SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

MA FINAL

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INTRODUCTION
• Titanic – the iconic ship that came to a very tragic end. It
collided with an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912. The tragic
incidence of Titanic reminds us a huge loss of more than 1,600
lives when it sank. Looking back at this terrible accident with a
sociological eye, we note that some categories of passengers
had much better chances of survival than others.
• Keeping in view that era’s traditional ideas about gender,
women and children were allowed to board the lifeboats first,
with the result that 80 % of the people who died were men.
• Class, too, was at work. More than 60 % of people holding first-
class tickets were saved because they were on the upper
decks, where warnings were sounded first and lifeboats were
accessible. Only 36 % of the second-class passengers
survived, and of the third-class passengers on the lower decks,
only 24% escaped drowning. The fate of the passengers on the
Titanic dramatically illustrates how social inequality affects the
way people live (Macionis, 2012)

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THE MEANING OF STRATIFICATION

• Strata; the plural of stratum means layers of

rock, or sometimes soil.
• In geology the different layers found in rock,
called stratification. The rocks with different
layers of color that look like someone poured
slightly different-colored layers on top of one
another. Each layer is different from the other
one.

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THE MEANING OF STRATIFICATION
• Society’s layers are made of people, and society’s
resources are distributed unevenly throughout the layers.
• The people who have more resources represent the top
layer of the social structure of stratification.
• Other groups of people, with progressively fewer and fewer
resources, represent the lower layers of our society.
• Social stratification is the division of society into categories,
ranks, or classes.
• These divisions lead to social inequality—the unequal
sharing of resources and social rewards.
• Throughout history societies have used some system of
classification such as kings and slaves, lords and serfs, rich
and poor, landlords and labourers, upper and lower castes
etc.

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DEFINING SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

•Social stratification is the hierarchical

arrangement of large social groups based
on their control over basic
resources(Feagin and Feagin, 2008).
•Social Stratification is a system by which
a society ranks categories of people in a
hierarchy (John J. Macionis,2012)

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 DEFINING SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

•Social stratification refers to persistent

patterns of social inequality in a society
•Social stratification is defined as a system
by which society ranks categories of people
in a hierarchy.
•Social stratification refers to arrangements
of any social group or society into a
hierarchy of positions that are unequal with
regard to power, property, social evaluation,
and/or social gratification(Malvin M. Tumin)

People are divided into ranked categories

There is an unequal distribution of desired resources, property, well-paying jobs

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DETERMINANTS OF SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION
• Stratification is usually based on;
• Power: the ability to impose one’s will on others
• Prestige: the respect given by others
• Property: forms of wealth (economic resources)
• Wealth: the value of economic assets
• Occupation: High and low class professions
• Education: level and standard of education
attained.
• Caste: Positions are ascribed, not achieved
• Class: Positions based on individual achievement

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 FUNCTIONS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

• According to the sociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert

Moore (1945), inequality is not only unavoidable but also
necessary for the smooth functioning of society.
1.All societies have important tasks that must be
accomplished and certain positions that must be filled.
2. Some positions are more important for the survival of
society than others.
3. The most important positions must be filled by the most
qualified people.
4. The positions that are the most important for society and
that require talent, extensive training, or both must be the
most highly rewarded.

The Davis–Moore thesis assumes that social stratification results in meritocracy—a

hierarchy in which all positions are rewarded based on people’s ability and
credentials.

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 FUNCTIONS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

• Division of people is beneficial for society.

Some jobs are easy and everyone can do it
(changing oil); some jobs are difficult and demand
talents and extensive training (doctor).
• So the persons who are engaged in such type of
jobs get more benefits and rewards for their
contributions.
• Stratification leads to more productive society.
Social Stratification provides motivation for different
positions, particularly those which carry higher
statuses and rewards. By distributing resources
unequally, society motivates people to work harder
and better in order to achieve a higher status.

people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions ( doctor, engineer)

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CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

• The rankings apply to social categories of people

who share a common characteristic without
necessarily interacting or identifying with one
another. For example, wealthy people spend their
lives differently from the underprivileged. Not all
the wealthy are known to each other even living
in the same society.
• Individuals from a particular category can
change their rank (lower to middle);
• The category continues to exist even if individuals
move out of it and enter into another category.

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

• People's life experiences and (life chances)

opportunities depend heavily on how their
social category is ranked. There is a very clear
difference between those who belong to upper-
middle class and those from lower class who
often work in factories or manual labor. It is
difficult or impossible from lower class to
achieve/ get what they want?
• Social stratification is universal but variable. It
exists everywhere but in different ways, e.g;
caste system in India differs from the
stratification

Opportunities to provide material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life
experience

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CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

• The ranks of different social categories tend to

change very slowly over time. In the
industrialized societies, for example, only
recently have women as a whole begun to
achieve equality with men.
• Social stratification is a trait of society, not
simply a reflection of individual differences.

