Social Stratification Research Paper

Social stratification has granted me a higher understanding of Social Stratification Systems. After researching the world of Stratification Systems I have been able to explore the way that Social Stratification and Stratification Systems. Stratification Systems is the way the people are placed into a specific category that is dedicated fulfilling society’s needs. “Social Stratification enables a society to maintain life by slotting people into groups and institutions to fulfill the jobs and roles that meet the society’s basic needs” (Larkin, 2015) Three of the most known cast systems are class, slavery, and caste.

When observing, and comparing the class systems and caste to slavery is explained as, “most extreme form of legal or condoned social

The class system allows an individual to move up in rank despite their economic, social, or family history. This is also the system that is mostly found in the United States of America (Larkin, 2015). The class system focuses on the economic prosperity of people. The other two systems, slavery and caste, don’t get the chance to move up on the stratification levels. The individuals are ranked in society by their family and what they’re born into. In today’s generation we can see college students that were born in poverty come up from nothing and make something of them self. They were able to achieve a college degree and obtain a higher level of social status. Not only will this help the individual but the family as well, they have the opportunity to move up in the stratification chain. A real life example of the kids upholding a higher status is the Kardashian family. The sister’s father, Robert Kardashian, was a famous criminal justice lawyer but it wasn’t until the middle child, Kim Kardashian, started dating a famous singer Ray Jay. Ever since then they exploded in Hollywood and obtained their very own television show, known as Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Because of the relationship the family’s social status changed forever. Now that I have gone through the similarities and differences, I have concluded that each system makes an impact in

“The United States will serve as the social laboratory. From this, it is possible to recognize how the organizing principles of class, race, and gender express themselves in the U.S. society. It is important to use quantitative data from the U.S. Census Bureau and social science research to pursue this analysis” (Larkin, 2015). It is also known that women make up a huge portion of the poverty rate in the United States of America. Although, men do struggle as well but typically society tends to show more mercy on them. According to our textbook Our Social World: An Introduction to Sociology “A man who has a bachelor’s degree will earn $25,000 more than a female with a similar degree. Women with a master’s degree earn $32,500 less than men with a similar degree” (Larkin, 2015). When speaking about race and ethnicity in class I learned that although it makes a huge difference in society it is extremely important to know the difference between the both. “Race is grounded in physical attributes that have social meaning, whereas ethnicity is a cultural-historical identification with a group. Once racial and ethnic categories are established, generalizations develop within the society concerning these groups” (Larkin, 2015). Men are usually known to be the provider and protector of the household, where females had to be the caretaker and supportive one.