BASIS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Meaning of Social Stratification
Inequalities exist in all types of human society. There are inequalities between individuals, men, and women, the young and old, even in the simplest cultures where variations in wealth or property are virtually non-existent. Social stratification can be defined as the situation in which a society is divided hierarchically. In a socially stratified society, groups are arranged in a hierarchy with each level (each stratum of society) with different degrees of power and wealth.
For example, our society is generally stratified largely based on wealth. Those who have wealth generally have power and are part of the highest level of society. Those who have very little wealth have little power and are at the lowest rung of society.
There has been social stratification in other societies and other times, for example, based on birth. In such societies, people born to aristocratic families occupy the highest levels of society regardless of how rich they are. Those not born to such families cannot achieve the highest level regardless of their wealth.
Then, social stratification occurs when society is divided up into different levels with different amounts of wealth and power.
Definition of Stratification
Gisbert is of the view that “Social stratification is the division of society into permanent groups or categories linked with each other by relationship of superiority and subordination.”
According to R.W. Murray, “Social stratification is a horizontal division of society into higher and lower social units.”
Lundberg defined social stratification as, “A stratified society is one marked by inequality and by differences among people that is evaluated by them as being ‘lower’ and ‘higher.”
Melvin M. Tumin, “social stratification refers to arrangement of any social group or, society into a hierarchy of positions that are unequal with regard to power, property, social valuation and psychic gratification.”
Ogburn and Nimkoff, “Social Stratification is the process by which individuals and groups are ranked in a more or less an enduring hierarchy of status.”
Raymond Murray, “Social stratification is a horizontal division of society into ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ social status.”
Sorokin, “Social Stratification means the differentiation of a given population into hierarchically superposed classes. It is manifested in the existence of upper and lower social layers.”
In simple words, we can say that social stratification is the phenomenon that leads to the emergence of several hierarchically placed classes in each society.
The Bases of Social Stratification
Social stratification occurs when a society has several different “layers” of people with different statuses. In other words, social stratification exists if there are different groups of people who have different levels of such things as power, prestige, and wealth. All societies have social stratification. However, different societies base these groupings or strata on different things. Sociologists generally identify four different bases for social stratification. These are the different systems of social stratification.
One system of social stratification is slavery. In this system, there is a basic two-level stratification. Some people are free while other people are property.
A second system is the caste system. In this system, groups are given a set status by society and members of that group have that status follow them throughout their lives. People do not earn or choose their status. Instead, it is “ascribed” to them by society and there is nothing they can do to change it. India’s caste system is the most widely-known example of a society that is stratified by caste.
A third system, one that is not really in use any longer, is an estate system. This system was widely used in Europe in the Middle Ages and beyond. It divided people into three estates: the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. This was the system of social stratification that helped lead to the French Revolution.
Finally, there is the class system of stratification. This is, for the most part, what we have today. People in our society are stratified based on how much material wealth they have. We tend to give more power and prestige to those who have more money or other wealth forms.
These are the four main ways in which societies can be stratified.
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