Stratification and Social Class

Thounaojam Somokanta
somo@iitk.ac.in
I will cover the following themes:
u Social stratification
u Four basic systems of stratification:
u 1). Slavery
u 2). Caste
u 3). Estates
u 4). Class
u Everyone knows it is onion
slices
u But the thing is,
u how we can view social
stratification through the
lens of onion
u Is it possible?

This photo is used for teaching purpose only

Social stratification
u It will be an ideal society when all members are equal
u But in reality there is no society based on perfect equality
u Every society has a system of ranking its members
u Income, occupation, education, hereditary status
u Children of wealthy families inherit not only property but also
social prestige in society
u Celebrities have considerable social prestige
u Social stratification is a system of structured inequality based
on define criteria
u It is not a haphazard arrangement
u All socially stratified societies shared 3 basic characteristics:
u 1). Ranking apply to social categories of people who share
common characteristics
u 2). People’s life experiences and opportunities depend on
relative rankings of their social category
u 3). Ranks of social categories tend to change only slowly

u Hunting and gather society vs modern society

u Four basic systems of stratification:
u 1). Slavery
u 2). Caste
u 3). Estates
u 4). Class
Slavery
u A form of social stratification in which some individuals are
literally owned by others as their property

u Modern slavery: All forms of slavery-like practices that are

common in the contemporary world – human trafficking, forced
domestic labor, forced marriage and debt bondage
Caste
u Rigid form of stratification based on hereditary, traditional
occupation and restrictions on social relationships
u Caste is determined by birth (ascribed status)
u Caste purity is often maintained by rules of endogamy
u Endogamy (same caste) is opposite to exogamy (outside the
caste)
u Srinivas (1962) defines caste ‘as a hereditary endogamous,
usually localized group, having traditional association with an
occupation, and a particular position in the local hierarchy of
castes. Relations between castes are governed, among other
things, by the concept of pollution and purity…..”

u Blunt (1946) defines caste as ‘an endogamous group, or

collection of endogamous group, bearing a common name,
membership of which is hereditary, imposing on its member
certain restrictions in the matter of social intercourse…..”
u Indian caste system into four groups:
u 1). Brahmins
u 2). Kshatriyas
u 3). Vaishyas
u 4). Shudras
u Article 15 of the Constitution of India – prohibition of
discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth
u Capitalist economy brings people of different castes together
u It is increasingly difficult to maintain the rigid barriers of caste
Estates
u Estates were part of European feudal societies
u Person’s social position is defined by law-based land
ownership, occupation and hereditary status
u Estate system consisted of following strata:
u 1). Aristocracy and gentry
u 2). Clergy
u 3). Commoners
Class
u Large-scale group of people who share common economic
resources and social status
u Ownership of property, wealth and occupation are the main
bases of class differences
u Social classes differ from other forms of stratification in four
main respects:
u 1). Class systems are fluid
u 2). Class positions are, at least partially, achieved
u 3). Class is economically based
u 4). Class systems are large scale and impersonal
Karl Marx’s theory of class conflict
u Karl Marx’s work focused on capitalism and social classes
u In his major work Capital (1867), Marx question ‘what
constitutes a class?’
u Capital is a critical analysis of political economy, which
reveals the contradictions of capitalism and also highlight
class struggles
Max Weber: class, status and party
u Based on Marx, Weber developed the concept of social
stratification
u Like Marx, Weber looked at social conflicts over power
and resources
u While Marx saw economic issues at the heart of conflicts,
Weber viewed stratification in relation with:
u 1). Class
u 2). Status
u 3). Party
u Max Weber’s ‘life chances’:
u Opportunities that one gets to improve the prevailing
condition of one’s life
u Effects of social stratification on life chances
u Managerial occupations have higher life chances than blue-
collar jobs
u Qualifications they possess (e.g., degree) make them more
marketable than others
Intersectionality and inequality
u Kimberlé Crenshaw and Patricia Collins elaborated the concept
of ‘intersectionality’:
u 1). Intersectionality is integrative: multiple oppressions coexist
at different levels
u 2). It is a framework: links different systems of power and
oppression
u 3). It is interconnected: social categorizations (e.g., class)
u Intersectionality draws attention to how various social identities
intersect and influence one’s experience of power or oppression
u Initially intersectionality focuses on, how race, class, and
sexuality intersect to give some people more power or privilege
over others?
u Now, this concept is increasingly used as part of human rights
and social justice framework
u Dimensions of our social identity intersect like the spokes of a
wheel in which our whole self is the hub. Experiences of power,
autonomy and oppression occur to our whole selves, and we
cannot split off just one aspect of ourselves into a single-issue
analysis (Rosen and Chellis, 2016)
u Examples of intersecting 18 social identities:
u 1). Caste; family structure; education;
u 2). Employment; language; sexual orientation;
u 3). Status; dis(ability); finance;
u 4). Class; health; religion/spirituality;
u 5). Ethnicity; gender; culture;
u 6). Region; age; citizenship;
I will cover the following themes:
u Class and lifestyles (Pierre Bourdieu’s capitals)
u Lifestyles and life chances in India (extra)
u Social mobility types
u Social mobility in India (extra)
u Global stratification with reference to India (extra)
Class and lifestyles
u According to Pierre Bourdieu, different classes exhibit
different lifestyles,
u The identification of particular lifestyles is entangled with
the class position occupied with social hierarchy,
u 4 forms of ‘capital’ to characterize class position:
u 1). Economic capital (e.g., material goods)
u 2). Cultural capital (embodied, objectified, institutionalized)
u 3). Social capital (e.g., networks of relationships)
u 4). Symbolic capital (e.g., good reputation)
u While Karl Marx focuses
on economic factor,
u Bourdieu identifies 4 form
of capitals
u Class fractions are
determined by varying
degrees of these capitals
u Dominant class
monopolize resources
(unequally distribution)

