GROUP 2 UCSP

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
 Refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of
people in a hierarchy.

 is a particular form of social inequality. All societies

arrange their members in terms of superiority, inferiority
and equality.

 Is a society’s categorization of people into socioeconomic

strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth
and social status.
Social Stratification is classified into four basic forms:

 Slavery
- the relation of a master and slave was the peak of inequality in
human history.

 Feudal system
- estates were legally defined, along with the rights, duties, and
privileges.

 Caste
- is a heredity endogamous social group in which a person’s rank
and its accompanying rights and obligations are ascribed on the
basis of his birth into a particular group.

 Class
- is dominant in modern society. A person’s position depends to a
very great extent upon achievement and his ability to use to
advantage the inborn characteristics and wealth that he may posses.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION
 Universal
- is applicable to nearly all human civilizations of the past
and present.
 Gender
- differentiating between men and women is a very intrinsic
feature of all kinds of stratification.
 Inequality
- the benefits and opportunities that individuals get are not
the same for everyone as an equal member of the society.
 Poverty
- surplus wealth or resources left with individuals became
the source of any further economic order or stratification.
 Mobility
- whether an individual can move across different strata of a
society decides the social mobility.
EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION
 Lower Class
- it refers to people who are uneducated, either
unemployed, or with low levels of income.
 Middle Class
- the majority of the population known as the
white collar workers constitute the middle class.
 Upper Class
- the wealthy or high income groups and
individuals are known as the upper class of society.
Four basic principles of social stratification:

 Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a

reflection of individuals differences.

 Social stratification carries over from generation to

generation.

 Social stratification is universal but variable.

 Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs

as well.
POLITICAL STRATIFICATION
 Is best understood as the extent to which such
inequalities are encapsulated in, or influenced by, political
structures and processes (i.e.,. Involving influence,
authority, or power).
 Favored particularly by political scientist in the 1960s and
1970s, usually focus on stratified political activities,
positions, and influence of individual, groups, parties, or
nation-states.
Political Stratification From An
Institutional Perspective

Can be related to norms, values, class

structures, status groups, associations, and
laws, which structure the relations between
individual and collective actors.
Political Stratification From A
Relational Perspective
 Political inequality structures emerge from
differentiated interactions between agents.

 At the base are actors such as individuals, political

bodies, associations, and nation states, which
interact with each other.
Political Stratification from
Embodied Perspective
 An embodied perspective political stratification can be
understood in a number of different ways.

 Individuals are at the forefront as they, through

continuous acts of self definition, interpret and make
sense of norms and values, and as they interact with
each other.