College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

Social Stratification

Refers to the hierarchal arrangement of people in society.

It is the ranking of individuals and groups into social layers which represents structured inequality in
the allocation of rewards, privilege, and resources.
Individuals, by virtue of their roles or group memberships, are either advantaged or disadvantaged.
Social arrangements are not neutral, but serve and promote the goals and interests of some people
more than those of other people.
Social inequalities have consequences on individuals lives: It affects income, lifestyle, health, and
even the number of years one can be expected to live.

Patterns of Social Stratification

Social differentiation
o The process in which a society becomes increasingly specialized over time.
o Human beings discovered that division of functions and labor contributed to greater social
efficiency.
o People perform different tasks and as a result they occupy different statuses.
o Although statuses that make up a social structure may be differentiated, they need not be
ranked with respect to one another.
o Social differentiation creates a necessary condition for social ranking, but it does not create
the ranking itself.

Open and Closed systems

Open systems
o
o
o

A stratification system where people can acquire social mobility and statuses with relative
ease.
Open systems are similar to achieved status. In these systems, individuals or groups has the
means to reorganize the social arrangement based on the weight allocated on factors such
as wealth, prestige, and power.
Open systems often involve stratifications based on social class.

Closed systems
o
o
o

A stratification system where people have great difficulty in changing their status.
Closed system are similar to ascribed status. Social arrangements are layered based on
ascriptions on race, gender, and age.
A somewhat similar distinction is conveyed by the concepts of achieved and ascribed status.

Examples:
The Indian caste system
Life was ordered in terms of castes, in which people inherited their social status by birth from their
parents and could not change it in the course of their lives.
Though the concept of open and closed systems are clear theoretically,this systems mix in practical
states.
US stratification, race, and the American Dream

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

Though the United States consider their social stratification system as based on the weights of
achievements and merits one acquire socially, elements of racial inequality and discrimination show
streaks of the caste system.

Dimensions of Stratification
Traditional concepts on social stratification was derived from classical sociologists Karl Marx and
Max Weber.
Marx on Stratification
Marx believed that the key to social stratification in capitalist societies is the division between those
who own and control the crucial means of production -- the oppressing capitalist class or the
bourgeoisie and those who have only their labor to sell, the workers or the proletariat.
For Marx, these groups have conflicting interests which provide the foundation for stratification in
capitalist nations. Marx views that social stratification consists of a single economic dimension.
Weber on Stratification
Weber saw Marxs analysis of class based on economic differences as an oversimplified image of
stratification. He contended that other dimensions exist within society that are independent of
class.
o
o
o
o

He identified 3 components for social stratification:

Class (economic standing)
Status groups (prestige)
Party (power)

Weber on Class, Status, and Party

Class

A group division based on economic standing. This dimension is primarily concerned with wealth
and income.
Contrary to Marxs view that class is based on the ownership of the means of production, Weber
views that ones class may depend on his / her market situation.

Status Groups
Social stratification, can also occur on what Weber calls as status groups. Status groups are
communities that operates through the use of social power.
This social power, often emphasized by an individuals level of prestige and honor is what the
holder uses to establish an objective position within a status group.
Since status groups recognizes social power more than economic power, a status group can be
composed of individuals from different economic backgrounds.
Status groups establish legitimacy not only by the virtue of social power, but also by manifesting
the symbolic veil of honor by taking up a distinctive lifestyle.
e.g. Thortein Veblens conspicuous consumption and conspicuous waste -- a process which
primary function is to reveal ones social ranking.
Parties

Parties are formed to attain a common goal, whether personal or for a cause, and it is fully
functional in societies with rigid bureaucratic systems. Weber argued that parties do not aim to
transform the existing structure, but rather to influence the existing domain.

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

Social Stratification in the Philippines

Social Stratification based on Marxist Paradigm
The Philippines is composed of different social classes. These social classes are stratified based on the
ownership of the means of production
(75 %) Peasants/ Farm Workers
Since the Philippines is an agricultural country, its economic demography is primarily composed of
peasants working in rural areas.
They are the ones who produce farm products for consumption and raw materials for export.
The number of peasants and farm workers in the Philippines is an indicator that its economic
structure is still based on agriculture, thus feudal relations on production still exist on the country.
(15%) Workers
Though majority of its economic demography is composed by peasantry, the next big segment on the
social ladder are comprised by the workers. The lack of basic industries within the country and its
agricultural geography maintains the number of workers by roughly 15%.
(8%) Petty Bourgeoisie
This segment is composed of middle class workers which labor power is highly specialized and they
use their skills and crafts as source of daily subsistence.
The petty bourgeoisie, compared with the working - class are relatively highly familiar and are
working within specialized systems and institutions within the society.
(1%) National Bourgeoisie
Composed of groups that command a few industrial resources which are small-scaled. Their social
class main interest is national industrialization, but this is due to the fact that national
industrialization will rearrange the social hierarchy which will place them on top of the societys
economic sphere.
(1%) Land lords / Financial Capitalists
This group is the primary owners of the means of production in the Philippines. They are mostly
composed of landlords that acquired their holdings based on ascription, and financial capitalists
that invest financial capital on the market. They are the ones who benefit with the social order and
use they use both the repressive and ideological state apparatuses to maintain their position within
the society.
Stratification in the Philippines using Pierre Bourdieus concept of capital

Another way to look at social stratification in the Philippines is by using the typology of French
sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the different species of capital.

