Social stratification has granted me a higher understanding of Social Stratification Systems. After researching the world of Stratification Systems I have been able to explore the way that Social Stratification and Stratification Systems. Stratification Systems is the way the people are placed into a specific category that is dedicated fulfilling society’s needs. “Social Stratification enables a society to maintain life by slotting people into groups and institutions to fulfill the jobs and roles that meet the society’s basic needs” (Larkin, 2015) Three of the most known cast systems are class, slavery, and caste.
When observing, and comparing the class systems and caste to slavery is explained as, “most extreme form of legal or condoned social
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The class system allows an individual to move up in rank despite their economic, social, or family history. This is also the system that is mostly found in the United States of America (Larkin, 2015). The class system focuses on the economic prosperity of people. The other two systems, slavery and caste, don’t get the chance to move up on the stratification levels. The individuals are ranked in society by their family and what they’re born into. In today’s generation we can see college students that were born in poverty come up from nothing and make something of them self. They were able to achieve a college degree and obtain a higher level of social status. Not only will this help the individual but the family as well, they have the opportunity to move up in the stratification chain. A real life example of the kids upholding a higher status is the Kardashian family. The sister’s father, Robert Kardashian, was a famous criminal justice lawyer but it wasn’t until the middle child, Kim Kardashian, started dating a famous singer Ray Jay. Ever since then they exploded in Hollywood and obtained their very own television show, known as Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Because of the relationship the family’s social status changed forever. Now that I have gone through the similarities and differences, I have concluded that each system makes an impact in …show more content…
“The United States will serve as the social laboratory. From this, it is possible to recognize how the organizing principles of class, race, and gender express themselves in the U.S. society. It is important to use quantitative data from the U.S. Census Bureau and social science research to pursue this analysis” (Larkin, 2015). It is also known that women make up a huge portion of the poverty rate in the United States of America. Although, men do struggle as well but typically society tends to show more mercy on them. According to our textbook Our Social World: An Introduction to Sociology “A man who has a bachelor’s degree will earn $25,000 more than a female with a similar degree. Women with a master’s degree earn $32,500 less than men with a similar degree” (Larkin, 2015). When speaking about race and ethnicity in class I learned that although it makes a huge difference in society it is extremely important to know the difference between the both. “Race is grounded in physical attributes that have social meaning, whereas ethnicity is a cultural-historical identification with a group. Once racial and ethnic categories are established, generalizations develop within the society concerning these groups” (Larkin, 2015). Men are usually known to be the provider and protector of the household, where females had to be the caretaker and supportive one.
Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power (Conley ). In the United States, we use social classes as our social stratification system. Going back to the idea of equality of condition, starting in different social classes is not fair. The underclass doesn’t get a fair chance to move up in social class. An article written by Alana Semuels called Poor at 20, Poor for Life was published in the Atlantic. Semuels considered how social mobility has gone down in recent years. In her article, she states “It’s not an exaggeration: It really is getting harder to move up in America. Those who make very little money in their first jobs will probably still be making very little decades later, and those who start off making middle-class wages have similarly limited paths.” Proving the point that social mobility has become a pipe dream. Overall, social classes provide an invisible barrier that stop people from being able to move social
The class system has been in place within humanity since the very birth of economic trade. It is a fact of life that others will seek self-betterment and gain power to provide for those that they love and their own personal interest. Throughout the years the implementation of a social class system has helped to differentiate the types of economic situations as nation and serve as a system to work toward the betterment of the society as a whole. However, as the world became more productive and the gaps between the higher classes and lower classes increased the efficiency of the social class system and the decisions made from the individuals within it has been called into question. Kalen Ockerman opened the channel to question if the class system is the helpful institution that benefits of all its citizens or if the lower classes are not getting the support and attention they deem necessary.
Stratification in general is the formation of classes or categories. “Racial and ethnic stratification refers systems of inequality in which some fixed groups membership, such as race, religion, or national origin is a major criterion for ranking social positions and their differential rewards” (Social Stratification). An example of this would be someone who is African American may not be able
What is social class you ask? Social class is a system created to categorize people by education, wealth and heredity. What are the different class systems you ask? There are several class classifications and they’re Upper Class–Elite, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Working Class and poor. In the united states and being a victim of “ social class categorizing” is an issue that must be addressed and people must be made aware, because it seems as if it’s not going anywhere anytime soon so the least we can do is try and make it fair as possible. Being defined unknowingly by a class system is one thing, but having no say so or fair opportunity at being placed in the best “class system” as those more fortunate than others needs to change because it’s not like we all came out of our mothers womb starting the race of life at the same starting and advantage point, and since we as Americans pride our-self on being the land of the free and equal opportunities I feel compelled to inform you of the unfairness of the issue and state ways to make it fair. In an article read while doing research this is how the author defined Social class “Classism is similar in many ways to racism, sexism, heterosexism and other forms of oppression. Classism appears individually through attitudes and behaviors, institutionally through policies and practices, and culturally through norms and values. Like other forms of oppression and prejudice, it is the tendency to make sweeping generalizations or stereotypes about people, such as “Poor people are lazy.”(Class Action) This essay will assess the determination of social classes in the United States and will seek to provide examples to demonstrate the inequalities and provide ways to improve them.
