Social Stratification : Social Class, Ethnicity, Age, And Gender

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.

In my research of Austin, Texas I found out several interesting facts regarding the demographic makeup of the city. For example, the racial breakdown by race is whites 68%, blacks 8%, Hispanic are at 35% and foreign-born 18% The makeup is obviously different when you compare Austin to the US as a whole, however, it is interesting to see the “total picture”. The following is the breakdown for the US whites 72%, black 12.6%, Hispanic 17%, and foreign-born 13%.

It goes without saying that throughout society there exists varying degrees of gender stratification. Although many have attempted to understand why this difference between the distribution of property, power and prestige exists amongst genders, the answer is still somewhat ambiguous. Although the United States isn’t a perfect example of equality amongst genders, compared to a majority of nations across the globe, its conditions for both genders are relatively similar. One country notorious for its massive discrepancy in terms of access to property, power and prestige between genders is Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia and a number of Middle Eastern countries, there exists a great deal of gender stratification. According to the 2008 Human Rights

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status which can include levels of wealth, success, power of authority, and influence. Status is can be defined or grouped having common economic, cultural, or political interests.

Everyone in the world has their own identity; have you ever thought about what your identity is? Identity plays a big role in the world especially in America where not all identities are good. People might identify a wealthy person as “snotty rich” or a poor person as “defective” or maybe someone calls a man a woman when they're really a man. Or maybe you call someone a terrorist just because they are middle eastern. The list goes on and on and thats why social forces influence identities and can become dangerous. Gender, race, and social class are all forms of social forces.

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.

The impact on minorities due to inequality
Introduction 
During the course of this class I have learned about social problems within the society in which we live and around the world. It is disturbing to learn that poverty, social inequality, race and cultural discrimination, gender stratification, environmental damage, population growth, and urbanization are among the social problems and controversial issues that still exist in the United States.

Social stratification involves various inequalities within a gender, race, class. When considering the role of gender, race, and class in the social stratification system, it affects the organization system which is known for disparity based on the families’ income statutes, lack of resources, organization activity, and systematic inadequate government law. In the following essay I will focus how social stratification inequality effect families and individuals in the United States based on a gender, race, and class. Society has lived over decades experiencing different types of inequality. For example, gender inequality has been around since our ancestors. Informing society and continuous advocating about inequality is vital for positives changes

We each have a unique personality that no one else can match perfectly but our social identity is a way to connect to other through our similar characteristics. King (2012) states “Social identity is the way individuals define themselves in terms of their group membership” (pg. 428). We all have titles we carry with us like being a mother or father, a daughter or son, and even a sister or brother the list can go on and on. Within these individualities we have a

Now moving on to social identity, it is important because it is an ingredient for social discrimination. In order for people to discriminate they have to belong to a group. Social identity theory suggests that people "remain loyal when they feel that their organizations have same values and appreciate them" (Tyler, 1999, p. 235). However, social identity theory maintains that when people feel that their organization values and appreciates them, it is a sign of organizational respect for them or of their high status within the organization (Tyler). High status is likely to increase people's organizational commitment because it enhances their social identity (Tyler). Therefore, social identity is reflected in people's self-esteem (Chattopadhyay, 1999).

America is known as the land of the free and home of the brave. When thinking of this you think about all the opportunities presented to people and all the freedom. An idea of America is that we’re a meritocracy, which means anyone can be able to to become anything they want as long as they work hard playing by the rules. Along with that many people believe that diversity will bring together the country and unite us all but that’s not the case. America is not a meritocracy.

While there are other influencing factors, income is one of the most important aspects when determining ones’ social status. It is often accompanied by family background, but while well-placed connections vary in importance, wealth is a necessary condition in a civilization governed by materialism. As such, ones’ family riches determine the levels of education their off springs may be entitled to, as well as any other assets their children may benefit from. Additionally, factors such as clothing and overall outer appearance are used by other people when trying to place one in a social category, and it certainly cannot harm to have them from a young age. Monetary prosperity and stability are essential factors when deciding one’s place in the social structure since they dictate the amount of comfort and security that individual can acquire and subsequently the opinion that others will have of

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 stratification is not a new phenomenon; its roots extends far back into antiquity with some contending that archaeological evidence reveals that social stratification existed in Cro-Magnon society 10,000 or more years ago (Tattersall 1998:178). Social stratification may be based on many attributes; according to Arredondo Biological differences can produce, directly or indirectly, social stratification by factors such as age, gender, race, or socioeconomic status. Age stratification and ageism are very closely related; one cannot exist without the other. Age stratification separates people into three primary groups according to their age; the young, the old and the rest. Ageism is the process of systematic

Social stratification defines any structure of inequality that persists in a society across generations. Social strata are groups of people — who belong to the same social class or have the same social level. Social strata are organised in a vertical hierarchy. In the early societies people shared a common social standing. In the hunting and gathering societies there was little stratification: men hunted for meat while women gathered edible plants. The general welfare of the society depended on the mutual sharing of goods between all members and no group emerged as better off than the others.