SOCIAL AND

POLITICAL
STRATIFICATION
C H A P T E R 7 – U N D E R S TA N D I N G C U LT U R E ,
SOCIETY AND POLITICS
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• The layering of social categories
into higher and lower position of
prestige or respect.
– DIFFERENTIATION: is the method
of relating people in terms of certain
social characteristics and then
classifying them into social categories
based on characteristics.
• Example: sex, age, occupation,
education, religion, race, intelligence,
wealth, etc.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• Categorization of people into socioeconomic strata, based on
occupation, income, wealth and social status, or derived power.
• Relative social position of persons within a social group, category,
geographic region, or social unit.

UPPER CLASS MIDDLE CLASS LOWER CLASS

Professionals/
Elite Families Workers
Businessmen

Value Heritage/ Mingle Short of Revenue/

Comfortable Lifestyles
with their own Kind Depends on Wages
• Status – individual’s position in
the social structure. It can
be classified as
ascribed or achieved
status.

Prestige – refers to the evaluation of

Esteem your status.
Esteem – refers to the assessment of
Prestige our role behavior.
Remember: A person with may have a
high esteem without having a high prestige
and vice versa.
CAUSES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• Karl Marx (1818-1883) –
“Organization of a society is
determined by economic forces.”
– Industrial Revolution: divided the
society in two social classes.
– Social Class: people who are Capitalist Workers
grouped collectively due to their
similarities in professional status,
amount of prestige, or lifestyle
POLITICAL STRATIFICATION
• Extent to which inequalities are encapsulated in, or influenced by
political structures and processes regarding influences, power and
authority.
• Can be related to laws, norms, values, class structures, associations,
and status , which structure or form the relations among individuals
and groups of actors.
• Can be categorized by power volume.
– Number of people on which high – handed judgement extends.
• It concerns the unequal distribution of political rewards and
inequalities in access to political offices.
SOCIAL MOBILITY SYSTEM/
STRUCTURE
• Social Mobility – the act of moving
from one social status to another.
– Makes the inequality of social class
reasonable and even justifiable.
– Open Class System: Individuals can
change their social class in the society.
– Closed-Class System/Caste: Society
where only a few rise or fall from their
parental status.
VERTICAL HORIZONTAL
TYPES OF SOCIAL
MOBILITY MOBILITY MOBILITY
• People may move
and change their
social class position
thru:
– Moving into another class.
– Moving from one position
to another position
within their social class.
ISSUES IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
STRATIFICATION
• SOCIAL INEQUALITY
– Racism
– Gender Equality
• Emergence of the Feminist Movement
• GLOBAL INEQUALITY
– Unequal Distribution of Wealth
– Income Inequality
• DISABILITY
– Impairment of the physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional,
developmental, or of the combination of each.
GENDER EQUALITY
GLOBAL INEQUALITY
DISABILITY