Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender and Society
Gender and Society
Social stratification from different perspectives
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Gender and Society
Social stratification systems are present in every functioning society. A stratification system organizes the members of the society into different categories so that members of the society know their social position in society (Larkin, 2015). Members of the society are placed into the different categories based on their race and gender. Every stratification system allows for a different amount of social mobility. In this essay we will look at three social stratification systems, slavery, caste, and class, and we will compare males and females by race, class, and education. Part One: Slavery is the first social stratification system we are going to discuss. In many countries in present time slavery is illegal, however, it is still occurring in many parts of the world. Slavery is the most extreme form of legal or condoned social inequality (Larkin, 2015). In the slavery stratification system, there are two roles. They are slave owner and slave. A person …show more content…
The class system ranks people by their economic position (Larkin, 2015). In America, we use the class system. There are many things that influence what class you are in. These include family, job, education, race, and gender. While family does play a role in which class you are in, it is not the most significant influence. The most significant things are education and job. If someone was born into a lower class, they have a greater change of moving to a higher position in a society and in some of the other social stratification systems. This system allows for the greatest amount of social mobility (Larkin, 2015). A person can move up in this system, as well as down. Someone might move down in the class system because they lost their job and no longer make the same amount of money they did before. There are negatives to this stratification system as well. The class system can be marked by unequal access to goods, services, and life options for its
The USA is a very big country with a lot of people and the social classes are very important. We can see that social class plays a big part of people’s life. Everyday people are working, studying, trying to be better. Even though right now it’s a time when everyone has many opportunities in his life, anyway there is a gap between classes and groups of people with the same features. Your background probably will build your future. The main idea is that Social Classes still exist. There are three reasons why line between groups still exist.
The book Class matter shows the importance of how much people should value and appreciate the importance of a classroom education. How much you dedicate yourself to school can help you gain enough knowledge to be successful in the future. Having good quality education in America seems to be the closest thing to a ticket to class mobility. The book was very interesting in explaining what social class really is in America, and the way it affects people's lives on how they live day to day. The different types of social class is what shapes our society. But I think this book is more for those people who aren’t that aware of social class, or for the ones who feel that we live in a society that is classless rather then the actually people who have realized the consequence that class really has on someone’s life. Many people can relate to what stories are told in the book if not, they know of a person that can relate to these stories. As a person that grew up in the lower class, I can definitely relate to most of the stories told in this book. From experience, there is a big difference in this country between the rich, middle class, and who are the poorest that we see daily. Even those in the so called working class have to make continuous sacrifices and live very differently from those positioned firmly in the middle class. Some people may have decent jobs but the bills and other expenses people may have make it harder on people than those who are in the same class but don’t have to necessarily go through the same thing as others. The chapters that I read in this book broaden what I said to a better more clear understanding.
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
The class system has been in place within humanity since the very birth of economic trade. It is a fact of life that others will seek self-betterment and gain power to provide for those that they love and their own personal interest. Throughout the years the implementation of a social class system has helped to differentiate the types of economic situations as nation and serve as a system to work toward the betterment of the society as a whole. However, as the world became more productive and the gaps between the higher classes and lower classes increased the efficiency of the social class system and the decisions made from the individuals within it has been called into question. Kalen Ockerman opened the channel to question if the class system is the helpful institution that benefits of all its citizens or if the lower classes are not getting the support and attention they deem necessary.
(p1) Broadly speaking, class is about economic and social inequality… (p6) We have a tendency for groups of advanced people to congregate together, and groups of disadvantaged people to congregate so that inequalities persist from generation to generation.
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).
The Sociological Explanations for Class Inequality There is much debate in sociology about whether class is still important. Many argue that class is no longer important as an individual's identity and life chances are based more status and cultural factors such as lifestyle, values, intelligence, education and the like, the post-modernists state that class has ceased to be the prime determinant of identity and suggest that societies are now organised around consumption rather than production, consequently people now identify themselves in terms of what they consume rather than in terms of social-class position. Class identity has therefore fragmented into numerous separate and individualised identities. Others argue that class is still a central influence on people's lives, that it affects their life chances (health, education, voting, social mobility etc.), they argue that class inequality exists and that such inequalities are widening rather than narrowing. Early theories such as Functionalist theory argue that inequality is functional for society since it makes sure that those who show the most potential talent are encouraged to develop this talent through higher education and training, with the promise of higher incomes when they qualify (deferred gratification).
