The Major Dimensions of Social Stratification For one to attempt the question, “what are the major dimensions of social stratification?” , one must first define the term social stratification. Social stratification is often used interchangeably with social inequality and one must distinguish between the two terms. Social inequality refers to the existence of socially created inequalities. Social stratification is a form of social inequality, however, social inequality does not inevitably lead to social stratification. It is define as the presence of distinct social groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of factors such a prestige and wealth. These factors are called valued resources. In hunting and gathering societies, social inequality is minimal and stratification absent. Members of this type of society, more or less, had equal access to valued resources. They also had equal life chances which are chances to obtaining thing that are valued in society. These societies are known as “egalitarian societies”. However, it can be stated that in these types of societies, individuals may have higher status or greater prestige than others. A good hunter may be highly esteemed but his as a hunter does not automatically give him a superior life style, neither does he pass his prestige to his offspring. As society developed from hunting and gathering societies to more industrialized societies, individuals now have unequal access to value resources. In others words, valued resources are unequally distributed among individual in society. This cause society to be divided into levels or strata where those who belong to a partic... ... middle of paper ... ...into the most important positions and these positions are determined by two factors which are the degree of uniqueness and the degree of dependency. Saunders of the New Right perspective, believed that stratification as beneficial to society by motivating people to work because of the unequal distribution of rewards. He states in societies where there is equal distribution of rewards, force must be used to get people to work. He also identifies three different equalities in society, i.e. legal equality, equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. In concluding, it can be said that the best perspective was Weber’s perspective. He identified three reasons for group formation. These were social/economic class, status, and power. Therefore on can conclude that these are the major dimensions of social stratification.
America is supposedly where all men are created equally, yet society has created a hierarchy based on socioeconomic standing and political power. Theorists Karl Marx and Max Weber has applied their theories of social class on the model of social stratification; a system in which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. According to Karl Marx, the main classes of society are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; those that are the owners of the means of productions and those who work for it. On the other hand, Max Weber argued that there is a multidimensional ranking rather than a hierarchy of clearly defined class. America has created a social system in which those of middle and lower classes tend to struggle to decrease the gap within
Long, Russ. "Social Class (Stratification)." Introductory Sociology. Del Mar College, 16 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Also, this honor can be connected to the class structures. However, property, according to Weber, is not always recognized as a status qualifier. Weber stated that status honor is usually expressed by a person’s style of life. This is especially true because those with a high status honor will generally live a more comfortable and relaxed lifestyle compared to someone with a lower status honor. This is really so, because some aspects of status honor have to do with one’s occupation and income. Obviously, as a consequence of status groups, segregation occurs, and castes develop. A caste is a social class separated by certain distinctions. One such distinction made evident by Weber is ethnic segregation. Weber sees castes as the normal way in which ethnic communities live in a manner acceptable by society. What Weber believes about castes being normal is basically true, because ethnic groups are always distinguished from one another and occupy separate levels of status and honor, which is mostly because there is one dominant ethnic group that occupies higher levels of society. Weber sees status as either negatively or positively privileged. Positively privileged people enjoy a host of benefits, beliefs, and rights that those who are negatively privileged do not. Also, privileges, and power was said by Weber to be regulated exclusively by the market. Based upon one’s capital, they can control the social order of
Social rank has been a big part in a “Knight's Tale”. Without social classes we would not be able to determine who is rich and who is poor. Social class is based off of you income and the thing you own. They are three social classes low, middle, and upper.
Social stratification as defined by Brinkerhoff et al. is “an institutionalized pattern of inequality in which social statuses are ranked on the basis of their access to scarce resources” (Brinkerhoff et al. 152). By scarce resources, many people have to deal with poverty and having a lack of money to buy the things they need in their lives. Social class is defined as “a category of people who share roughly the same class, status, and power and who have a sense of identification with each other” (Brinkerhoff et al. 155). Your social class has to do with your socioeconomic status along with the power and connections you have. Social mobility on the other hand is “the process of changing one’s social class” (Brinkerhoff et al. 153).
In the treatise named “Leviathan” published in 1651, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) proposed an early variant of equality among men that inequality did not exist in natural condition, meaning everyone is born equal; however, inequality's existence was the result of civil laws (Hobbes & Gaskin, 1998). In this sense, inequality is generally referred to social inequality which is characterized by the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society; plus, this negative social phenomenon contains structured and recurrent patterns of unequal distributions of goods, wealth, opportunities, rewards, and punishments (Crossman, 2012).
