Rafael Bustillos 28 of March of 2019

11 B (Z) Sociology

Sociology sumaries formo 1 to 5

Chapter 1: What is social stratification

Social stratification is a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. Social
stratification is a matter of four basic principles

1 Social stratification is a trait of society, not a simply a reflection of individual differences: many of us
think that of social standing in terms of personal talent and effort and, as a result, we often exaggerate
the extent in which we control our own fate. For example, in the case of the titanic the first class
passenger survived because of their position not because they were better swimmers or smarter than
the other classes

2 Social stratification persists over generation

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

4 Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs: any system of inequality not only give
some people more than other but also defines these arrangements as fair.

Chapter 2: caste and class system

The caste system

A caste system is a social stratification based on ascription, or birth. A pure case system is closed
because birth alone determines one’s destiny, with little or no opportunity for social mobility based on
individual effort

One example of caste system is in India, the indian system of castes is called Varna and is compose of
four categories: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra

Caste and agrarian life

Caste system exist in agrarian societies because the lifelong routines of agriculture Depend on a rigid
sense of duty and discipline. Therefore, Caste Persist in rural India more than 60 years after being
formally outlawed and even as his grip has relax in big cities, where people exercise greater choice in
their work and marriage partners.

In major industrial nations such as the United States some caiste elements survive but treating people
categorically in the basis of race or sex now invites charges of racism and sexism.
The class system

A class system is a social stratification system based on both birth an individual achievement

A class system is more open so those who acquire schooling and skills may be socially mobile in relation
to their parents and siblings So that even blood relatives may have different socialist standings

Meritocracy
Compared with agrarian societies where caste is the rule industrial societies move toward
meritocracy: social stratification based on personal merit
The function of social stratification

The Davis Moore thesis It states that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation
of a society.

Davis and more note that modern socities have hundreds of occupational positions of varying
importance certain jobs say washing windows or as answering telephones are fairly easy and can be
performed by almost anyone. Other jobs such as designing computers or transplanting human organs
are difficult and demand the scare talents of people with extensive and expensive training

Therefor Davis and Moore explain that the greater the functional importance of a position, the more
rewards a society attaches to it. This strategy promotes productivity and efficiency because rewarding
important work with income, prestige, power and leisure encourages people to do these jobs and to
work better longer and harder

The Davis-Moore thesis suggest why some of stratification exists everywhere; it does not state precisely
what reward society should give to any occupational position for example we can all agree that Kim
Kardashian labor is useless in so many levels but that doesn’t stop her to make millions a year while a
fire fighter makes roughly 50k a year

Chapter : Stratification and gathering societies

Hunting and gathering societies

With simple technology, hunters and gathers produce only what’s necessary to survive for day to day
living. Some people may produce more than others but the groups survival depend on al sharing what
they have. Thus, no categories of people emerge as better off than others.

Horticultural pastoral and agrarian societies

As technology advances create a surplus, social inequality increases. In these societies a small elite
controls most of the surplus specially in the large sacale agriculture societies

Industrial societies
Industrialization turns the tide lessening inequality. Prompted by the need to develop individual talents,
meritocracy takes hold and erodes the power of traditional elites. Industrial productivity also raises the
standard of living of the historically poor majority.

The Kuznets curve

The Kuznets curve shows that greater technological sophistication generally is accomplished by
pronounced social stratification. The trend reverses itself as industrial societies relax rigid castelike
distinctions in favor of greater opportunity and equality under the law.

The Kuznets curve may also be usefully applied to the relative social standing of the two sexes. However,
the emerges of postindustrial society has brought an upturn in the economic inequality as indicated by
the broken line added by the author.