Society

Society is a large grouping that

shares the same territory and is
subject to the same political
authority dominant cultural
expectations
 Types of Societies
• Pre-Industrial
– Hunters and Gather
– Pastoral
– Horticulture
– Agriculture
– Fiefdom
 Types of Societies
• Industrial
• Post-Industrial
Social Structure in the Macro
Level Perspective

• Social structure is a stable pattern of

social relationships that exist within a
particular group or society
• Structure is provided by status and
roles, groups, and social institutions
Social Structure in the Macro
Level Perspective
• social structure creates boundaries
that define which persons or groups
will be the insiders and which will be
the outsiders
• social marginality is the state of
being part insiders in part outsider in
the social structure
Social Structure in the Macro
Level Perspective

• social marginality results in

stigmatization
• a stigma is any physical or social
attribute or sign that shows a person's
social identity that disqualifies that
person from full social acceptance
 Components of Social Structure:
Status
• A status is a socially defines position in a
group or society characterized by certain
expectations rights and duties
• Ascribed status is a social position
conferred at birth or received involuntarily
later in life
• Achieved status is a social position in
person assumes involuntarily as a result of
personal choice merit or direct effort
What is Social Stratification?
• For tens of thousands of years, humans lived
in small hunting and gathering societies.
These bands of people show little signs of
inequality. As societies became more
complex, major changes came about, these
changes elevated certain categories of the
population by giving them more power,
money, and prestige.
• Social Stratification- a system by which a
society ranks categories of people in a
hierarchy.
• 1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a
reflection of individual differences.
• Children born into wealthy families are more likely than
children born in poverty to experience good healthy,
achieve academically, succeed in life’s work and live a
long life.
• 2. Social stratification persists over generations.
• To see stratification as a trait of society rather than one of
individuals, we need to only look at how inequality persists
along generations. In all societies, parents pass their
social position on to their children.
• 3. Social stratification is universal but variable.
• In some societies, inequality is mostly a matter of
prestige; in others, wealth or power is the key
dimension of difference. More importantly some
societies display more inequality than others.
• 4. Social stratification involves not just inequality
but beliefs.
• Any system of inequality gives some people more
than others and the society also defines the
arrangements as fair.
 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• Social stratification:

 Refers to persistent patterns of social

inequality in a society

 Is perpetuated by the way wealth, power,

and prestige are distributed and passed
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on from one generation to the next
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 Exists in all societies*

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 FEATURES OF SOCIAL
HIERARCHIES
• Status: Rank or position in a social
hierarchy

• Statuses may be:

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i. Ascribed (assigned at birth), or

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ii. Achieved (earned by performance)*

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 TYPES OF STRATIFICATION
SYSTEMS
1. Open stratification system:
 Stratification system in which merit rather than
inheritance (ascribed characteristics) determines
social rank
 Allows for social change
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• Is reflected in a meritocracy:
 Positions are achieved, not ascribed
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2011 by Nelson Education Ltd

 Characterized by equal opportunity and high

social mobility (movement up or down a social
hierarchy)*
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 TYPES OF STRATIFICATION
SYSTEMS
2. Closed stratification system
 Stratification system in which inheritance rather
than merit determines social rank
 Little social change possible

• Reflected in a caste system:

 Positions are ascribed, not achieved
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 Characterized by little social mobility

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2011 by Nelson Education Ltd

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 Kin, clan, tribe, ethnicity
• Many small-scale societies are made up of groups that take kinship,
i.e. marriage, descent and filiation as the primary principles of
membership.
• Descent groups, i.e. groups that define their membership through
descent from a common ancestor are very common in small-scale
societies. They can be patrilineal, matrilineal, or consanguineal, i.e.
descent is traced from either mother or father.
• A descent group formed from unilineal descent, and to which a
common ancestor can be traced is called a lineage.
• A descent group formed through unilineal descent, and to which a
common ancestor cannot be exactly traced, is called a clan.
• A tribe is a social division in a traditional society consisting of families
or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties,
with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized
leader.
• An Ethnic group is a community or population made up of people who
share a common cultural background or descent.
• Kinship, clan, tribe, ethnic groups etc
 Caste and Class Systems
• A Caste System- is a social system based
on ascription, or birth.
• A pure caste system is closed because birth
alone determines one’s destiny, with little or
no opportunity for social mobility based on
effort.
 Caste

• Feature of the South Asian subcontinent.

