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UPSC Sociology Syllabus – Paper 1 – Chapter 5 – Stratification and Mobility : Concepts- equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation
- Social Stratification is a process in which social inequalities exist in the form of structural hierarchical strata, one placed above the other.
- It is a method devised by sociologists to understand inequality in the society.
- According to Raymond W. Murray “Social stratification is a horizontal division of society into higher and lower social units.
- Lundberg writes, “A stratified society is one marked by inequality, by differences among people that are evaluated by them as being lower and higher”.
TYPES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
- Sociologists generally distinguish four main types of social stratification – slavery, estate, caste and social class and status.
- In industrial societies there are both status groups and social classes.
- Stratification divides a society into higher and lowers social units.
- Sorokin asserts that there can be no society without stratification.
- It is a kind of social differentiation.
- Social differences become social stratification when the concerned people are ranked hierarchically on the bias of the inequality like differences on some dimensions such as income, power, age, occupation and race etc.
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THINKERS ON ‘SOCIAL STRATIFICATION’
- The society that Plato envisioned is explicitly meant to be class-structured, so that all citizens belong to one of three classes: (i) (a) ruling (b) non-ruling and (ii) Auxiliaries or the workers.
- St. Thomas and St. Augustine made distinction based on power, property and prestige.
- Machiavelli asked who is fit to rule and what form of rule will produce order, happiness, prosperity and strength. He saw tension between elite and the masses.
- St. Thomas and St. Augustine made distinction based on power, property and prestige.
- Thomas Hobbes saw all men equally interested in acquiring power and privileges, which leads to chaotic conditions, unless there is a set of rules by which they agree to abide.
- Karl Marx based his conflict theory on the idea that modern society has only two classes of people: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
- Structural functionalists argue that social inequality plays a vital role in the smooth operation of a society. The Davis-Moore thesis states that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society.
CONCLUSION
- Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, and power.However, sociologists recognize social stratification as a society-wide system that makes inequalities apparent.