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,
Do we all have equal opportunities? Do we all have the same chance to be successful? Does what class your in really effect the means of everything you do? Class does exist, each person you see walk by has a class. In fact, everyone is labeled by a class weather they associate themselves with one or not. It’s a piece of you that isn’t announced but is visible and effects you everyday. Class, a system of ordering society, is based on perceived social or economic status. However, is class solely based off your income, or does your income actually effect your opportunity in society all together?
Social Stratification in the African American community has changed over the years. Social stratification is defined as a rigid subdivision of a society into a hierarchy of layers, differentiated on the basis of power, prestige, and wealth according to Webster’s dictionary. David Newman in Sociology Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life describes stratification as a ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society. From slavery to the present, the African American community has been seen to have lower status compared to white people. Today, the stratification or hierarchy difference between whites and black are not really noticeable, but it is still present. However, during slavery, the difference in social stratification was noticeable. Whites dominated over the blacks and mulattoes (offspring of a white and black parent). The mulattoes were seen to have a higher stratification than an offspring of black ancestry. Because the mulattoes were related to the whites, they were able to obtain higher education and better occupations than blacks. For example, most slaves of a lighter skin tone worked in the houses and darker slaves worked in the fields. As the people of light skin tone had children, they were able to have advantages too. The advantages have led into the society of today. In this paper I will discuss how stratification has been affected in the African American community over time by skin tone to make mulattoes more privileged than dark skin blacks.
According to Henslin, mobility is the movement of individuals, families and groups from one social position to another (Henslin, 2015, p. 237-239). It can be viewed in terms of distribution of resources and power among the different social stratification and its effect on the people involved. Stratification is a ranking system for groups of people that continue to receive unequal rewards and life chances in society. Through stratification, society categorizes people and distributes valued resources based upon these categories (Henslin, 2015, p190). The social status of a person is determined by his or her work, how much money they have earned, and how they move their way up the social class.
Social stratification is the ranking that is gave to an entire group that that has unequal power and rewards in a society. Based off your social class you are pretty much in the same social stratification. They are both ranking of what stage you are in your life. They both set a standard of who you are in the world. What your social statues can be either achieved or ascribed. There are 4 social stratification systems, slavery, estate, caste, and class. Slavery is the idea that you belong to someone and this is a closed class. Once you’re a slave it is hard to leave. There is said to be no more slavery nowadays but slavery could be considered bring people here and making them work for no income and just being a human machine. The next one is
In today’s society people are viewed as being in different classes depending on how much money they bring in. The categorization of people is known as classism. Classism is simply the prejudice or in favor of people belonging to a particular social class. Classism is known as one of the largest social problems plaguing the world today. Classes are formed according to how the rules of the following institutions; government regulations and economic status. It is held in place by a system of beliefs and cultural attitudes that ranks people according to their; economic status, family lineage, job status, and level of education. There are three major classifications to which people are titled. They include upper or high class which includes the people with the most money. The middle class who includes the people that brings home the average income. Finally, the class titled the lower class that includes the people who have only one income coming in or none at all (“What Is Classism.”). In the classrooms these classes still remain and the students within each class have different ways in which they learn, and view schooling. We as educators have to look passed their ways and address each class the same.
Kerbo, H. R. (2012). Social stratification and inequality: class conflict in historical, comparative, and global perspective (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stratification defined as the status of the people within the society. The status takes a vertical form ranking people in different categories. The stratification can be based on the social status, ethnicity, Gender, and religion. Yet there are two types of stratification, Open and close. The open stratification is based on the achieved status, and the mobility in this open system is easy. Unlike the close stratification wish is based on the ascribed status without regard to the efforts or the achievements of the person, and most of the time the person can’t change his status easily in the closed stratification system.