G. Social and political stratification their party.

Thus, class, status and party

(UCSP11/12HSOIIIc- are each aspects of the distribution of
30) power within a community.
Social stratification is a society's categorization of
people into socioeconomic strata, based upon their Class, status and party have not only a
occupation and income, wealth and social status, or great deal of effect within their individual
derived power (social and political). As such, areas but also a great deal of influence
stratification is the relative social position of persons over the other areas.
within a social group, category, geographic region, or - Wealth: includes property such as
social unit. In modern Western societies, social buildings, lands, farms, houses,
stratification typically is distinguished as three social factories and as well as other assets -
classes: (i) the upper class, (ii) the middle class, and Economic Situation
(iii) the lower class; in turn, each class can be - Prestige: the respect with which a
subdivided into strata, e.g. the upper-stratum, the person or status position is regarded
middle-stratum, and the lower stratum. Moreover, a by others - Status Situation
social stratum can be formed upon the bases of - Power: the ability of people or groups
kinship or caste, or both. to achieve their goals despite
opposition from others Parties
The categorization of people by social strata occurs
in all societies, ranging from the complex, state- According to Weber, there are two basic
based societies to tribal and feudal societies, which dimensions of power: the possession of
are based upon socio-economic relations among power and the exercising of power.2
classes of nobility and classes of peasants.
Historically, whether or not hunter-gatherer societies 2. Social mobility system
can be defined as socially stratified or if social Social mobility is the movement of
stratification began with agriculture and common individuals, families, households, or other
acts of social exchange, remains a debated matter in categories of people within or between
the social sciences.[2] Determining the structures of social strata in a society. It is a change in
social stratification arises from inequalities of status social status relative to others' social
among persons, therefore, the degree of social location within a given society.3
inequality determines a person's social stratum.
Generally, the greater the social complexity of a a. Open (class)
society, the more social strata exist, by way of social is the stratification that facilitates
differentiation.1 social mobility, with individual
achievement and personal merit
determining social rank. The
hierarchical social status of a person is
achieved through their effort. Any
status that is based on family
background, ethnicity, gender, and
religion, which is also known as
ascribed status, becomes less
important. There is no distinct line
between the classes and there would
be more positions within that status.
Core industrial nations seem to have
more of an ideal open class system.4

In open stratification systems status is

achieved through merit, and effort.
This is sometimes known as
meritocracy.5

Though the extent to which individuals

1. Social desirables have social mobility in the United
The three-component theory of States is debated, new members of the
stratification, more widely known as elite are evidence that there is some
Weberian stratification or the three mobility between classes. President
class system, was developed by German Barack Obama was born to a family
sociologist Max Weber with class, status without wealth and faced racial
and power as distinct ideal types. Weber discrimination, but achieved the
developed a multidimensional approach to
social stratification that reflects the
interplay among wealth, prestige and 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-
power. component_theory_of_stratification

Weber argued that power can take a

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility
variety of forms. A persons power can be
shown in the social order through their
status, in the economic order through their 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_class_system
class, and in the political order through
5 http://sociologysixthform.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-closed-
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stratification stratification-systems.html
 highest office in the country as a result different theoretical approaches to
of his personal achievements. examine and explain economic inequality,
both fields are actively involved in
In modern western Europe, status researching this inequality. However,
depends on individual educational and social and natural resources other than
professional attainment, meaning that purely economic resources are also
people are ranked based on achieved unevenly distributed in most societies and
status.6 may contribute to social status. Norms of
allocation can also affect the distribution
b. Closed (caste) of rights and privileges, social power,
is a form of social stratification access to public goods such as education
characterized by endogamy, or the judicial system, adequate housing,
hereditary transmission of a lifestyle transportation, credit and financial
which often includes an occupation, services such as banking and other social
ritual status in a hierarchy, and goods and services.9
customary social interaction and
exclusion based on cultural notions of a. Access to social, political, and symbolic
purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic capital
ethnographic example is the division of
society into rigid social groups, with Social capital is a form of economic
roots in ancient history and persisting and cultural capital in which social
until today. Sometimes, sociologists networks are central, transactions are
and anthropologists study the caste- marked by reciprocity, trust, and
like social divisions existing in various cooperation, and market agents
countries by using the Indian caste produce goods and services not mainly
system as an analogical basis for for themselves, but for a common
research. The term caste-system is good.
also applied to non-human populations
like ants and bees.7 The term generally refers to (a)
resources, and the value of these
- Castes are most often stratified by resources, both tangible (public
race or ethnicity, economic status, or spaces, private property) and
religious status. intangible ("actors", "human capital",
people), (b) the relationships among
- Castes have been noted in societies all these resources, and (c) the impact
over the world throughout history, that these relationships have on the
though they are mistakenly often resources involved in each
assumed to be a tradition specific to relationship, and on larger groups. It is
India. generally seen as a form of capital that
produces public goods for a common
- Historically, the caste system in India good.10
consisted of four well known
categories: Brahmins (priests), Political capital refers to the trust,
Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas goodwill, and influence a politician has
(commerce), Shudras (workmen). with the public and other political
Some people left out of these four figures. This goodwill is a type of
caste classifications were called invisible currency that politicians can
"outcasts" or "untouchables" and were use to mobilize the voting public or
shunned and ostracized.8 spend on policy reform.11