Stratification in the Philippines using Pierre Bourdieus concept of capital

Species of Capital
o
o
o
o

Economic Capital
Cultural Capital
Social Capital
Symbolic Capital

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

The amount or weight of capital acquired by an agent raises an individuals/ groups stake in a
competitive field (social spaces of conflict and competition).

Market Segmentation in the Philippines

Market segmentation is basically (partly) influenced by the Weberian paradigm. Compared to the
Marxian paradigm that categorizes social class based on ownership of the means of production, this
typology states that different social classes should be distinguished based on their market situation,
lifestyles, occupational groupings and consumption patterns.

Market Segmentation in the Philippines

Class A and B (upper, middle class)
Composed of people with high-income, who are affluent, and which lifestyles embody the elite in
society. These classes are considered as trend setters, and social classes underneath it mostly
imitate their consumption patterns.
Class C (1 and 2)
Composed of people who are considered to be the lower middle class and skilled working class.
Class D (Working Class)
Consumer class considered to patronize the mass culture. They are highly familiar with
commodities which are mass produced or commodities which are of low cultural value. This is due
to the fact that their cultural needs are embedded on survivability.
Class E
Composed of people with the lowest salary grade, consumption patterns almost identical with Class
D.

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

Global Stratification

One of the clearest measurements of development of countries used is the United Nations Human
Development Index. These include:
o
o
o

Life expectancy
Literacy
GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

United Nations Human Development Index (2011)

Source: Hard Truths and Reality on the Ground.2011.http://www.tremeritus.com/2011/01/19/hard-truths-and-the-reality-on-theground/

Key Sociological Perspectives on Global Stratification

Functionalist Perspective
All aspects of society are integral to the continued health and viability of the whole. In this matter,
this perspective may ask, what is the function and purpose of inequality in the global context?
Global inequality exists because some nations are better in adapting to new technologies.
Conflict Theory
Conflict theory focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality.
Conflict theorists would address the systematic inequality created when core nations exploit the
resources of peripheral nations.
Symbolic Interactionism
The symbolic interaction perspective studies the day-to-day impact of global inequality, the
meanings individuals attach to global stratification, and the subjective nature of poverty. (relative
vs. absolute poverty)

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

Theories on Global Social Stratification

Modernization Theory

Conceptualized by Walt Whitman Rostow (1916 - 2003)

It states that societies go through different stages of development, the highest of which happened
to be the capitalist mass consuming society of the West. (Modernization in evolutionary approach)

Third World societies should follow the example of the West, not only in terms of social structure,
but also in terms of values.

Modernization theory provided an ideological justification for the dominance of the capitalist
system.

Problems of Modernization Theory

Ethnocentric

Too simplistic. It assumes that there is only one theory of development in societies regardless of
cultural, geographical, historical, and social differences.

Disregards the fact that societies influence each other and that global interdependence does not
matter.

The idea that all societies will converge under a single type of social structure is, of course,
invalidated by the realities of disparities between nations.

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
Social Stratification

Dependency Theory

Emerged in the 50s advocated by Raul Prebisch, whose research found that the wealth of poor
nations tended to decrease when the wealth of rich nations increased.

This theory propound a worldview suggesting that the wealthy countries of the world need a
peripheral group of poorer countries to remain wealthy.

Wealthy nations are seen as core countries and poorer nations as peripheries. The core countries
extract resources from periphery countries and they eventually return these resources as
manufactured goods.

The theory contends that core countries actively, but not necessarily consciously, perpetuate a
state of dependency through various policies and initiatives. This state of dependency is
multifaceted, involving economics, media control, politics, banking and finance, education, sports,
and all aspects of human resource development.

Any attempt by the dependent nations to resist the influences of dependency will result in
economic sanctions and/or military invasion and control.

New International Division of Labor Theory

New forms of communications and transportation suddenly made it possible for TNCs and MNCs to
relocate their factories to peripheral and semi- peripheral societies.

Borderless economies

Factories are located in Export Processing Zones (EPZs), that is, areas created by governments of
poor countries to attract foreign investments.

Poverty is a feature of this system, not a malfunction.