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CASTE SYSTEM
•A caste system is a system of social
inequality in which people’s status is
permanently determined at birth based on
their parents’ ascribed characteristics.
•Permanent and ascribed status
determined at birth.
•Close system where individuals live out
their lives in the rigid categories assigned
to them, without the possibility of change
for the better or worse.

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CASTE SYSTEM

• Endogamy, people are allowed to

marry only within their own group.
• Limited Choice of Occupation
•Cultural beliefs and values sustain caste
systems. Hinduism reinforced the caste
system by teaching that people should
accept their fate in life and work hard as a
moral duty.

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 Indian Caste System:

• Philip Oldenburg
• A caste (jati in Sanskrit) is a social class to
which a person belongs at birth and which is
ranked against other castes, typically on a
continuum of perceived purity and pollution.
• Divided into four (4) Castes (Varna)
1. BRAHMAN: Priests / earthly gods (Head)
2. KASHATRIYA: Warriors (Arms)
3. VAISHYA: Farmers and Merchants (Belly)
4. SHUDRA: Labourers/ servants of other
castes (Foot )

Caste guides everyday life by keeping people in the company of “their own kind”.
Norms reinforce this practice by teaching, for example, that a “purer” person of a
higher caste is “polluted” by contact with someone of lower standing.

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Class System

• Class is a group of people with similar level of wealth,

influence and status.
• The class system is a type of stratification based on the
ownership and control of resources and on the type of
work people do.
• The status is achieved than ascribed. Though
individuals born in wealthy families and influential
families have better access to resources, and
opportunities.
• It is an open system with increased social mobility.
may The individuals become members of a class other
than that of their parents

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CLASS SYSTEM

•Class is Economic Group. A class is

group of people who have similar level of
wealth and income
•Feelings: Equality, Inferiority, Superiority
•Exogamy- the custom of marrying
outside a community, clan, or tribe .
compatibility is more important ( Neo-
local marriages)

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COMPARISON
Class CASTE

1. Social ranking based 1. Caste is acquired by birth

primarily on economic that determine their way of
position . Class is not life, opportunities, and social
inherited, but acquired customs.
through ability. 2. Closed System; It is not
2. Open System;It is possible for possible to leave the caste
individual to change his class 3. Impossible for a person to
3. Marriage outside class is marry out of caste without
allowed without being social annoyance
thrown out of the society 4. Caste imposes many
4. There is no restriction on restrictions on its members.
members in a class

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UPPER CLASS

• These are elite families with great wealth who dominate

the economic system of every society.
• There is a concept of ‘old money’ those with vast
inherited wealth and ‘new money’ a group of people
who recently have achieved success and wealth.
• They are few and far between in any society, and
makes about 1% of the whole population.
• They have their own norms which are distinct from the
other groups.
• They enjoy all luxuries of life.
• The upper class of Pakistan has landlords,
politicians, and business tycoons.

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MIDDLE CLASS

• The members of the middle class earn their

money by working (small business owners) or
doing professional jobs( as managers, doctors,
lawyers, professors, and teachers).
• Some of the individuals are highly educated
professional people with high incomes, such as
doctors, lawyers, while some may be less
educated people with lower incomes, such as
small business owners, and clerks.

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 MIDDLE CLASS

• They earn enough to live well than lower class,

but are financially weaker than upper class.
• Holding a relatively secure job is the single
most important characteristic of the M-class.
• Social mobility is found highest in this class.
• This class is the best example of DEFERRED
GRATIFICATION PATTERN , which means,
postponing immediate enjoyment in order to
gain a big goal!

Most parents ignore their needs and spend their saved money for their children’s
college fee.

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LOWER CLASS

•The members of lower class have a low

educational level, are not skilled, and
work at minimum-wage jobs.(factory
workers, daily wagers, seasonal
laborers, etc)
•They do not have enough earning to
support themselves, some may depend
on public assistance (social safety nets)
or lend money from others for their
survival.

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 LOWER CLASS

•Social mobility is the lowest in them as

they are engaged in manual labor that
is underpaid so they have no
opportunity for career advancement.
•Rate of deviance is high in them.
•Most of the Members of this class are
living below poverty line. They lack the
means to meet their basic needs for
food, clothing, and shelter

The term social mobility refers to the movement of individuals and groups between
different socio -economic positions.
Vertical mobility means movement up or down.

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