Read the Four Statements Below. Which One of These Statements About Stratification Is Not True?

Learning Objectives

By the cease of this section, you lot will be able to:

Differentiate between open and airtight stratification systems
Distinguish betwixt caste and class systems
Understand meritocracy as an ideal system of stratification

A man and a woman, both wearing business suits, are shown from behind at the top of an escalator

Sociologists apply the term social stratification to draw the system of social continuing. Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, educational activity, and ability.

Yous may recall the word "stratification" from geology grade. The distinct vertical layers found in stone, chosen stratification, are a good mode to visualize social structure. Order's layers are fabricated of people, and society's resources are distributed unevenly throughout the layers. The people who have more resources represent the peak layer of the social construction of stratification. Other groups of people, with progressively fewer and fewer resources, represent the lower layers of our society.

A rock formation showing various layers is shown.

Strata in rock illustrate social stratification. People are sorted, or layered, into social categories. Many factors make up one's mind a person's social standing, such as income, pedagogy, occupation, also as age, race, gender, and even physical abilities. (Photo courtesy of Just a Prairie Male child/flickr)

In the United states of america, people like to believe anybody has an equal chance at success. To a certain extent, Aaron illustrates the conventionalities that hard work and talent—not prejudicial treatment or societal values—determine social rank. This emphasis on cocky-endeavor perpetuates the belief that people control their own social standing.

Nonetheless, sociologists recognize that social stratification is a order-wide system that makes inequalities apparent. While at that place are always inequalities between individuals, sociologists are interested in larger social patterns. Stratification is not nigh individual inequalities, but about systematic inequalities based on group membership, classes, and the like. No private, rich or poor, can be blamed for social inequalities. The structure of society affects a person's social standing. Although individuals may support or fight inequalities, social stratification is created and supported past guild as a whole.

One side of a block of rowhouses and cars covered in snow is shown.

The people who alive in these houses virtually likely share like levels of income and education. Neighborhoods often house people of the same social continuing. Wealthy families do non typically live next door to poorer families, though this varies depending on the item city and land. (Photograph courtesy of Orin Zebest/flickr)

Factors that define stratification vary in different societies. In most societies, stratification is an economic system, based on wealth, the net value of coin and avails a person has, and income, a person'due south wages or investment dividends. While people are regularly categorized based on how rich or poor they are, other important factors influence social standing. For example, in some cultures, wisdom and charisma are valued, and people who accept them are revered more than those who don't. In some cultures, the elderly are esteemed; in others, the elderly are disparaged or overlooked. Societies' cultural beliefs ofttimes reinforce the inequalities of stratification.

One fundamental determinant of social standing is the social continuing of our parents. Parents tend to pass their social position on to their children. People inherit not only social standing but also the cultural norms that back-trail a certain lifestyle. They share these with a network of friends and family members. Social continuing becomes a comfort zone, a familiar lifestyle, and an identity. This is one of the reasons first-generation college students do not fare equally well equally other students.

Other determinants are found in a gild'south occupational construction. Teachers, for example, oftentimes have high levels of instruction but receive relatively low pay. Many believe that teaching is a noble profession, so teachers should do their jobs for love of their profession and the good of their students—not for money. Still no successful executive or entrepreneur would embrace that mental attitude in the business earth, where profits are valued every bit a driving force. Cultural attitudes and behavior like these back up and perpetuate social inequalities.

Recent Economic Changes and U.Southward. Stratification

As a result of the Cracking Recession that rocked our nation's economy in the last few years, many families and individuals institute themselves struggling like never before. The nation fell into a period of prolonged and exceptionally high unemployment. While no one was completely insulated from the recession, maybe those in the lower classes felt the impact well-nigh profoundly. Before the recession, many were living paycheck to paycheck or even had been living comfortably. As the recession striking, they were oft among the first to lose their jobs. Unable to observe replacement employment, they faced more than than loss of income. Their homes were foreclosed, their cars were repossessed, and their power to beget healthcare was taken abroad. This put many in the position of deciding whether to put nutrient on the table or make full a needed prescription.

While nosotros're not completely out of the woods economically, there are several signs that nosotros're on the road to recovery. Many of those who suffered during the recession are back to work and are busy rebuilding their lives. The Affordable Health Care Act has provided health insurance to millions who lost or never had it.

Simply the Great Recession, similar the Great Depression, has changed social attitudes. Where in one case information technology was important to demonstrate wealth past wearing expensive clothing items like Calvin Klein shirts and Louis Vuitton shoes, at present at that place'due south a new, thriftier way of thinking. In many circles, it has get hip to exist frugal. It'south no longer about how much we spend, but about how much we don't spend. Think of shows like Extreme Couponing on TLC and songs like Macklemore's "Thrift Shop."

