Social Essay: Social Class, And Political Participation

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Social class is a rather large group of individuals who share a related or similar position in an economic system in a particular society. In the concept of social class, different dimensions coexist such as income, authority, wealth, power, prestige, occupation, education, race, and ethnicity. In order to fully understand the concept of social class one must understand and grasp the concept of social stratification. Social stratification is a system by which a particular society ranks individuals into different categories in a certain hierarchy. The United States of America, for instance, has an open system of social stratification. In this system, status is achieved solely through merit or effort. In addition, in an open system of social …show more content…

Furthermore, categorized political participation into three categories: Cognitive, Expressive, and Organizational. Cognitive Participation is how citizens obtain information about issues by watching television news, listening to radio, talking with friends and co-workers, readings magazines, and responding to contacts from the political parties they belong to. Cognitive Participation is class related. Thus the lower socioeconomic status, the lower the rate of cognitive participation. Furthermore, since the poor are more reliant on less intellectually demanding media and belong to groups at much lower rates, the quality of their information is lower. Expressive Participation is how citizens express opinions to others. The lower the socioeconomic status, the lower the rate of expressive participation. Since conversation is an energizing act, this fact means that fewer of the poor and more of the rich are stimulated to be active in other ways. In addition, the article claims that the poor are more likely to have friends who are less informed and belong to groups with fewer resources. Therefore the quality of their information is lower than that of other classes. Lastly, organizational Participation is based on the idea that organizations provide a forum within which people discuss issues and stimulate each other to participate. Furthermore, groups often become politically mobilized when their interests or those of their members are affected. Thus, gaining information, talking with others and joining groups—provide a basis for subsequent types of action, either directly by individuals or through their

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