Education and the

process of stratification
Norasiah Jusoh
WHAT IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?
A. It is a system by which a society ranks categories of people in hierarchy.

B. It is somewhat a pattern of inequality that exist among human beings and

affects how people live and sometimes whether they live at all.
C. Social stratification differs around the world and throughout human
history.
4 principles of stratification

1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a function of individual

differences.

2. Social stratification persists over generations.

a. However, most societies allow some social mobility or changes in people’s

position in a system of social stratification.

3. Social stratification is universal but variable.

4. Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs.

4 system of social stratification

SLAVERY FEUDALISM CASTE SYSTEM CLASS SYSTEM

(INDIA)
Caste and class systems
A caste system is social stratification based on ascription or birth.
 a. Caste systems are typical of agrarian societies because the lifelong routines of

 agriculture depend on a rigid sense of duty and discipline.

In a class system, social stratification is based on both birth and individual achievement.
 a. Industrial societies move towards meritocracy, social stratification based on

 personal merit.

 b. In class systems, status consistency, the degree of consistency of a person’s

 social standing across various dimensions of social inequality, is lower than in

 caste systems.
Educational stratification

Children from poor families

Urban schools and colleges
receive education in
are of better standard than
substandard institutions
rural school and colleges.
which are not properly
Differences in the standard
equipped with teachers,
of educational institutions
teaching aids and
ultimately cause inequality.
apparatus.