• Thought to have arisen through the transformation of ‘tribes’
in the transition to agricultural revolution.
• Elements of caste appear to have existed in the Harappan
civilization, c. 3,000 BC
• A major feature of caste is endogamy, i.e. the requirement
that people marry within their own caste, not outside it.
• Also religious and cosmological ranking associated with
caste, found in major Hindu scriptures: earliest were the
division of society into 4 varnas (colours): Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.
• 2nd century AD, a fifth category, the ati-Shudras, or
untouchables was added.
• Untouchability was outlawed by the Indian constitution, 1951.
• First, traditional caste groups have specific occupations,
so generations of a family perform the same type of
work.
• Second, maintaining a rigid social hierarchy depends on
people marrying within their own categories; “mixed”
marriages would blur the ranking of children.
• Endogamy- marriage between people of the same social
category.
• Third, caste norms guide people to stay in the company
of “their own kind.”
• Fourth, caste systems rest on powerful cultural beliefs.
• Caste systems exist in agrarian societies
because life long routines of agriculture
depend on a rigid sense of duty and
discipline.
 The Class System
• Class System- social stratification based on both birth
and individual achievement.
• The class system categorizes people according to their
color, sex, or social background comes to be seen as
wrong in industrial and post-industrial societies, and all
people gain political rights and roughly equal standing
before the law.
• Meritocracy- social stratification based on personal merit.
• People in industrial societies develop a broad range of
capabilities, stratification is based on “merit,” which is the
job one does and how well one does it.
 CLASS AND CLASS
STRUCTURE
• Class: Position in an economic hierarchy
occupied by individuals or families with similar
access to, or control over, material resources
(e.g., working class, professional class)

• Class structure: Relatively permanent economic

hierarchy comprising different social classes
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• Socioeconomic status: Person’s general status
2011 by Nelson Education Ltd

within an economic hierarchy, based on income,

education, and occupation*

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 Nations and Nationalism
• Shared heritage and historical experience the basis of a state.
• Common language, shared origin, unique customs are features
that define a sense of nationhood.
• Nationalism can often arise as a result of an ethnic movement.
• 19th century nationalisms, formed through defining themselves
as ‘one people, one language, one culture.’
• Difference between territorial nationalism versus a ‘blood’
nationalism, e.g. in Quebec.
• Monocultural nationalisms are increasingly challenged by
transnational phenomena and groups, as increasing quantities
of information, cultural knowledge and people cross ‘national’
boundaries.
 • Social Mobility- change in one’s
position in the social hierarchy.
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2011 by Nelson Education Ltd

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 What is Social Mobility
• Social mobility is defined as movement
from one class/status position to another
• There are 2 types:
Intra- generational – movement within one
generation e.g. a person moves from one
social class to another in the course of their
life time
Inter generational – movement between
generations e.g. a person’s father was a
Liverpool docker and he is a teacher
 What is Social Mobility?
Definition: Movement from one class —or more usually
status group—to another
 Horizontal Mobility
 Movement from one position to another within
the same social level
 Ex: Changing jobs without altering occupational status
 Moving between social groups having the same social
status.
 Vertical Mobility
 Movement from one social level to a higher one
(upward mobility) or a lower one (downward
mobility)
Ex: Changing Jobs or Marrying

Cultural diffusion from one

social level to another

 Adoption by one economic

class of the current fashions
or formerly current in a higher
class
 Intergenerational Mobility
 Movement within or between social classes and
occupations, the change occurring from one
generation to the next

Ex: Father to Son

Ex: Mother to Daughter
Can be horizontal or vertical
 OCCUPATIONAL
MOBILITY AND STATUS
ATTAINMENT
• Occupational mobility: Moving up and down
occupational and income ladders

• Intragenerational occupational mobility: Mobility

within an individual’s lifetime

• Intergenerational occupational mobility: Process

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of reaching occupation location higher or lower

© than location held by parents
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• Occupational status attainment: Main determinant

of status of a person’s current job is status of first
job (dependent on educational attainment)*
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