Social Capital
Adapted from Tasawar Nawaz 2017
Social capital is defined as ‘the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an
Lifestyle and Life Chances (Abraham, 2022)
u Different class strata do not live in the same neighborhoods
mostly in the West
u In several villages and towns in India, the rich and poor live
side by side
u In India, ownership of transportation, lands and houses are the
indication of class position
u Children of middle/upper classes attend expensive often
English-medium private schools
u Lower class children largely attend government school nearby
u Fashionable clothes, entertainment and music systems accent
lifestyles of the middle class
u Life expectancy is significantly higher among members of
upper and middle classes
u Positive relationship between social class and self-esteem:
u Members of upper/middle classes with respectable jobs
have considerably higher self-esteem
u Questioning the value of dignity of labor in Indian society?
u In the USA, students from upper class do menial jobs
u In India, students from upper class may not do menial jobs
u Majority of people perhaps look down manual labor
Social mobility
u Vertical mobility: movement up or down a hierarchy of
positions in a social stratification
u Lateral mobility: movement of individuals from one region
of a country to another, or across countries
u Intragenerational mobility: movement up or down a social
stratification hierarchy within the course of an individual
career
u Intergeneration mobility: movement up or down a social
stratification hierarchy from one generation to another
Social mobility in India
u Traditionally, caste represented a fairly closed system which
permitted little or no social mobility
u With many restrictions, the movement of people from one caste to
another was almost impossible
u 1). According to Srinivas, Sanskritization provided some social
mobility for various castes in the ritual hierarchy
u 2). Rural-urban migration provided some impetus to social mobility
u 3). Rapid development of software industries and computer-related
business (Abraham 2022)
Tutorial question (14 September)
u Discuss the stratification of class system in the
Indian society