Systems of Stratification

Sociologists distinguish between two types of systems of stratification. Closed systems suit little alter in social position. They exercise non permit people to shift levels and do non permit social relationships between levels. Open systems, which are based on accomplishment, allow movement and interaction between layers and classes. Different systems reflect, emphasize, and foster certain cultural values and shape individual behavior. Stratification systems include class systems and caste systems, also as meritocracy.

The Caste Organization

A woman in India is shown from behind walking down the street.

India used to take a rigid degree system. The people in the everyman caste suffered from extreme poverty and were shunned past order. Some aspects of India's defunct degree system remain socially relevant. In this photo, an Indian woman of a specific Hindu caste works in structure, and she demolishes and builds houses. (Photograph courtesy of Elessar/flickr)

Caste systems are airtight stratification systems in which people tin can exercise piddling or nothing to change their social standing. A caste organisation is one in which people are born into their social continuing and will remain in it their whole lives. People are assigned occupations regardless of their talents, interests, or potential. At that place are virtually no opportunities to improve a person'south social position.

In the Hindu degree tradition, people were expected to work in the occupation of their caste and to enter into matrimony according to their degree. Accepting this social standing was considered a moral duty. Cultural values reinforced the system. Caste systems promote beliefs in fate, destiny, and the volition of a college ability, rather than promoting individual freedom as a value. A person who lived in a caste society was socialized to have his or her social standing.

Although the degree system in India has been officially dismantled, its residual presence in Indian guild is deeply embedded. In rural areas, aspects of the tradition are more likely to remain, while urban centers bear witness less evidence of this past. In Bharat'southward larger cities, people now accept more than opportunities to choose their own career paths and marriage partners. As a global center of employment, corporations have introduced merit-based hiring and employment to the nation.

The Class System

A grade system is based on both social factors and private achievement. A grade consists of a set of people who share similar status with regard to factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation. Unlike degree systems, class systems are open. People are free to gain a different level of education or employment than their parents. They tin can also socialize with and marry members of other classes, which allows people to motion from i class to another.

In a class system, occupation is not stock-still at birth. Though family unit and other societal models assistance guide a person toward a career, personal pick plays a role.

In class systems, people have the choice to class exogamous marriages, unions of spouses from unlike social categories. Marriage in these circumstances is based on values such as love and compatibility rather than on social standing or economic science. Though social conformities withal exist that encourage people to choose partners within their own class, people are not equally pressured to choose marriage partners based solely on those elements. Marriage to a partner from the same social background is an endogamous spousal relationship.

Meritocracy

Meritocracy is an ideal arrangement based on the belief that social stratification is the upshot of personal effort—or merit—that determines social continuing. High levels of effort will lead to a high social position, and vice versa. The concept of meritocracy is an platonic—because a society has never existed where social rank was based purely on merit. Because of the complex construction of societies, processes like socialization, and the realities of economical systems, social standing is influenced by multiple factors—non merit alone. Inheritance and pressure to adjust to norms, for case, disrupt the notion of a pure meritocracy. While a meritocracy has never existed, sociologists encounter aspects of meritocracies in modern societies when they study the role of academic and chore functioning and the systems in place for evaluating and rewarding achievement in these areas.

Condition Consistency

Social stratification systems determine social position based on factors like income, educational activity, and occupation. Sociologists use the term status consistency to describe the consistency, or lack thereof, of an private'southward rank across these factors. Degree systems correlate with high status consistency, whereas the more flexible form system has lower status consistency.

To illustrate, let's consider Susan. Susan earned her loftier school degree simply did not go to college. That cistron is a trait of the lower-middle grade. She began doing landscaping work, which, as manual labor, is besides a trait of lower-center course or even lower course. However, over time, Susan started her ain company. She hired employees. She won larger contracts. She became a business organisation possessor and earned a lot of money. Those traits correspond the upper-centre class. There are inconsistencies between Susan's educational level, her occupation, and her income. In a form system, a person tin can work hard and accept niggling education and even so be in center or upper class, whereas in a caste system that would non exist possible. In a class organisation, low status consistency correlates with having more choices and opportunities.

The Commoner Who Could Be Queen

Prince William is shown holding wife Catherine Middleton's hand.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who is in line to be king of England, married Catherine Middleton, a then-called commoner, meaning she does not take royal ancestry. (Photo courtesy of UK_repsome/flickr)

On April 29, 2011, in London, England, Prince William, Knuckles of Cambridge, married Catherine Middleton, a commoner. Information technology is rare, though not unheard of, for a fellow member of the British royal family to marry a commoner. Kate Middleton has an upper-class background, but does not have royal ancestry. Her male parent was a former flight dispatcher and her mother a former flight attendant and owner of Political party Pieces. According to Grace Wong's 2011 article titled, "Kate Middleton: A family business that built a princess," "[t]he business grew to the signal where [her father] quit his job . . . and it'due south evolved from a mom-and-popular outfit run out of a shed . . . into a venture operated out of iii converted subcontract buildings in Berkshire." Kate and William met when they were both students at the Academy of St. Andrews in Scotland (Köhler 2010).

