SOCIAL

STRATIFICATION
Kerby Cortez
Sociology

1. What is social stratification?

Meaning:
Social stratification is a particular form of social inequality. All
societies arrange their members in terms of superiority, inferiority and
equality. Stratification is a process of interaction or differentiation whereby
some people come to rank higher than others.
In one word, when individuals and groups are ranked, according to
some commonly accepted basis of valuation in a hierarchy of status levels
based upon the inequality of social positions, social stratification occurs.
Social stratification means division of society into different strata or
layers. It involves a hierarchy of social groups. Members of a particular
layer have a common identity. They have a similar life style.
The Indian Caste system provides an example of stratification
system. The society in which divisions of social classes exist is known as a
stratified society. Modern stratification fundamentally differs from
stratification of primitive societies. Social stratification involves two
phenomena (i) differentiation of individuals or groups on the basis of
possession of certain characteristics whereby some individuals or groups
come to rank higher than others, (ii) the ranking of individuals according
to some basis of evaluation.
Sociologists are concerned not merely with the facts of social
differences but also with their social evaluation.

Definitions:
1. Ogburn and Nimkoff:
The process by which individuals and groups are ranked in more or
less enduring hierarchy of status is known as stratification
2. Lundberg:
A stratified society is one marked by inequality, by differences
among people that are evaluated by them as being lower and higher.
3. Gisbert:
Social stratification is the division of society into permanent groups
of categories linked with each other by the relationship of superiority and
subordinations.

4. Williams:
Social Stratification refers to The ranking of individuals on a scale
of superiority-inferiority-equality, according to some commonly accepted
basis of valuation.
5. Raymond W. Murray:
Social stratification is horizontal division of society into higher and
lower social units.
6. Melvin M Tumin:
Social stratification refers to arrangement of any social group or
society into hierarchy of positions that are unequal with regard to power,
property, social evaluation and psychic gratification.

2. What are the Principles of Social Stratification?

3.
Four basic principles
Social stratification is based on four basic principles:
1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection
of individual differences;
2. Social stratification
generation;

carries

over

from

generation

to

3. Social stratification is universal but variable;

4. Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as
well.

4. Three bases of Social Stratification

In modern Western societies, stratification is broadly organized into three
main layers:

upper class,
middle class
lower class

Each of these classes can be further subdivided into smaller classes e.g
occupational

5. What are the distinctions between open and close systems

with the stratification systems?
In an open class system, people are ranked by achieved status, whereas
in a closed class system, people are ranked by ascribed status.

An open class system is an economic system that has upward mobility, is

achievement based, and allows social relations between the classes. The
hierarchical social status of a person is achieved through their effort. Any
status that is based on family background, ethnicity, gender, and religion,
which is also known as "ascribed status," is less important. In an open
class system, there is no distinct line between the classes, and there is a
wide range of positions within each status level. Core industrial nations
seem to have more of an ideal open class system than less industrialized
countries, in which there are fewer opportunities for economic
advancement.

Compared with industrialized open systems, pre-industrial societies have

mostly been found to be closed class systems where there is low social
mobility. People in such societies may be confined to their ancestral
occupations, and their social status is largely prescribed by status at birth.
A society in which traditional or religious caste systems dominate,
opportunity for social mobility is unlikely.

Achieved status is a position gained based on merit or achievement (used

in an open system). An open system describes a society with mobility
between different social classes. Individuals can move up or down in the
social rankings; this is unlike closed systems, where individuals are set in
one social position for life despite their achievements. Ascribed status is
based on who a person is, not what they can do. In closed class systems,

people tend to be ranked by ascribed status. When ascribed status is used

to determine social position, fixed roles develop, such as those of lord and
serf in feudal Europe. Roles are assigned at birth, and there is little change
over one's lifetime. Social mobility is much more frequent in countries that
use achievement as the basis for status.

6. What are the 4 major systems of social Stratification?

Social stratification occurs when a society has a number of different
layers of people within it who have different statuses. In other words,
social stratification exists if there are different groups of people who have
different levels of such things as power, prestige, and wealth. All societies
have social stratification.
However, different societies base these
groupings or strata on different things. Sociologists generally identify four
different bases for social stratification. These are the different systems of
social stratification.

One system of social stratification is slavery. In this system, there is a

basic two-level stratification. Some people are free while other people are
property.

A second system is a caste system. In this system, groups are given a set
status by society and members of that group have that status follow them
throughout their lives. People do not earn or choose their status. Instead,
it is ascribed to them by society and there is nothing they can do to
change it. Indias caste system is the most widely-known example of a
society that is stratified by caste.

A third system, one that is not really in use any longer, is an estate
system. This system was widely used in Europe in the Middle Ages and
beyond. It divided people into three estates: the nobility, the clergy, and
the common people. This was the system of social stratification that
helped lead to the French Revolution.

Finally, there is the class system of stratification. This is, for the most
part, what we have today. People in our society are stratified based on

how much material wealth they have. We tend to give more power and
prestige to those who have more money or more of other forms of wealth.

These are the four main ways in which societies can be stratified.

References
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociologytextbook/stratification-inequality-and-social-class-in-the-u-s-9/social-mobility-76/open-vsclosed-stratification-systems-451-3311/
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-four-systems-social-stratification-441430
http://www.slideshare.net/mld1935/social-stratification-13708782
http://www.ehow.com/info_8465974_four-basic-principles-social-stratification.html
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/social-stratification-meaning-types-andcharacteristics-sociology-2446-words/6199/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20498226/Basic-Principles-of-Social-Stratification-Sociology11-A-SY-2009-10#scribd
http://www.sparknotes.com/sociology/social-stratification-and-inequality/section1.rhtml