Social Stratification,
Class, and Inequality
Social stratification
• Social stratification refers to the ranking of
members of a society in groups on the basisof
their status.
• This ranking may be on the basis of occupation,
power, economic resources, prestige, caste,
education.
• It is structured inequality betweengroups.
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Determinants of Social stratification
a)Power – The degree to which a person can control
other people. More power more respect in society.
b)Economic resources – The level of income from all
resources is an important indicator of one’s place in
society.
– Economic resources in rural and urban areas.
c)Prestige – The degree of respect, favorable regard
or importance accorded to an individual by members
of society.
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Determinants of Social stratification
d)Occupation – High class professionals include big
businessmen, industrialists, landlords and high class
government and semi-government officials.
e)Caste – It is permanent, having its statusascribed
as birth. Some castes are believed to be higher in
status while others aslow.
f)Education – The standard of education also
determines a social class.
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Characteristics of
Stratification Systems
• Social structures hold certain groups in ranked
order and where it is difficult, if not impossible, to
change that order.
• Where people rank in stratification system
influences every part of their lives in profound
ways.
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Systems of Stratification
Three basic types of systems of social stratification.
• Slavery—Ownership of certain people.
• Caste—Characterized by hereditary status.
• Class—Positions based on economics.
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Systems of Stratification
Social class: A social class is a homogeneous group
of people in a society formed on the combined basis
of:
1. Education
2. Occupation
3. Income
4. Place of residence
Classsystem allow for social mobility.
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Social Classes inPakistan
1. Upper social class
a) Upper Upper Class
b) Upper Middle Class
c) Upper Lower Class
2. Middle social class
a) Middle Upper Class
b) Middle Middle Class
c) Middle Lower Class
3. Working social class
a) Lower Upper Class
b) Lower Middle Class
c) Lower Lower Class 8
Social Classes inPakistan
1. Upper social class:
[Link] have high level of income and belong to be
most high paying profession.
ii. They live in most cleanest place of thecountry
iii. Their size is 2% of the total society.
They include:
a. Top management of the company
b. Big businessmen
c. High status leadership
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Social Classes inPakistan
2. Middle social class:
i. Social mobility is found highest in thisclass.
[Link] live comfortably than poor class, but are
financially lower than upper class.
iii. They all are employees.
[Link] norms are likely to be similar to that of poor
class due to recent switching to middle class.
[Link] class is the best example of DEFERRED
GRATIFICATION PATTERN.
vi. Their population is 28%out of the total population.10
Social Classes inPakistan
3. Working social class:
i. Social mobility is the lowest in them.
ii. Rate of deviance is high in them.
iii. They are most likely to be drug/narcoticsaddicted.
iv. They lack long term planning.
[Link] are either unemployed, or get employmentfor
short term basis.
vii. Their size is 70% out total population ofPakistan.
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Type of social status
[Link] Status - The social class position
allocated to an individual by society as a result of
factors over which the individual has nocontrol.
[Link] Status - The social class position which
an individual acquires as a result of his/her own
activities.
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Social Mobility
• Social mobility is the movement of people up or
down the stratification system.
• Itcan also be defined as the act of moving from one
social class to another.
• Class systems allow for more movement thanslave
or caste systems.
• It is quite difficult to achieve upward social mobility.
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Types of Social Mobility
1)Territorial Mobility – It is the changeof
residence from one place to another.
2)Vertical Mobility - Refers to a major movement
up or down in social classposition.
3)Horizontal Mobility - Refers to movement within
a social class. In general, there is no overall change
in the social class status of an individualinvolved.
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Understanding Inequality
• Inequality is the unequal access to scarcegoods
or resources.
– It is found in most, if not all, societies.
– It is a question of how unequala society is.
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Marx and class conflict
• Karl Marx was very interested in class relations in
capitalist societies.
• Class was determined solely by one’s relation to the
means of production.
– Proletariat and bourgeoisie
– Group membership utterly determined life
chances.
• Ultimately the proletariat would overthrowthe
bourgeoisie, ending the reign of capitalism.
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Weber: Class andstatus
• For Max Weber, position in a stratification system
was not based on economics alone: social status was
also significant.
• Weber’s multidimensional approach is attractive to
those who believe that social prestige and power
can be independent of economics.
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Functionalist Approaches
• Functionalist theorists attempt to understandwhat
role inequality plays in keeping society at
equilibrium.
• David and Moore (1945) argued that stratification
benefited society by ensuring that the most
important roles would be filledby the most talented
and worthy people.
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International Comparison of Poverty Rates
among Wealthy Countries
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Poverty
Sociologists discuss two general types of poverty:
– Absolute poverty
– Relative poverty
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Why are the poor poor?
• Poverty is not simply the result of not working hard.
• Explanations for poverty arediverse.
• What we know is that low earnings (often based on a
low minimum wage) make it very hard to “get
ahead.”
• Also, the poor have less educational attainment, less
health insurance, and more broadly, diminishedlife
chances.
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Gender and poverty
Feminization of poverty.
•Because of social changes, including divorce and the
increasing normalization of single-parenting, thereare
more female-headed households.
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Explanations for poverty
• Sociologists have many empirical explanations for
poverty, but by and large they all fall under one of
two themes:
– Blaming the victim
– Blaming the system
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Poverty and social problems
• Social welfare systems
• Homelessness
• Lack of basic medical care
• Educational segregation
• People turn to non-conventional means to make
money.
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Does inequality affect you?
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