What is the concept of social

stratification?
Have you ever wondered why people don't have
the same status in life when they were born?
Why are there rich and poor people in the society?
Have you ever thought this idea wondering what if you were
born rich?
On the other hand, what if you were born poor?
What if the society is some kind of Utopia where everything
is perfect and equal?
 Definition of Social stratification

The way of categorizing a group of individuals based on power,

wealth and prestige is called 'Social Stratification'. Social
stratification is defined as the hierarchical arrangement and
establishment of social categories that may evolve into social
groups together with statuses and their corresponding roles in
the society.
The Pyramid of social classes
 3 parts of SOCIAL CLASSES
The Upper Class
• On the top of the pyramid is the 'Upper Class'. Sociologists
have described that those who are in the upper class are an
elite group of people that are prolific and succesful in their
respective areas.

Examples of these are:

• Investors and Stockholders in well-known very huge companies
• Celebrities
• Politicians
• and other wealthy individuals
 The Middle Class
• Dividing the upper and the lower class is the 'Middle Class'
which mostly consist of professional individuals.
• People from the middle class are able to meet both their needs and wants
without even worrying at their finances because of the salary they have.

Examples of people from the middle class are:

• Lawyers
• Doctors
• Managers
• Owners of small businesess
• Executives who work in the corporate world
 The Lower Class

Last but not the least, the lowest part of the pyramid is where the
'Lower Class' is situated These are the skilled and the unskilled
artisan, farm employees and underemployed and indigent families.
Because of the given status in life, Those people lack in revenue or
income and educational or background. Without proper education
some of them are jobless or have the difficulty to find a job in order to
make ends meet. They also lack support network that could lift them
up.
 How did the social stratification system started?
Remember the lesson about the earliest societies? people shared a
common social standing; There was no social class back then. As
societies evolved and became more complex, it began to elevate
some members of society through land acquisition and social status
or social entitlement. In the earliest civilizations, There were kings
and priests as the upper class, merchants and artisan as the middle
class, and slaves at the lower class.
 The Four Characteristics Of Social Stratification

• Universal but variable - Stratification is 'universal but variable' because it shows up in

every society in the world. But how it exactly looks like, how it divides and categorizes
people, and what the advantages and disavantages are that come with that division - varying
from society to society.
• Not a matter of individual difference - People are obviously different from each other,
so we might assume that stratification is just a kind of natural outcome of differences, but in
reality, it is not. We know we can see the effects of social ,ratification on people regardless of
their personal choices or traits. For example, children of wealthy families are more likely to live
longer and be healthier, to attend college, and to excel in school as compared to children born
into poverty. Moreover, , are more likely to be wealthy themselves when they grow up.
• Persists across generation -persists across generations. Stratification serves to
categorise and rank members of society across generations, resulting in different life
chances. Yet generally, society allows some degree of social mobility, or changes in the
position within the social hierarchy. People sometimes move upward or downward in
social class, which is the basic concept of social mobility.

• .A social beliefs - A society's cultural beliefs tell us how to categorize people, and
They define inequalities of a stratification system as being norm!, or even fair. If people
don't believe that the system is right, it won't last. Beliefs are what make systems of
social stratification work and it is through these beliefs about social stratification that
inform what it means to deserve wealth, success, or power.
Forms of Stratification System
 Forms of Stratification System

The Close System of Stratification

India's Caste System is probably one of the best known forms of close system of
stratification. While it is a social system of decreasing importance, it still holds in parts
of rural India, and has a strong legacy across the country. The traditional caste
system contains four large divisions call Vamas. It consists of Brahmin, or priests and
academics in their native language, as placed at the top of the hierarchy; followed by
Khutriya or the rulers (kings), warriors, and administrators; then Valshya or
merchants and landowners; and last is the Shudra or the commoners, peasants and
semi. The system requires endogamy - a marriage within your own caste category.
 The Open System of Stratification.

'Class System'
is one of the best examples of open system stratification and is not based solely on
ascribed birth alone. Instead, it combines ascribed status and pesonal achievement or
achieved status in a way that allows some social mobility. Status are not the same. We
get different statuses in different ways and chances. Some are ascribed statuses which
are assigned or given by the society or group based on some fixed category, without
regard to a person's performance. Examples of ascribed status are sex, family
background, race, and ethnic heritage or wealth.
Social Stratifications in Social
Perspectives
 Functionalism

At the beginning, we may think of social stratification merely only creating social inequality
among groups of people. In some aspects of wealth, prestige and power of social groups,
is indeed functional in the society according to the functionalist theory. What is
Functionalist theory? The Functionalist theory is the doctrine that what makes something a
thought, desire, pain (or any other type of mental state) depends not on its internal
constitution, but solely on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system of which it
is a part of.
• Key points on functionalism.
- Functionalism's four main purposes: planning and directing society, meeting social
needs, maintaining law and order, and managing international relations. According to
functionalism, all aspects of society serve a purpose
 Conflict Theory

• This sociological perspective is the opposite of the latter. Karl Marx viewed social
stratification as creation of inequality between the rich and poor, or the powerful
versus the powerless. Marx argued that proletariats were oppressed by the
money-hungry bourgeois.

Example of a Conflict Theory:

-The employers wish to pay as little as possible for the employees
labor, while the employees wish to maximize their wages.
 Symbolic Interactionalism.
• Symbolic interactionism views social stratification on a micro level where
individuals affect others whom they have interacted because of their social class
status. In most societies, people can only interact only to those with the same
social class status.

Another Example of Symbolic Interactionalism:

-Low standardized test scores or poor performance in a particular class often lead to a
student who is labeled as a low achiever. Such labels are difficult to “shake off,” which can
create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This is the End of the report of Group 3.
Thank you everybody for listening.