Social Stratification And The Social Stratification System

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Social stratification is prevalent in every society and displays diversity in its organizing principles across the world. Social stratification is defined as “the way in which a society organizes itself so that individuals know their place or rank, also called their social position, in society”(Our social world: An introduction to sociology, 2015) There are several broad categories of stratification systems prevalent in our world today; slavery, caste, and the class system are three of them. Each have different degrees of mobility and varying amount of ease to move up or down into different social positions. An open mobility system would permit achieved status or personal accomplishments to influence position while a closed system would only allow individuals to remain in the position they were born into. …show more content…

Slavery is an example of the most closed mobility stratification system. Slaves are designated by others as slaves and have no freedom over their placement in the system. Usually there is nothing they can do to get out of it once they are placed there. This system although not as common today, was most prevalent in America in 1776 when it was socially acceptable to own and control another human

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