Assess The Difference Between Ascribed And Achieved Status

The sociological perspective examines the hidden reasons for one’s actions and identities that people have. It stressed how they are influenced by their society and most of all their social location. Social location predetermines all aspects of one’s life and there are rules that come with social location, and with rules come social control mechanisms and social stratification that keep people in line. With social location also come institutions that provide roles which form one’s identity. In the movie, “Good Will Hunting,” the main character Will Hunting is a young deviant what grows up in a rough neighbourhood and has the intellect of a genius. Role theory and other concepts from the sociological

Society is constructed over different opinions and translations that individuals have over each other. The academic reading, “The Social Construction of Difference”, points out two different views that a group of people may have over another. In the academic reading the author, Allan G. Johnson, defines two different kinds of approaches that are known as privilege and oppression. Privilege is commonly defined as a group of certain people having more value from those who are not consider like one of them. Oppression is defined as privilege groups of people feeling superior in which leads to taking control over those who don’t share common identities with them. Based on the academic reading, “The Social Construction of difference”, the reality of social construction is based upon privilege and oppression.

In the story, it is clear that the Strain sociological theory clearly presents itself. This theory argues that depending on person’s situation in the society, one reacts differently to the difficulties that face them in the achievement of their objectives. The theory categorizes people in the society to tow broad categories. These are the poor and the rich, with the poor being the ones who strain the most in an attempt to accomplish their

Individuals within a society are grouped into certain rankings that is based on their wealth, income, race and education known as the social stratification. Sociologist use this to determine the social standings of individuals within a society. Social stratification can also appear in much smaller groups. These groups such as the work place, schools, and businesses can “take the form of a distribution of power and authority down the ranks”. (Cole, 2017) The Caste system is also another form of stratification that one does not get a choice in. They are born into it and regardless of their talents will hold positions that are given to them their whole life. Social mobility is the ability for individuals to move about their social standings.

All social interactions take place with a social structure, including those interactions that redefine social reality, for purposes of study, sociologist breaks down any social structure into six elements which are, Statues, Social Role, Groups, Social Networks, Virtual Worlds and Social Insinuations. Society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as they interact with other people, Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic subjective meanings. Firstly, Status is a slot or position within a group or society. They tell us who people are and how they “fit” into groups, status can be ascribed or achieved. Secondly, Social roles are expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status, Thirdly Roles are a significant component of social structure, for Example her in Belize, we have the Belize Police Department, as to where by the police are expected to protect us and apprehend criminals. At fourth place we have Social Network which is the web of direct and indirect ties connecting an individual to other people who influence its

" This level refers to the way society and institutions advantage and disadvantage particular group due to their regular and routine practices".

Social Stratification can be explained as members of a society being placed into a hierarchy where they are

Meritocracy refers to “a social system as a whole in which individuals get ahead and earn rewards … to their individual efforts and abilities” (McNamee and Miller, 2004, p.2) so it looks past an individual’s wealth, class and background. Social mobility basically means the ability to moving up the ladder, there is a small chance for those who come from a working class background to getting further up in society’s ladder (Walkup, 2011). However, in most cases people generally remain within their same social class which they have been born into (Roberts, 2001). Social mobility is all about the extent to which your ability to ascend is predetermined, not by hard work and intelligence but by your parent's wealth, background and

But from textbook data and me and my family experiences I consider social mobility process is still in force today. How much opportunity is there is the factors that determine people’s occupational location and, hence their income, prestige and ultimately their life chances. Therefore, the only things we can control that can determine our future is our work ethic. Some societies tend to assign people’s position at birth by ascription, others who believe in their ability, knows that they can earn a live hood from their jobs, which they obtain based on a combination of hard work, and ability. According to the book “The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States.” (Beeghley, Leonard. 2008) Sociologists assess this degree of opportunity by Social mobility. Which refers to Intragenerational mobility and Intergenerational

This concept also intertwines with the idea of a society being confining to its individuals because society tries to keep a status quo—a norm that may not be contradicted at any time, unless gradually changed by a series of

Social location, the group memberships that people have because of their location in history and society. Where you stand in the world is how you are looked at. People have always been categorized, times where we were not here people were still be categorized. No matter what color you, how much money you have, age, religion, or even sexual orientation you are identified into a group. The way you are categorized is how you see the world and how the world sees you. Your “social location” places a big role in your life, positive and negative, for example, being judged because of your ethnicity.

Davis-Moore Theory of Social Stratification is a functionalist concept. Their theory is that stratification arises due to unconscious social needs to place the ablest persons in the most important positions, and then motivate them to perform their job (Grandjean, 1975). Davis and Moore believe stratification systems

World is composed of social stratification, a system which people are divided into layers based on their property, power and prestige. This stratification labels people and causes them to think accordingly within their own stratification. It can be expressed in four major groups as follows: slavery, caste system, estate, and class. Though it can be described in slavery, caste system, and estate, these are all old forms of social stratification that are not used commonly in the present. Therefore, my paper will be focusing on the description of the class system.

According to the textbook, You May Ask Yourself, a denotative definition for the word ascribed status is an involuntary position that someone is born into amongst society. For example, in the online video, Good Times, the family’s ascribed status was their race due to the fact that they were born with this sense of involuntary stature. On the other hand, You May Ask Yourself defines achieved status as a position by which someone voluntarily enters. In the video, the family illustrated achieved fitness since they were struggling to pay their rent due to finances, so the father had to hustle for money and the mother attempted to ask for money from welfare.

This movement is called social mobility “By social mobility is understood any transition of an individual or social object or value- anything that has been created or modified by human activity- from on social position to another.”(Sorokin, 1964, p. 133) This change in class is not always related to money or economic change. In some cultures an individual may ascertain great wealth in their life time but not be accepted into a higher class status. On the other hand a person who loses economic status is still revered as elite. This inability to move from one class to another is mostly observed in the estate system and the class system. There are two fundamental ways in which a person can be mobile within society either horizontal or vertical.