u All students will write down key points and submit

u Clarify your doubt in the tutorial
u Those who finish writing can volunteer for sharing views
u Q&A session
Global systems of stratification (Abraham, 2022)
u Division of world into unequal segments based on wealth/poverty
u Depth of poverty/average quality of life depend on how
equally/unequally income is distributed across population
u According to the survey of United Nations University,
u 1). Richest 2 % of the world population own more than 50 % of
global household wealth
u 2). Richest 10 % of the people owned 85 % of global wealth
u Unequal distribution of wealth, power and prestige lead to
different lifestyles and life chances among/within the nations
u More than half of the world’s population lives on less than
$2 per day
Percentage of population living less than $2/day (2011)
Democratic Republic of Congo 80
India 76
Uganda 65
Pakistan 61
Kenya 40
Vietnam 38
Guatemala 26
Iraq 25
Egypt 19
Moldova 13
Brazil 10
Source: US Population Reference Bureau (2011)
Brief discussion on mid semester exam
Mid semester exam syllabus
u 1). What is Sociology?
u 2). Theories and Perspectives
u 3). Culture and Society
u 4). Crime and Deviance
u 5). Stratification and Social Class
Syllabus covered in the text books
u Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W., (9th edition) (2021). Sociology,
Cambridge: Polity Press. (What is Sociology?, Theories and
Perspectives, Crime and Deviance, Stratification and Social
Class)
u Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. P., & Carr, D., (11th
edition) (2018). Sociology, New York: W.W. Norton &
Company. (Culture and Society)
Mid semester exam patterns
u Mid sem exam = 45 marks
u Attendance = 5 marks
u MCQs, fill in the blanks, true/false (20, 15, 10)
u Exam duration = 1 hour, 15 mins
u Exam time = 8 AM to 9:15 AM, Venue = L1, L2 (OROS)
u Seating arrangement to be done before exam
u Date = 23rd September 2023
u Materials = Mainly focused on PPTs with few questions from
textbooks (after discussions with students in the class)
u Informations in the boxes of text is not necessary for exam
u As a starting point, questions can be medium
Some sample questions mostly from PPTs
and few from texts….. medium type
MCQs
u Which of the following option _____ is not the core focus
of functionalism?
u A). Social structure is made up of institutions which shape
individual behaviour
u B). Different social institutions perform functions to
maintain social order and equilibrium
u C). Society is a stable system based on value consensus
and social solidarity
u D). None of the above
1). According to Auguste Comte, theological stage was driven
by _____.
A). Positivist world
u B). Philosophical world
u C). Supernatural world
u D). Scientific world
2). Which of the following concept _____ is central to Karl
Marx’s theory?
u A). Social fact
u B). Anomie
u C). Social action
u D). Historical materialism
3). According to Giddens and his colleagues (2018), what is the
effect of social media, such as Facebook, on young adults?
u A). Always positive
u B). More often positive than negative
u C). More often negative than positive
u D). Always negative
4). _____ has translated Cheitharon Kumpapa (Royal
Chronicle of Manipur) in English?
u A). Keisham Tomba Singh
u B). Saroj Nalini Arambam Paratt
u C). Ningombam Chaobi Devi
u D). Arambam Binodini Devi
5). Machchhu Dam was built in _____.
u A). Madhya Pradesh
u B). Gujarat
u C). Uttarakhand
u D). Arunachal Pradesh
Fill in the blanks
6). Sociological Imagination is the vivid awareness of the
relationship between __________ and wider society
7). In the __________, Marx and Engels made a slogan
that, “Working men of all countries, unite!”
8). In his book __________, Emile Durkheim distinguished
between Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity.
9). __________ is the tendency to look at other cultures through
the eyes of one’s own culture, and thereby misrepresent them.
10). In the __________, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee
Whorf advanced the linguistic relativity hypothesis
True or false
11). Most people within the relatively rich nations of the
Global South are materially better off than ever before, but
in other parts of the world, notably the Global North, many
millions live in poverty where children die for the lack of
fundamental necessities.
u A). True
u B). False
12). Robert Merton was a conflict sociologist
u A). True
u B). False
13). Counter cultures can be defined as the cultural groups
within a wider society that largely reject the values and norms
of the majority
u A).True
u B). False
14). While Karl Marx saw stratification in the form of class,
status and party, Max Weber viewed only economic
inequality at the heart of social conflicts
u A). True
u B). False