Socioeconomic status is one measure of social stratification that is demonstrated in the recent support for legislation favoring the legal use and possession of marijuana. Prior to the passing into law of Initiative 502 in Washington State, there was little legislative support for the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana. Preceding initiatives in Washington did not have the level of popular support that Initiative 502 enjoyed. This initiative was openly supported by mayors, senators, state representatives, religious leaders, professors, law enforcement and medical professionals (New Approach, 2012). These supporters enjoyed power, property and prestige as the result of their elected status, their financial well-being, professions and community roles. The socioeconomic status of these supporters brought with it the demonstrated support of a certain class of society, and lent a certain level of respect and legitimacy to the initiative. Even the President of the United States spoke on the issue, commenting that the federal government should not target marijuana users abiding by state laws, and that “you've seen the voters speak on this issue.”
Social class, group of people who rank similarly in term of property, power, and prestige, separate people into different lifestyles and provide them with distinctive ways of looking at the world. It gives each individual 's different roles to perform and allow them onto different stages. Social class set people onto different path; it open opportunities to some, but close it from others. In the article, “Class Differences in Child-Rearing Are on the Rise” by Claire Cain Miller describes the impact of parents’ social class on raising a child. This article argues that families of different social classes supervise their child differently.
Stratification systems, categorized people by class, gender, ethnicity, wealth/income. When people are categorized, start looking at different systems within the social system or social mobility. “The four main systems of stratification have been slavery, caste, estate, and class. Each of these systems allows greater or less flexibility in terms of social mobility. Social mobility is the ability to move up or down within a social stratification hierarchy” (Larkin, 2015). Slavery is a social status began with social norms allowing people to own others. The slaves had no wealth or power while under this social status. Caste systems are all aspects of social status are assigned at births and held forever,
All societies have social stratification to some degree, stratification is split into three different types of system. Class is the system that is most common in most modern societies. Social class is individuals grouped in terms of their occupation, income and wealth. This type of system is based on economic factors only and tends to be ‘open’, meaning social mobility is possible and people are free to move between classes with no legal barriers. This could be because the individual has achieved this, for example, Lord Sugar has achieved his social class through
Social stratification refers to how sociologists categorize people inside a society into different classes based on their socioeconomic tiers. The tiers can come from their wealth, race, level of education, and power over other people. However, people don’t stay forever inside their class, as a wealthy man can lose all his property overnight and moves down the hierarchy (change in
The United States has a long, brutal history of social inequality, including but not limited to: racism, sexism, and classism dating all the way back to the European colonizers. When we look at America’s past, we start to notice horrendous instances of injustice and the early formations of modern day social stratification. A way to describe social stratification is “the creation of layers of a population who possess an unequal share of scarce resources” (Loder 2015). Since the resources are not equally distributed, there are some people who have a copious amount of resources and others who barely have enough to survive. Thus rendering social stratification as problematic, because it allows little room for those who were assigned to a lower
Social stratification is the ranking that is gave to an entire group that that has unequal power and rewards in a society. Based off your social class you are pretty much in the same social stratification. They are both ranking of what stage you are in your life. They both set a standard of who you are in the world. What your social statues can be either achieved or ascribed. There are 4 social stratification systems, slavery, estate, caste, and class. Slavery is the idea that you belong to someone and this is a closed class. Once you’re a slave it is hard to leave. There is said to be no more slavery nowadays but slavery could be considered bring people here and making them work for no income and just being a human machine. The next one is
Social stratification is seen everywhere within the United States and around the world. As discussed in lecture, there are two types of stratification systems, and both are prominent in the United States. The first type is achievement based, which depends on a person’s wealth and accomplishments (Wadsworth). In the film, “People Like Us,” this system is presented. A teenage boy is embarrassed of his mother and his family’s social status, so he hides is social class from his friends. The second system is ascription-based stratification which has to do with what an individual is born with. The school that was interviewed and observed in “People Like Us,” prove that the family you are born into plays a huge role in popularity, and the group of friends you choose to surround yourself with. Another example in this film was the WASP label. The man they interviewed, explained that you are
It is perpetuated by the way wealth, power, and prestige are distributed and passed on from one generation to the next
The reason this type of inequality interests me so deeply is because, as a woman growing up in a male dominated rural community, I have experience with gender inequality. I was taught that women cannot be football players, cannot ride horses for too long, or be too loud, shouldn’t share their opinion, and should refrain from working outside the home. I was taught my value was in the size of my jeans and the purity of my abstinence. I was taught that my husband is the leader of the family and makes the decisions. My mom catered to my father-her role was in the
Haralambos, M., M. Holborn and R. Heald, Social stratification–a Marxist perspective. In Sociology: Themes and Perspectives (6th edn.).London: Harper-Collins. (2004). pp. 9–14.