SOCIAL

STRATIFICATION
What does it mean?What is its
nature?

• it refers to the ranking of individuals and

groups in society.
• it is found in all human groups
• it contains strata that share unequally in the
distribution of societal rewards
• tends to be transmitted from one generation to
another
• ex. family
• may be viewed as a social structure, social
process, or a social problem
as a social structure:

• is viewed as the differentiation of statuses and

social roles into ranked orders
• “institutionalized inequality”
as a social process:

• viewed as splitting up of society into social

categories that develop into social groups
cooperating , competing, conflicting- for the
status quo or social change
as a social problem:

• involves bitter feelings of discontent and of

strong demands for equality or “ social justice”
Basic concepts of inequality

• inequality ( according to stratification theorists)

refers to the situation in which economic goods
in society are unevenly distributed among the
different groups or categories of people
The following will help one understand
the macro concept of social
stratification

• Attributions- it assigns to people different

attributes as a result of differences. people are
treated differently due to their presumed ethnic
characteristics, or meanings are associated with
their names
• Stereotype- assumption of person to belong to
a category based on certain characteristics. it
develops because people generalize
observations into patterns that define a whole
category. this may not necessarily be accurate
and it is harmful as it creates unfair treatment of
people.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy- people tending to act
according to expectations. it is the consequence
of perceptions and attendant actions.
• Social Comparisons- the need for people to
compare themselves to others to establish for
themselves the kind of persons they are.
• A fair world- beliefs in justice or fair
distribution of rewards. people are more
concerned with equity rather than equality.
• Just-world hypothesis- people like to believe
that there's justice, that people get what they
deserve.
• this leads people to engage in what is called “
blaming the victim”
Social Stratification Systems
• in modern parlance, social stratification is
different from social differentiation:

Differentiation refers to how things or people

can be distinguished from one another. People
may be differentiated on the basis of the colors
of their skin, hair,etc.
Stratification refers to the ranking of things or
people; in closed strat. people can't change their
ranking;in open strat. people can change their
ranking
Classes in other Countries
people who have made it- the elite group of
wealthy members i.e. old rich, celebrity rich,
anonymous rich
people who are doing well-consists of
corporation officers and professional people;they
live in comfortable homes, belong to country clubs,
occasionally takes vacation abroad, and sends their
children to prestigious large universities or private
college
people who have achieved the middle -class
dream- people here enjoy the “good life” but lack
many of the luxuries of those in the higher level; the
suburbanites living in a three bedroom homes with
a family-tv room
people who have comfortable life- individuals who
live a “comfortable existence” in the less fashionable
suburbans
people who are just getting by- husband and wife are
typically employed,rents an apartment or owns a small
home but simply “ getting by” places strain on their
financial resources
people who are having a difficult time-
unemployment often stalks people on this level but
they manage to 'scrape by'.single parent families fall in
this category.they are not on welfare
people who are poor- the “underclass”, people who
squat on slum areas and live much, much below
subsistence level
Fischer's classification
the upper class
the upper-middle class
the lower-middle class
the working class
the lower class
SOCIAL MOBILITY
What's social mobility?

• the movement of an individual or a group

within a stratification system that changes status
within society
2 things upon which mobility in
society depends

rules governing how people gain or keep their

positions may make mobility difficult or easy
whatever the rules, mobility can be influenced by
structural changes in society