SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL MOBILITY IN A CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN SOCIETY

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION:It refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on
socio-economic factors like wealth,income,race,education,or derived power[social and political].As
such,stratification is the relative social positions of persons within a social group,category or
unit.These characteristics of all human societies enable them to function effectively and to survive.

For society to be orderly,some form of division into various categories is necessary.The

coordination of these categories also require some special skills and individualsof the society must
be encouraged in one way or the other.For those who occupy position of great importance which
requires exceptional ability,theyare usually given greater rewards and privileges than those who
occupy positions of lower importance.This is referred to social evaluation which every society
needs.Many societies proceed from here to further elaborate this ranking by arranging these
positions in a series of grades which are hierarically organised from the most important,which
occupy the top position to the least important which occupy the lower posts.these positions are
hereby orgaanized on how 'superior or inferior' the socirty values them.

In the study of social stratification,the the interestis not on individuals,but on groups of peopleand
the similiarities existing between them.The study of stratification is more focused on the positions
that such groups occupy in society and what is required of them.In some societies,the basis of
classification of individuals may consist of one,a combination of two or all of the
following;authority,power,ownership of property,achievement,education,altruism,kinship
connections,race,religion etc.this means however do not have the same level of prestige accorded
to them.Whatever characteristics use dfor stratification are determined by what the society
considers important.

TYPES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

There are four[4] major systemes of stratification that can be distinguished.These

include;slavery,class,estate,caste,Although in most categories,these four exust seperately,or they
are sometimes found in conjuction with one another in some other societies.

SLAVERY;This is the most extreme form of inequality,it was extensively practised in the west up till
the early part of the 19th century.However since frredom was delclared in both north and south
america,slaveryin its formal sense has gradually been eradicated or ceasedto exist completely in
many parts of the world.Slavery literally means that some individulas are owned by others as their
property and the legal status accorded to them varies from one society to another.

CASTE;This is a system of stratification mostly associated with people of indian subcontinent.The

two major ones being the Varna and Jati.The varna is also made up of four categories,each ranked
differently in terms of social honour and prestige.The Brahmins are the most elevated condition of
purity while the untouchables,the lowest.The indian caste system is a closed one in which it is not
possible to move from one caste to another.However it is not completely static as whole groups
have changed their position within their social hierarchy.
ESTATE;This was commonly associated with feudal Europe,though it also existed in many other
civilizations.The system operated in such a way that there were different strata in the society.Each
stratum had certain obligations and rights,some of which were supported by law.Estates were
usually found in social systems where there were some form of monarchial governement and in
many cases,they were more localized than nationwide.

CLASS;A class can be defined as a large scale grouping of people who share common economic
resources which strongly influence the styles of life they are able to lead.The relationship between
an individual and the means of production are the chief determinants of one's postion on the class
structure.In the class system,three types can be identified;the upper class-mostly owners of the
means of production;the middle class-who are mostly white collar workers and professionals and
the working class;the lower class-that is,those who are in blue collar jobs or manual jobs.The
fourth category that is recently emerging in many industralized countries are the peasants who are
directly involved in agricultural activities.In many thirld world countries,the peasants constitute by
far the largest group in this system of stratification.

THEORIES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

The Natural View

The Conflict View

The Theory of Max Weber

The Functionalist Theory

SOCIAL MOBILITY

Having consisdered the reason why and how humans are hierarchically divided into various groups
in society,it becomes necessary for us to understand how people get located to the positions thay
occupy in the society.Put differently,how do some people come to assume a superior,equal,or
inferior position to others?,it is important to focus on how people get located into the positions
they occupy and the movements that occure thereafter.When an individual is born,his initial
position in society is determined by which his parents most especially his father belongs.The
individual not only takes up this position,the whole process of socialiazation that he goes through
reinforces the reality of his position,in other words,he is trained in the behaviour associated with
the position to which his family is associated with.In the process of growing up,he consciously or
unconsciously takes over the kind of behaviour that is most appropriate with the status he is being
prepared to live in.The socialization process goes on in the family is indeed one of the major ways
through which the stratification process is being maintained in the society.

It is common knowledge that most individuals once born,never remain in the same class into
which they are born[that of their parents].
Social mobility then refers to the movement of individual and groups between different
socioeconomic positions.Therse are two types of movement that could occur when reference is
made to social mobility;these are vertical and lateral or horizontal social mobility.

VERTICAL SOCIAL MOBILITY;This is the movement up or down the socioeconomic scale.For

example,when an individual gains in property,income or status to that of his initial position,then
such a person can be regarded as being upwardly mobile.On the other hand,when a person moves
in the opposiste position,maybe losing property,money,or social status to that of his initial
position,then he is daid to be downwardly mobile.

LATERAL OR HORIZONTAL SOCIAL MOBILITY;There is a lot of geographical movement between

neighbourhoods,towns or regions in which an individual may leave one part of the country to take
up residence in another part.When this happens,then what is referred to lateral/horizontal social
mobility has taken taken place.This is referred to as geographical mobility.It is important to note
that vertical and lateral mobility are often combined.The major concern is with vertical social
mobility and there are two ways of studying this.Firstlywe can look at an individual's career,the
extent he has moved up or down the social scale in the scale the course of his working
life.Alternatively we can look at hoe far children enter the same kind of occupation as their parents
or grandparents,in other words,when we compare an individual's present social class with the one
into which he was born,is what is referred to as intergenerational mobility.

EFFECTS OF STRATIFICATION

Health

Childbearing and childrearing practices

Marital and family relations

Social relations

Values

Styles of life

Justice and social conformity

Personality

EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND MOBILITY IN A CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN SOCIETY

The Osu caste system among the igbo;In igbo land,there are the DIALA,who are the freeborn,the OHU,who
were more or less slaves and the OSU who are excluded from the benefits of the society because their
blood is supposed to be offered to the gods as sacrifice.Therefore a marrriage between a freeborn and an
osu is forbidden.

The caste system in india which is didvided into four;Brahmins,Kshatriyas,Vaishyas,and the Shudras[the
priests,the warriors,the merchants and commoners].This system is rooted on the belief of rebirth in which it
is assumed that one's conduct in life is a determinant of which caste he/she will go to in the next world.New
developments took place after india achieved independence,when the policy of caste-based reservation of
jobs was formalized with lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.Since 1950,the country has enacted
many laws and social social initiatives to protect and improve the socioeconomic conditions of its lower
caste population.