Stratification systems, categorized people by class, gender, ethnicity, wealth/income. When people are categorized, start looking at different systems within the social system or social mobility. “The four main systems of stratification have been slavery, caste, estate, and class. Each of these systems allows greater or less flexibility in terms of social mobility. Social mobility is the ability to move up or down within a social stratification hierarchy” (Larkin, 2015). Slavery is a social status began with social norms allowing people to own others. The slaves had no wealth or power while under this social status. Caste systems are all aspects of social status are assigned at births and held forever,
One of the key points included with the principle of stratification is that some positions require more time and effort to achieve and those are more functionally important in a society. This would include positions that require schooling well beyo...
Social stratification is seen everywhere within the United States and around the world. As discussed in lecture, there are two types of stratification systems, and both are prominent in the United States. The first type is achievement based, which depends on a person’s wealth and accomplishments (Wadsworth). In the film, “People Like Us,” this system is presented. A teenage boy is embarrassed of his mother and his family’s social status, so he hides is social class from his friends. The second system is ascription-based stratification which has to do with what an individual is born with. The school that was interviewed and observed in “People Like Us,” prove that the family you are born into plays a huge role in popularity, and the group of friends you choose to surround yourself with. Another example in this film was the WASP label. The man they interviewed, explained that you are
First, the chapters cover stratification. According to study.com “Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. In the United States, it is perfectly clear that some groups have greater status, power, and wealth than other groups.” According to the textbook “Stratification is unequal distribution of valued
Manza, Jeff and Michael Sauder. 2009. Inequality and Society: Social Science Perspectives on Social Stratification. New York: Norton.
What is social class you ask? Social class is a system created to categorize people by education, wealth and heredity. What are the different class systems you ask? There are several class classifications and they’re Upper Class–Elite, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Working Class and poor. In the united states and being a victim of “ social class categorizing” is an issue that must be addressed and people must be made aware, because it seems as if it’s not going anywhere anytime soon so the least we can do is try and make it fair as possible. Being defined unknowingly by a class system is one thing, but having no say so or fair opportunity at being placed in the best “class system” as those more fortunate than others needs to change because it’s not like we all came out of our mothers womb starting the race of life at the same starting and advantage point, and since we as Americans pride our-self on being the land of the free and equal opportunities I feel compelled to inform you of the unfairness of the issue and state ways to make it fair. In an article read while doing research this is how the author defined Social class “Classism is similar in many ways to racism, sexism, heterosexism and other forms of oppression. Classism appears individually through attitudes and behaviors, institutionally through policies and practices, and culturally through norms and values. Like other forms of oppression and prejudice, it is the tendency to make sweeping generalizations or stereotypes about people, such as “Poor people are lazy.”(Class Action) This essay will assess the determination of social classes in the United States and will seek to provide examples to demonstrate the inequalities and provide ways to improve them.
According to Black?s definition, stratification is ?the vertical aspect of social life?, ?any uneven distribution of the material conditions of existence? (Black 11), in other words the discrimination of wealth. Stratification can be measured in quantity, delineated in style and viewed from two perspectives, as a ?magnitude of difference in wealth? (Black 11) and as the level to which the setting is stratified. Moreover, stratification explains not only law, its quantity and style, but also other aspects of social life. The relationship Black is mostly interested in is the positive correlation between stratification and law, meaning the more law, the more stratified the setting is. When utilizing this proposition by inserting other variables of social ...
This research will elaborate in detail the theories of Max Weber and explain his view of the perpetuation of social order, social inequality and social change. Lastly I will explain how Weber theories have impacted my view of society.
HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES are the simplest types of societies in which people rely on readily available vegetation and hunted game for subsistence. Only a few people can be supported in any given area in such subsistence societies. Hence they usually have no more than 40 members or so, must be nomadic, and have little or no division of labor. All societies began as hunting and gathering societies. These societies were still common until a few hundred years ago. Today only a few remain, including pygmies in central Africa and aborigines in Australia. Most of the rest have had their territory overrun by other forms of society. Hunter-gatherer societies also tend to have non-hierarchical social structures. There is rarely surplus food, and since they are nomadic little ability to store any surplus. Thus full-time leaders, bureaucrats, or artisans are rarely supported by hunter-gathering societies. Hunting and gathering society consumes a great deal of time, energy, and thought, collecting and hunting for food. Most of these societies today generally live in marginal areas where resources are scarce, so life for the hunter and gatherer seems more oriented toward mere survival. Life expectancy is also very low compared to the post industrial society. Technology is minimal in the hunting and gathering society, which again relates back to the need for expending time and energy finding food. Technology in medicine is also primitive for hunters and gatherers. Equality is great and social stratification is low, opposed to the post-industrial society.