Britain'due south monarchy arose during the Heart Ages. Its social hierarchy placed royalty at the peak and commoners on the bottom. This was generally a closed organization, with people built-in into positions of nobility. Wealth was passed from generation to generation through primogeniture, a law stating that all property would exist inherited by the firstborn son. If the family had no son, the country went to the side by side closest male person relation. Women could not inherit property, and their social standing was primarily determined through wedlock.

The inflow of the Industrial Revolution changed Britain'south social structure. Commoners moved to cities, got jobs, and made meliorate livings. Gradually, people constitute new opportunities to increment their wealth and power. Today, the regime is a constitutional monarchy with the prime number minister and other ministers elected to their positions, and with the royal family unit's function existence largely ceremonial. The long-ago differences between nobility and commoners have blurred, and the modern form organization in United kingdom is similar to that of the Us (McKee 1996).

Today, the royal family even so commands wealth, power, and a great bargain of attention. When Queen Elizabeth Ii retires or passes away, Prince Charles will be beginning in line to ascend the throne. If he abdicates (chooses non to go king) or dies, the position volition become to Prince William. If that happens, Kate Middleton volition exist chosen Queen Catherine and concur the position of queen consort. She volition exist i of the few queens in history to have earned a higher degree (Marquand 2011).

There is a great bargain of social pressure on her not only to bear equally a royal but as well to deport children. In fact, Kate and Prince William welcomed their starting time son, Prince George, on July 22, 2013 and are expecting their 2nd child. The royal family recently inverse its succession laws to allow daughters, not just sons, to arise the throne. Kate's experience—from commoner to potential queen—demonstrates the fluidity of social position in modern gild.

Summary

Stratification systems are either closed, significant they allow little change in social position, or open up, meaning they let movement and interaction between the layers. A caste system is one in which social continuing is based on ascribed status or nascency. Class systems are open, with achievement playing a role in social position. People autumn into classes based on factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation. A meritocracy is a system of social stratification that confers continuing based on personal worth, rewarding effort.

Curt Respond

Track the social stratification of your family tree. Did the social standing of your parents differ from the social continuing of your grandparents and not bad-grandparents? What social traits were handed down by your forebears? Are at that place any exogamous marriages in your history? Does your family showroom condition consistencies or inconsistencies?
What defines communities that have low status consistency? What are the ramifications, both positive and negative, of cultures with depression condition consistency? Try to call back of specific examples to back up your ideas.
Review the concept of stratification. Now choose a grouping of people you have observed and been a part of—for instance, cousins, high school friends, classmates, sport teammates, or coworkers. How does the structure of the social group you chose adhere to the concept of stratification?

Glossary

caste system: a system in which people are born into a social standing that they volition retain their entire lives

class: a group who shares a common social condition based on factors like wealth, income, educational activity, and occupation

course organisation: social standing based on social factors and individual accomplishments

endogamous marriages: unions of people inside the aforementioned social category

exogamous unions: unions of spouses from different social categories

income: the money a person earns from piece of work or investments

meritocracy: an ideal organisation in which personal endeavour—or merit—determines social continuing

primogeniture: a law stating that all holding passes to the firstborn son

social stratification: a socioeconomic system that divides society's members into categories ranking from loftier to low, based on things like wealth, power, and prestige

status consistency: the consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual'southward rank across social categories like income, pedagogy, and occupation

wealth: the value of money and assets a person has from, for example, inheritance

Farther Enquiry

The New York Times investigated social stratification in their series of articles chosen "Grade Matters." The online accompaniment to the serial includes an interactive graphic called "How Class Works," which tallies four factors—occupation, education, income, and wealth—and places an private within a certain class and percentile. What class describes you? Test your class rank on the interactive site: http://openstaxcollege.org/l/NY_Times_how_class_works

References

Köhler, Nicholas. 2010. "An Uncommon Princess." Maclean's, November 22. Retrieved January ix, 2012 (http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/22/an-uncommon-princess/).

McKee, Victoria. 1996. "Blue Blood and the Colour of Money." New York Times, June nine.

Marquand, Robert. 2011. "What Kate Middleton's Wedding ceremony to Prince William Could Do for Britain." Christian Science Monitor, Apr 15. Retrieved January 9, 2012 (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0415/What-Kate-Middleton-due south-nuptials-to-Prince-William-could-do-for-Britain).

Wong, Grace. 2011. "Kate Middleton: A Family Business organization That Congenital a Princess." CNN Money. Retrieved December 22, 2014 (http://coin.cnn.com/2011/04/fourteen/smallbusiness/kate-middleton-party-pieces/).

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