3. Social Inequality In sociology and anthropology,

Social inequality occurs when resources symbolic capital can be referred to
in a given society are distributed as the resources available to an
unevenly, typically through norms of individual on the basis of honor,
allocation, that engender specific patterns prestige or recognition, and serves as
along lines of socially defined categories value that one holds within a culture. A
of persons. Economic inequality, usually war hero, for example, may have
described on the basis of the unequal symbolic capital in the context of
distribution of income or wealth, is a running for political office.
frequently studied type of social
inequality. Though the disciplines of Theorists have argued that symbolic
economics and sociology generally use capital accumulates primarily from the
fulfillment of social obligations that are
6 https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless- themselves embedded with potential
sociology-textbook/stratification-inequality-and-social-class-in-the- for prestige. Much as with the
u-s-9/social-mobility-76/open-vs-closed-stratification-systems-451- accumulation of financial capital,
3311/

9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequality
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste
10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital
8 https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-
sociology-textbook/global-stratification-and-inequality-8/systems-
of-stratification-67/caste-systems-398-3426/ 11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_capital
 symbolic capital is 'rational' in that it cultural characteristics, are singled out
can be freely converted into leveraging from the others in the society in which
advantage within social and political they live for differential and unequal
spheres. Yet unlike financial capital, treatment, and who therefore regard
symbolic capital is not boundless, and themselves as objects of collective
its value may be limited or magnified discrimination." This definition includes
by the historical context in which it both objective and subjective criteria:
was accumulated. Symbolic capital membership of a minority group is
must be identified within the cultural objectively ascribed by society, based
and historical frame through which it on an individual's physical or
originated in order to fully explain its behavioral characteristics; it is also
influence across cultures.12 subjectively applied by its members,
who may use their status as the basis
b. Gender inequality of group identity or solidarity. In any
Gender inequality refers to unequal case, minority group status is
treatment or perceptions of individuals categorical in nature: an individual
based on their gender. It arises from who exhibits the physical or behavioral
differences in socially constructed characteristics of a given minority
gender roles. Gender systems are group will be accorded the status of
often dichotomous and hierarchical; that group and be subject to the same
gender binary systems may reflect the treatment as other members of that
inequalities that manifest in numerous group.
dimensions of daily life. Gender
inequality stems from distinctions, d. Other minorities (e.g. persons with
whether empirically grounded or disabilities)
socially constructed. (On differences The disability rights movement has
between the sexes, see Sex and contributed to an understanding of
psychology.)13 people with disabilities (including not
to be called 'disabled') as a minority or
Sex- and gender-based prejudice and a coalition of minorities who are
discrimination, called sexism, are disadvantaged by society, not just as
major contributing factors to social people who are disadvantaged by their
inequality. Most societies, even impairments. Advocates of disability
agricultural ones, have some sexual rights emphasize difference in physical
division of labor and gender-based or psychological functioning, rather
division of labor tends to increase than inferiorityfor example, some
during industrialization.[18] The people with autism argue for
emphasis on gender inequality is born acceptance of neurodiversity, much as
out of the deepening division in the opponents of racism argue for
roles assigned to men and women, acceptance of ethnic diversity. The
particularly in the economic, political deaf community is often regarded as a
and educational spheres. Women are linguistic and cultural minority rather
underrepresented in political activities than a group with disabilities, and
and decision making processes in most some deaf people do not see
states in both the Global North and themselves as having a disability at all.
Global South.14 Rather, they are disadvantaged by
technologies and social institutions
c. Ethnic minorities that are designed to cater for the
Racial or ethnic inequality is the result dominant group.16
of hierarchical social distinctions
between racial and ethnic categories c. Global Inequality (relationships
within a society and often established between states and non-state actors in
based on characteristics such as skin the global community)
color and other physical characteristics
or an individual's place of origin or Global Inequality: Differences among
culture. Even though race has no Countries
biological connection, it has become a
socially constructed category capable - Countries can be stratified according
of restricting or enabling social to their per-person gross national
status.15 product. Forty percent of the world's
population live in low-income
Sociologist Louis Wirth defined a countries, compared with only 16
minority group as "a group of people percent in high-income countries.
who, because of their physical or
- An estimated 1.3 billion people, or
12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_capital nearly one in four people, live in
poverty today, an increase since the
13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality early 1980s. Many are the victims of
discrimination based on race,
ethnicity, or tribal affiliation.
14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequality

15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequality 16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_group
Theories of Global Inequality

Market-oriented theories, such as

modernization theory, claim that cultural and
institutional barriers to development explain
the poverty of low-income societies. In this
view, to eliminate poverty, fatalistic attitudes
must be overcome, government meddling in
economic affairs ended, and a high rate of
savings and investment encouraged.

Dependency theories claim that global

poverty is the result of the exploitation of
poor countries by wealthy ones. Dependent
development theory argues that even though
the economic fate of poor countries is
ultimately determined by wealthy ones, some
development is possible within dependent
capitalistic relations.

World-systems theory focuses on the

relationships among core, peripheral, and
semiperipheral countries in the global
economy; long-term trends in the global
economy; and global commodity chains that
erase national borders.

State-centered theories emphasize the role of

governments in fostering economic
development. These theories draw on the
experience of the rapidly growing East Asian
newly industrializing economies.17

17
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/soc/introductiontosociology8/ch/
09/outline.aspx