Social Stratification

Announcement
 The idea that all humans are, or
should be, equal is a frequent theme in
most societies

 The reality is that people are anything

but equal

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Social stratification
 Social stratification is the intentional and
unintentional categorization of people to
establish differences in rank or social
value.

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“The grouping of people according to differences in
income, occupation, power, privilege, manner of
living, region where they live, age, gender, or race”*
- Hunt & Colander 2011:209
* You can probably think of other categories as well.

“A process… whereby members (of a society) rank one

another and themselves hierarchically with respect to
the amount of desirables (wealth, prestige, power)
they possess”
- Perry & Perry 2000: 166
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 Differences are characteristic of all life forms, but…

 In human societies , what matters is the social

meanings people give to both biological facts and to
cultural traits

 These are judged as being more or less desirable

 Consequently they are ranked (and in ranking there is

always some degree of inequality)

 Because many resources are scarce & hard to

obtain in most societies, those who have less of these
resources are not equal to those who have more of
them
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All human societies practice social differentiation

 People are categorized according to some trait

 E.g. Sex, age, race, ethnic background, religion

 People are then ranked, based on whether they have or

lack some of these attributes
 ranking involves a value judgement i.e. society
establishes that it is better to be one thing than
another, or to have more of some things than less

 Eventually, ranking results in stratification

 All groups, animal & human, eventually develop a social

hierarchy that provides an orderly method of access to,
and distribution of resources
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Social Stratification
 The more complex societies become, the
more they tend to distribute their scarce
resources unequally.

 The unequal distribution of scarce resources

is called social stratification

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Stratified societies use a system of ranking
according to…
 Wealth - how much of societal resources a
person owns (an element of social class)
 Includes income & property
 Prestige - the degree of honour attached to a
person’s position in society (an element of
social status)
 Power – the degree to which people can direct
others as a result of their wealth & prestige

 Stratification systems are analyzed by looking at

class, status & power
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 Stratification occurs in every society that
has produced a surplus

 A society that produces no surplus gives

little opportunity to acquire wealth &
prestige…So

 Stratification is very much related to

economics (i.e. who gets what & why)

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Theoretical views on social stratification
 Functionalists maintain that inequality works to the advantage
of societies because rewarding the performance of some tasks
higher than others ensures difficult tasks get done.

 Conflict theorists assert that inequality is the result of conflict

among groups in society that struggle for resources. The
victors in the struggle then impose their values on the rest of
society

 Sometimes government intervention is needed to break the

advantage of some groups over others.

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Dimensions of stratification…

Class, Status & Power

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Class
 Class: a collection of
people in a society who
occupy a similar position
with regard to some form
of power, privilege or
prestige.

 Marx’s approach was

economic; i.e. groups that
own most of society’s
wealth - especially the
tools & capital necessary
to produce that wealth –
have control over groups
that have little of either.

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 Weber argued that property (money, good &
services) was only one of the determining
factors of class.
 He felt life chances, (or the opportunities each
person has for fulfilling their potential), also
played a part.
 A person’s life chances depended on his/her
position within the stratification system.

 Today, Weber's concept of class is

predominant ???? 14
Status
 Status consists of the
individual's ranked
position within the social
system, and is mainly
determined by the
individual’s
occupational role

 It is a ranked position -
high/middle/low,
depending on how
much the social role is
valued.

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 class and status often overlap but not
always
 Some people may have high income but lack
status
 Some people may have high status but low income

 Factors that influence social status include:

occupation & source of income, race, education,
sex, age, religion, ethnic origin

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Power
 Power –
 the ability to carry out
one’s wishes in spite
of resistance.
 the ability to get other
people to do what you
want them to do, with
or without their consent

 In Weber's view,
stratification based on
power is essentially
political rather than
economic

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Power
 Power can be divided into …
 Personal power: freedom of persons to direct
their lives in the way they choose without much
interference. Personal power often goes with great
wealth.
 Social power: the ability to make decisions that

affect entire communities or even the whole

society. When it is exercised with the consent of
society it is called authority;
 e.g. parents, teachers, the government.

 Social power can also be exercised without

society’s consent; e.g. organized crime.

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 Power is probably the most important element of
stratification because it affects the way that
society’s good & services are distributed

 High status persons usually have little trouble

attaining positions of power

 Persons in positions of power can control

decision making in ways that are favourable to
themselves

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 Is it possible to change one’s position in
any social stratification system?

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Social stratification appears to be unavoidable

 Some activities are more important to society

than others

 Some activities can only be carried out by

people of outstanding ability, or special training
 E.g. Political positions must be filled, economic activities
must be organized, military forces must be commanded

 Those who play such important roles acquire

power & prestige, as well as larger than average
incomes

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 Types of Systems of stratification
 A stratification system is the manner in which members of society are ranked into classes, status
groups and hierarchies of power

Caste system Estate system Class system

(closed system) (open system)

Class, status & Associated with feudal characteristic of

power are ascribed Europe & some Asian modern industrial and
societies post industrial societies

Social mobility is highly Permitted a limited amount

restricted. of social mobility

The social system

is rigid

 The stratification of each society fits somewhere along this ideal continuum

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The open society or class system
 Classes exist but are not institutionalized as in the caste
& estate systems

 Class lines are unclear, but inequality resulting from

class divisions exists

 Status is usually achieved

 Social mobility is possible & occurs frequently

 Power & wealth seem to be the most important elements

of class systems, with prestige playing a less important
role.

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Determining social class
 Social classes are not clear cut groups

 Social scientists disagree about:

 how many social classes are there
 what criteria should be used in determining where
people fit in a class system

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Below: some of the common stratification hierarchies.
The combination of hierarchies –education, occupation & income –
forms an individual’s socioeconomic status.

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Social class & its consequences
 There are differences in life styles associated
with social class, affecting areas such as…
 Family life
 Child rearing
 Education
 Politics
 Health
 Arrest & conviction
 Values

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Social Mobility
 The individuals’ ability to
change social class,
status, life chances and life
styles by moving up or
down the stratification
system of a society

 Vertical mobility
 Upward mobility, e.g. when
a lecturer is promoted to
senior lecturer
 Downward mobility, e.g.
when a manager is demoted
to an ordinary member of a
team.

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 Horizontal mobility
 When there is a change of status but not a
change of class, e.g. a change of jobs or
occupations but at approximately the
same salary.

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What conditions promote social mobility?
 Social change
- In a changing society new ways of achieving
wealth or position keep appearing
 Geographic expansion
 Migration
 Availability of higher education
 New technologies

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Who are the upwardly mobile?
 Studies indicate that the upwardly mobile
individual is likely to be…
 An urban resident
 From a small family
 Influenced by ambitious parents
 Likely to have more education than his/her parents
 One who marries later and tends to marry a partner of higher
status
 One who waits to establish a family and limits the size of family

Caution: room at the top is always limited!

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“Poverty is a tragic side effect of inequality…
Women, children, minorities and elderly tend
to be poor in greater proportions than other
segments of the population. In recent years,
the gap between the rich and the poor has
widened in the United States.”
- Perry & Perry 2000:165

How do you think Malaysia is doing where

poverty and inequality are concerned?

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 SUMMARY
 The idea that all humans are, or should be, equal is a
frequent theme in most societies

 The reality is that people are anything but equal

 People are not born with equal potentials for

learning and achieving, nor are they born into equally
favourable environments

 Nevertheless, equality before the law and equality

of opportunity are strongly cherished democratic
ideals and we should keep striving to come closer to
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them
 END

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