Social Stratification and Class Essay

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

“The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center” (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/09/10/a-third-of-americans-now-say-they-are-in-the-lower-classes/). Today’s adults stating that they are in the lower class are most likely to have had a rough life growing up, and can now not escape the lower class. Social class is the idea of “a division of a society based on social and economic status” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/social-class). Social class has the greatest impact on who a person turns out to be and what decisions they make because those

Mantsios writes about class in the United States. He covers the fact that people rarely speak about the existence of social class. As americans we refer to each other by their race, ethnic group, or geographical location. Mantsios states that we do not speak about class because it has been taken away from pop culture. The author is the one making the argument in this article. He has very outstanding credentials such as being the director of the Murphy Institute for Workers Education and Labor Studies at Queens College in New York. He is also editor of a New Labor Movement for the New Century (1998). The targeted audience seems to be the “upper class.” I feel like the “upper class” needs to help out the “middle class,” but I also think the middle class needs to be more aware of the situation. They could both work together. The authors main point of this article was to inform the readers about social

There is much debate about the issue of social class in the United States. There are arguments about whether social classes are distinctly separate or fluid, dependent upon one’s community or society as a whole, and if they are subjective or objective (Hughes and Jenkins). However, despite the debate surrounding social classes, it is still important to try to define them and analyze their effects, as they are such an important part of our identity and our opportunities in society. Although our society has tried to appear as though we have no classes, and it is becoming harder to tell what class someone is in by material goods, classes do still exist today (Scott and Leonhardt). The trend has been to divide the U.S. into four major

The three different systems of social stratification in society are slavery, castes, and social classes. Slavery is the most extreme form of social inequality, where enslaved people are treated a property that can be bought, sold, and used however the owner wants. A caste system is one where social

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.

Social class has been always been in our society since its establishment. Back then, white,

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.

People consider that social stratification in the United States contains social classes such as upper class, middle class, and lower class. People who are categorizing in upper class not only have power and control over their own lives but also their social status gives them

Society is set up into a hierarchical triangle that essentially determines social class. A social class is any person or group of people with the same educational, social or economical status. Social class can be broken down into many different categories such as race, age, gender, economic status, educational status and many more. Social class can be measured in many different ways such as financial status, family values, appearance, and demeanor. In America there are six main economical social classes which are the: Very poor, Poor, Working class, Middle class, Upper middle class, and the ruling 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.

The division of the districts, each district has a specific area of production. Ex. District 1-Luxury items, District 4- Fishes, District 11- Agriculture, and District 12- Coal Miners. All districts produce their items for the rich and powerful Capitol. This can be viewed as a division of labor. Each district has a specific job, a specific labor that contributes to the whole nation but mostly to the Capitol. The first 2 districts live comfortably while as the number of the district increases their quality of living decreases. Because of this caste system those born into one of the districts have very little if any opportunity for advancement in the class system and are generally stuck in their respective district.

Concept 1: I come to realize that classism is degree of difference based on social perceived class, which is all teetering on one paycheck. I also come to understand, from the movie American Winter, that middle class people are finding themselves, laid off, foreclosed, and unable to pay their utility bills causing so many people in our own community to be one paycheck from poverty, eviction and homelessness. The middle class is working hard one day and the next day going to homeless shelters, food banks and even selling their own plasma just to put food on the table (Gantz 2013). Homeless shelters are quickly

Socialisation is a learning process where people learn and adapt to the appropriate and accepted values, attitudes and behaviours of their society. Nevertheless, separate groups exist within societies for reasons including ethnicity, class and culture and these can bring their own set of ‘norms’. Bond and Bond in Sociology and Social Care (2009 pg28) states “From the cradle to the grave we are being socialised”. Primary socialisation occurs from infancy to early adulthood. Secondary socialisation follows into the later stages of maturity. Anticipatory socialisation is where we learn to anticipate the actions and activities deemed appropriate by society. Resocialisation occurs when we learn new behaviours in response to new situations and

1. How may a student's social class origin and related factors impact on her/his learning outcomes and how can teachers intervene to effectively address any resulting disadvantages and injustices for students?