of intersectionality. Lastly, doubts have been raised regarding the inclusion of accessibility, especially because such concerns as material or economic resources remain unaddressed.

References

Few-Demo, A., & Allen, K. (2020). gender, feminist, and intersectional perspectives on families: A decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 326-345. Web.

Gkiouleka, A., Huijts, T., Beckfield, J., & Bambra, C. (2018). Understanding the micro and macro politics of health: Inequalities, intersectionality & institutions – A research agenda. Social Science & Medicine, 200, 92-98. Web.

Manstead, A. (2018). The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57, 267-291. Web.

Zhang, X., Tlili, A., Nascimbeni, F., Burgos, D., Huang, R., Chang, T.,… Khribi, M. (2020). Accessibility within open educational resources and practices for disabled learners: A systematic literature review. Smart Learning Environments, 7(1), 1-19. Web.

Social stratification refers to the hieratical arrangement of persons according to the amount of wealth, power and position they have in the society. This relates to the criteria used to grade individual’s worthiness and discrimination made based on gender, religion, age, generation and ethnicity. This varies depending in the order of societies’ stratification or slavery history. In most industrialized nations, the gap between the poor and the rich is evidently seen (Exploration in Social Inequality, n.d.)

The future of a child is largely determined by the status or the environment (Exploration in Social Inequality, n.d.). The circumstances in which a child is born does affect it in that, a child from a rich family has a high potential of getting employed and earn a good income easily than one from a poor family because of the social ranks of the parents.

Modern society today gives a lot of respect to those who have high ranks in the system. The poor continue being poor while the rich continue being more rich. It’s estimated that in most of the countries the percentage of those living below the poverty line are many compared to those of higher level.

Social stratification is caused by the imbalance in income distribution among the rich and the poor (Turner &Lowith, 1867). This is mostly demonstrated when there is inequality in education, health opportunity for social and political participation, employment and gender. This inequality brings about a greater marginalization in the society. The rate of growth in these areas is rampant in economically powerful nations. Migration of people from original countries to a new settlement in a different country also causes social difference. The language barrier they face in the new country usually limits the Immigrants.

The differences between this nations or people can be reduced by introduction of organizations that will encourage people to interact and promote social understanding. Introducing major sporting activities, events and international tourism can be a way of making people work in harmony. Inequality faced in wealth distribution, political participation, water and energy distribution, education and healthcare services will be reduced by having a common resource and market. By observing this, good and peaceful relations will be fostered among nations and individuals.

Sports

A healthy socialization in sports was defined by the questions dealing with being able to overcome status differences, a decreased feeling of social alienation, improved ability to work with a team, bonding with teammates and ability to interact.

Ahola (1980) defines leisure socialization as “a process through which individuals acquires knowledge, attitude, values skills, and motives about leisure”.This allowed students and other participants to have a social emotional development, which gave them space to interact and learn new things. As per Austin (1984) “extensive involvement in sports activities should lead to an enhanced social emotional development, knowledge, norms and values which can be transmitted through sports”. Socialization through this way leads to either the stratification/differentiation or acceptance/integrations of the minors and those with high status.

According to McPherson, Curtis and Loy (1989) sports does not fully promote social value, moral development, good personality and moral development, as it is widely believed to be. However, sports require team members to work towards achieving the same goal and this forces them to unite in order to reach this objective.

Sporting is highly encouraged to allow access to those who have been traditionally undeserved to participate in sports and physical activities. It also aids in improving the health status of those involved in the sporting activity. It assists in the development of infrastructure and preparation of Olympic Games that brings socializations between countries of the world. It helps to create safe, strong and sustainable communities by reducing youth crimes/anti-social behavior and through community engagement and capacity building (Bull, 2005)

The growth in equality should be discouraged from countries because it divides nations, which increases the distance between the rich and the poor. It inhibits mobility between generations thereby hindering the talented and hard working people from getting what they deserve. By looking at the positive effects of social interaction between different nations, we are able to develop and reduce social differences. Organization of international games will foster peacekeeping and even encourage tourism among different nations. This will eventually lead to a developing nation free from any discrimination and stratification (Bull, Hoose &Weed, 2003).

References

Ahola , I.1980.The social benefit of intramurals sport. NASPA Journal [Online] 43.70-73. Web.

Austin, A W. 1984. Student involvement: A development theory for higher education. Journal of college student personnel, (25), 297-308.

Bull ,C.,Hoose, J. &Weed, M.,2003.An introduction to leisure studies. Yunan: Yunan University Press

Bull, C.J. ,2005.Sports Tourism Destination Resource Analysis in Higham. Sport Tourism Destinations: Issues, Opportunities and Analysis, Oxford: Elsevier (Butterworth Heinemann).

Exploration in Social Inequality. (n.d) 2010. Web.

Mcpherson B.D,,Curtis, J.E., Loy, J.W.,1989. The social significance of sports. Web.

Turner,B.S.,Lowith, K.,1867.Max Weber and Karl Max. New York: Roufledge.