Social Orientation And Social Mobility

Assess the usefulness of Marxist theories of stratification in understanding social class in society today.

This essay will compare and contrast and contrast two leading sociological theories: Marxism and Functionalism. Marxists predominantly believe that within society inequality and prejudice are rife, whereas Functionalists live under the impression that society operates in a state of social equilibrium wherein class and social status are necessities which we allow to transpire. This essay will explore the different viewpoints each theories take on subjects such as religion, community, family and education.

The concept of social class has been around for ages and is still a part of today’s society. Social class is not only based on the individual’s wealth but also on their social standing such as; monarchs, priests, nobles, merchants, and peasant class. The peasant class was practically ignored, which means that the higher classes would only pay attention to each other. This can be the case in society today, there are some people who feel that their career makes them higher than a janitor. Even though humans have been around for centuries, social class is still a big issue.

The Functionalist theory believes that society functions so that each individual plays a specific role. Their perspective of social inequality is the belief that "inequality is not only inevitable but also necessary for the smooth functioning of society."

One component of this idea is a social mobility. Social mobility is the movement of individuals or families within layers of social stratification. For example, if some family of first generation of immigrants (who are usually considered as low-income families) will work hard and get some college education, they probably can improve their social-economic status and move upward direction to the lower-middle class or even to the middle class level. However, to move from the low-income class status upward to the upper class status will be very difficult or even impossible for this family. As was written above, only 1-3% of American population is in the upper or upper-upper classes and this is like “private club” for the rest of population. The membership of this “club” is difficult to earn; many members of this upper class group received their statuses from their parents or grandparents and this looks like a “cast” of privileged people. This privilege gives many advantages and influence in political, educational, religious and other institutions. These advantages make upper class as a dominate group and underprivileged lower classes as subordinate group; and this stratification is describing classism. Carol Brantley and her colleagues (2003) state that “Classism is the systematic oppression of subordinated groups (people without endowed or acquired economic power, social influence, and privilege) who work for wages for dominant group (those who have access to control of the necessary resources by which other people make their living).” Classism says that upper class members are more educated and smarter than low-income and working classes’ members because they and their children can afford very expensive or exclusive education worldwide. Whereas, oppressed groups are lacking this opportunity to get prestige

Social class describes the different "layers" that exist in society. These "layers," or classes in society, are a division that civilization has been running on ever since the beginning of mankind. In most modern societies, our system of social class division is one of opportunity. We experience a good deal of social mobility, where people through generations or in their own lifetime can move up or down the social scale. By examining the many different perceptions of social class along with S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, it is illustrated that social class has an impact on people while they are growing up, and will usually deny them from rising above adversity.

Looking at the article “Class Matters” by Peter Sacks, Social classes are divisions in society, which are based on social and economic status. People from a similar social class have a distinct level of power and wealth within a given community or country. The most common social groupings, based on status, are the upper, the middle, and the lower social classes. The precise considerations of determining these hierarchical social categories vary from time to time. Many researchers have come up with different perspectives as far as social stratification is concerned. According to Karl Marx, social stratification is a result of one's position in the hierarchy of factors of production. Therefore, social stratification is a manifestation of financial muscle within society further creating the divide within social groupings as seen through educational divides and inequalities that lie in many aspects of life.

Social Inequality refers to any difference between groups or individuals in society which results in one having inferior life chances than the other. Functionalists believe these inequalities are the result of the meritocracy we live in. This is a system based on the idea that social stratification is necessary and desirable for the society. Functionalists argue that inequalities have a purpose; they are functional for society. Functionalism is a structural theory based on the notion that society is based on shared values. This consensus means that society will be in a state of equilibrium and there is harmony, as a result of which there will be social solidarity.

The functionalist feels that social inequality is necessary for the society to work as a whole.

Each of these groups is stratified into its own class; the group of people ranked most closely to them in property, power, and prestige. A person’s position in the stratification system affects everything about their life, from what they think and expect in life to how they see the world, as well as what opportunities they will have access to. Although, your status is still assigned at birth, but you have the chance at upward social mobility based on material possessions that you acquire, or things that you achieve. Or you may be on the other end of the spectrum and experience downward social

(Turner, p.112) Functional analysis established itself as a way of ‘bringing to light the significance of the institutional order and connecting it with the unintentional consequences of social action. (Turner, p.121) On page 35 of Back et al. it states that Durkheim’s argument is that classification is a process of ‘marking-off’, of showing things that are related, but have distinct points of difference to another. Functionalism assumes that society’s social institutions perform important functions to help ensure social stability. Rapid social change threatens social order, but slow social change is desirable.

Sociology is fluid in the way in which theories become less central to sociological thinking as time progresses. The theory of social class in particular was very prominent throughout the 1950’s-1970’s where social class divisions were seen as central to understanding differences in opportunity and life chances. Social class has been defined as ‘ a division of a society based on social and economic status.’ (1) These theories of social class were developed and studied by the likes of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. The theory of class has been subject to some criticism however since it fails to explain other forms of inequality such as race, gender and sexuality. Although there have been many attempts to link these inequalities to social class, no such connection has been found and other theoretical approaches have been needed from the likes of Andrew Pilkington, Kathwood Woodward and

In addition too, Symbolic Interactionism perspectives, there is Functionalism Perspective. The idea of the Functionalist perspective leads back to Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist whose writings form the core of the functionalist theory (McClelland, 2000). Functionalism is what happens when social structures have positive effects on the constancy of society. It is the frame work for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote harmony and stability. There are also three assumptions behind functionalism theory, Stability, Harmony, and Evolutions. Those who use social structure theory focus on studying the nature and the consequences of social structures. It also focuses on a relatively state pattern of social behavior. This gives our lives shape in

Functionalism developed out of the positivist observation that 'all positive speculations owe their first origin to the occupations of practical life' (Comte, 1865, pg 11) and the boundaries of scientific knowledge can not go further than empirically observable truths and views societies as holistic systems where 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts' (Taylor et el, 1997, pg 662). Functionalist analysis draws on three assumptions essentially seeking to transform society into a theoretical system of reality. The first assumption is that there are zero independent parts operating within

Functionalist theory is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It can be argued that the functionalist theory has made a significant contribution to the study of society. It originates from the work of Emile Durkheim who suggests that social order is possible and society remains stable due to the functioning of several institutions. Everything has a specific function in society and society will always function in harmony. The main institutions studied by functionalism are the family, the education system, religion and crime and deviance.