Social Stratification

Lastly, horizontal mobility occurs when an individual takes another job that keeps him in the same social class.

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.

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.

Christopher Doob wrote the first edition of Social Inequality and Social stratification in US Society. The author structures this book in the direction towards a theoretical concept that attracts the reality of social inequality and stratification as a whole. Doob dissects this books into eleven chapters given that each chapter examines the inequality of stratification. Also during the readings of this book Doob used plenty of data to show the socioeconomic strata revolved around the history of America. In relation to this book the assigned four readings in class “Class A guide through the American Status System, Class

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.

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

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, the author depicts a story about a young boy named Ponyboy, finding out the rights and wrongs in society and the struggle to survive. S.E Hinton brings up the meat and potatoes of the novel, that is social mobility. According to Dictionary.com social mobility is defined as “ the movement of individuals, families, households, or other categories of people within or between layers or tiers in an open system of social stratification. Open stratification systems are those in which at least some value is given to achieved status characteristics in a society.” Three main points that will be brought up about social mobility , are living conditions, power of wealth and education.

Economic stratification is the different rankings in social class are separated in different economic ways. These differences can vary from clothing, cars, perfumes, cigarette brands, etc. There are many ways you can tell what a person stratification is just by the way they look or the things they have. Usually these ranking go from lower class to middle class then the upper class. Each of these classes have very different ways of living and what they do to maintain a certain status.

Social class is defined as a broad group in society having common economic, cultural, or political status. Where somebody comes from can effect somebody's decision to become involved with that person or not, can effect whether that person will be hired for a job or not and can often effect they way one is looked at and treated by society. Either way, class distinction is always evident within society.

138). These hierarchies are based on various factors such as social class, religion, nationality, race, ethnicity, or any other social distinction recognized by both society and the individual. Along with pointing out what other, mainly sociological, theories have highlighted about social stratification, SDT considers structural factors and makes the important step in considering psychological factors. Along with considering these different factors, SDT recognizes the way structural factors (i.e. institutional and societal) create psychological factors (i.e. attitudes) and how those in turn influence structural differences through mutual constitution (Sindanius et al, 1998).

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

Even without being consciously aware of it, the use of some sort of scale when interacting with others is quintessential. This is because it represents a basic need of defining the self through the means of the others; knowing one’s place in society, as well as the positions of fellow individuals, ensures an orderly functioning of said system. For the sake of this essay, the definition of social stratification as a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power (Pearce, 2015), will be used.

Social stratification can be simply defined by stating that it is a system in which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy (Macionis, page 224). The concept of social stratification is based on four central principles, which are social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences, it carries over from one generation to the next, while it is universal, it is also variable, and social stratification involves not only inequality but beliefs as well (Macionis, pages 224-225). The first principle, that social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences, basically says that children born into wealthy families are more likely to be of good health, do well in school, succeed in a career, and live a long life (Macionis, pages 224-225). An example of this first principle can be seen in the what happened to the Titanic. The first-class passengers survived not because they were better swimmers than the second- and third-class passengers, but because of their privileged position (Macionis, page 224-225). The second principle states that the concept of social stratification is one that carries over from one generation to the next (Macionis, page 225). This concept is essentially stating that the social standing of a person is partially determined by their parents. Most people’s social standing remains constant throughout their lives (Macionis, page 225). While social stratification is

“Social mobility is Upward or downward movement within a stratification system. Liberal theory claims that capitalist societies are open-class and therefore one can expect a high degree of social mobility. According to liberal theory this movement within a stratification system should result from a person's achievements and should not be

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.