Pell Grant Eligibility: All HS Grads: 21.9 CU: 9.2

 

I. Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a

    hierarchy. There are four basic principles of stratification:

For most of human existence, no significant social stratification

A. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a function of individual differences. Structures persist, no merely a function of individual talent and effort.

B. Social stratification persists over generations. Social reproduction.

1.   However, most societies allow some social mobility or changes in people’s position in a system of social stratification.

a.Social mobility may be upward, downward, or horizontal.

C. Social stratification is universal but variable. Can be more or less severe, can be based on wealth, prestige or power.

D. Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs.                     

Inequality must be legitimated.

II. Caste and Class Systems.

A. A caste system is social stratification based on ascription or birth.

1.   An illustration: India

3.   Caste systems shape people’s lives in four crucial ways:

a.Caste largely determines occupation.

b.Caste systems generally mandate endogamy.

c.Caste systems limit outgroup social contacts.

d.Powerful cultural beliefs underlie caste systems.

4.   Caste systems are typical of agrarian societies because the lifelong routines of agriculture depend on a rigid sense of duty and discipline.

5. Deep South before Civil Rights movement.

B. In a class system, social stratification is based on both birth and individual achievement. Class distinctions become blurred.

1.   Industrial societies tend to move towards meritocracy, social stratification based on personal merit. Elements of caste persist.

Dimensions of social stratification:

1. Income

2. Wealth - How are these two different?

3. Education

4. Occupational Prestige

a. Distinction between ascriptive and achieved status. Is that distinction really so clear? Nominally meritocratic systems are subject to gaming by the privileged.

2.   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.

G. Stratification persists because it is backed up by an ideology, cultural beliefs that justify social stratification.

1.  Plato and Marx on ideology. Plato explained that every culture considers some type of inequality “fair.” Marx understood this fact, although he was far more critical of inequality than Plato.

2.  Historical patterns of ideology. Ideology changes as a society’s economy and technology change.

          a. Ideology of liberty, meritocracy, equality of opportunity.

           b. Less compassion for the poor: they deserve it.

 

V. Stratification and Interaction

            A.        Sociologists typically treat social stratification as a macro-level issue, but a micro-level analysis is also important. People tend to interact inside their own class, many subtle class-markers abound.

                        1.         Sociologists use the term conspicuous consumption to refer to buying and using products because of the “statement” they make about social position.