SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION.

THEORIES AND
PERSPECTIVES.

Social structure

The elements of social structure are as follows: norms, status, role,

group and institution.

Social structure can be defined as the interweaving of people’s

interactions and relationships in recurrent and stable patterns. Our life is
organized and regular thanks to social structure. Usually we follow a routine in
certain places (e.g. home, or workplace) meeting the same people. We
remember past situations and follow routines. We feel that social life is routine
and repetitive. People repeat their individual behaviors many times which
stabilizes social relationships. Structures change in the course of time as the
people who create them change their behavior. Organized social life is always
undergoing change.
Institutions provide the framework for social life
“An institution is an organized system of social relationships which embodies
certain common values and procedures and meets certain basic needs of the
society.” In other words it is an organized cluster of folkways and mores. The
most important institutions are as follows: family life, religion, government,
education, and an organization of economic activities. Institutions are formal
and compelling norms of a society. An institution includes a set of standardized
patterns of behavior, a set of mores, attitudes, and values, traditions, rituals and
ceremonies.

Status is a position in a social structure. Thanks to statuses we are able to

decide how to behave in contacts with other people and decide where we “fit.”
Examples of statuses are student, professor, secretary, priest, male, child,
customer, or mother. In contacts with other people we act accordingly to their
statuses. Therefore, we have to decide what are the statuses of people with
which we interact. We identify, select among appropriate statuses and allow
other people to assume their statuses in relation to us. The process demands
constant interpretation, assessment and adjustment. We monitor other people in
terms of statuses and act accordingly. E.g. meeting a person with a “higher”
status then ours (our boss) we try to be nice or even ingratiate ourselves with the
person to achieve our aims.

Achieved and ascribed status

Achieved statuses are earned, whereas ascribed ones are achieved
with no effort on our part (sex, race, or nationality). Some statuses give us more
prestige than others. High rank statuses are connected with the requirements one
has to meet to earn those statuses, (e.g. beauty, education, skill, or wealth). The
stratification of statuses is partially based on tradition. People value certain
characteristics more than others, (e.g. a particular sex, or race). High ascribed
status can facilitate earning high achieved status. Children born in middle-class
families will probably achieve more in life than children from poor families.

Not everybody can achieve the status he or she wants. Our sex, age, and
social affiliations limit our choice. Children are trained for statuses, their
attitudes and habits are formed from the day they are born. Such characteristics
as sex, race, and social background are conferred by society on people. We
have no influence over them. For this reason they are called ascribed statuses.
However, people differ in terms of abilities and talents. As a result, they are able
to secure positions through choice and competition. Such positions are called
ascribed statuses. Society allows people to fight for statuses but on the other
hand it confers them on people. Therefore, a person of humble origin can aspire
to have a high status but it will be difficult for such a person to go up in the
world because of his or her origin.
Society allocates some statuses to people on the basis of accomplishment.
Often they are reserved as rewards for conformity to foster socially acceptable
behavior.

Social stratification can be based on occupation, race, ethnicity, sex,

age. The most important determinants are money, prestige and power

The most popular social stratification model is presented below

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAznQfReDQw

The three primary classes in the developed world are the upper, middle
and working class. In developed countries, the majority of the population
belongs to the middle class. This is the result of the growing demand of the
economies of these countries for qualified labor (white collars). The
development of bureaucracy creates a demand for representatives of the
administrative and intellectual professions and managers. Economic
development also requires a significant number of lawyers, accountants, IT
specialists and financiers. The middle class is internally diverse and its
boundaries are fluid. We can therefore speak of an internal stratification of the
middle class. At the top of the middle class are executives and administrators,
and representatives of some professions closed to undesirable individuals (e.g.
doctors). On the other hand, many white-collar workers earn less than highly
skilled workers.
The most prestigious professions in developed countries are: doctor,
academic teacher and lawyer. The least prestigious jobs are waiter, salesman and
porter. Professions of medium prestige include, for example, librarian,
policeman or secretary. It is also unknown how many social classes we can
distinguish in developed societies. Depending on the researcher, the number of
classes varies between three and six.
More and more often it is noticed that the social position of a person is
determined not so much by his profession and income as by lifestyle and
consumption. We show who we are through consumption. Consuming specific
goods means belonging to a specific social group. This also applies to lifestyle.
Tourist trips, ways of spending free time, taking care of the appearance, ways of
dressing determine our social position.
Sociology also uses the term "underclass", which we use to denote people
living on the margins of society. These include the unemployed, homeless and
living off part-time jobs. The "underclass" most often includes representatives of
unprivileged minority groups, e.g. African Americans in the United States and
immigrants of color in the European Union countries. It is now proposed to
introduce the term precariat introduced by Guy Standing, which includes all
people in a difficult financial situation, irrespective of whether they are working
or not. The precariat also includes low-paid workers.

Social mobility

Social mobility means the movement of individuals and groups up or

down the social ladder (vertical mobility). We also distinguish between
horizontal mobility (geographical displacement), intra-generation mobility (the
individual's position in professional life) and intergenerational mobility (social
advancement of children in relation to their ancestors). The wide possibilities of
vertical mobility indicate the openness of society. Theoretically, Western
democracies are meritocracies, i.e. they enable social advancement for talented
individuals from the lower social classes.

Theoretical approaches to social structure and stratification.

1. The conflicting approach to stratification assumes that capitalists exploit
workers who occupy low places in the social hierarchy. The system is unfair and
the rich support their children, which results in perpetuating social divisions into
the rich and the poor.
2. The functionalist approach assumes that social inequalities are fair because
we have different abilities and ambitions. Society awards high status to the
talented and hard-working (reward for work contribution). The concept of
meritocracy human position depends on competence, but there is no reliable
selection method. (selection in Poland and the USA). School favors the rich.
3. Technocratic concept, managers take real power. However, it is the owners of
the capital who rent them out.