SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

CARIBBEAN CONTEXT
 How are we stratified?
• Class
• Status
• Power
• Race/ ethnicity
• Colour
• Gender
• Education etc.
Stratification in general:
White

Coloured

Black

Upper Class Upper Class

Middle Class Middle Class

Lower Class Lower Class

19th Century Present System

 Jamaica
• M.G. Smith:
– Each strata in society reflects a different cultural
grouping. This is aligned to skin colour.
– (Plural Society)
– The only vertical mobility that occurred was the blacks
moving from lower class to middle class.
– Industrialization resulted in the widening of the
economy, increased job creation and thus the
emergence of new social classes. These groups
remained distinct to the prestigious upper class
grouping.
• Derek Gordon:
– He noted that the increased occupational
opportunities provided avenues for persons to
achieve upward mobility. Between 1943 –
1984 there was a significant upward
movement to the middle and upper middle
classes. The higher managerial and
professional group showed an increase in
black representation from 20% in 1943 to
42% in 1984.
– There are still inconsistencies as persons with
poor or low socio-economic backgrounds did
not receive a fair chance of mobility
 Trinidad
- Lloyd Brathwaite
- Society largely defined by race: White- good;
Black- evil
- Syrians, Asians and the Chinese maintain their
status by keeping a relatively closed system
except for intermarriage with the white grouping.
– Selwyn Ryan
• 30years later, notes that Brathwaite’s system of
stratification has virtually disappeared especially
with the rise of the Blacks to power (People’s
National Movement)
• The expansion of various systems (education,
occupation etc) has undermined the old social
order.
• Meritocracy is evident.
• Rhoda Reddock
– notes that gender has become a more important
factor in distinguishing groups in the society
– Though female participation in the labour force
remains low, there is evidence of them experiencing
greatest mobility across all ethnic groupings.

NOTE: The Caribbean Sociology text is critical to

this topic.