SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Social
Stratification
is the ranking of people in a vertical arrangement (hierarchy) that
differentiates them as superior or inferior.
1.
Biological traits to not become relevant in patterns of social
superiority and inferiority until they are socially recognized and given
importance by being incorporated into the beliefs, attitudes and values of the
people in the society.
2.
Social stratification means that inequality has been institutionalized.
In what ways are societies stratified?
1.
Social class "implies having or not having the following: individual rights,
privileges, power, rights over others, authority, life style choices,
self-determination, status wealth access to services, comfort, leisure,
etc" (Comer, 1978).
2.
Racial and ethnic stratification refers systems of inequality in which some fixed
groups membership, such as race, religion, or national origin is a major
criterion for ranking social positions and their differential rewards. Race is socially defined on the basis
of a presumed common genetic heritage resulting in distinguishing physical
characteristics. Ethnicity refers
to the condition of being culturally rather than physically distinctive. Ethnic peoples are bound together by
virtue of common ancestry and a common cultural background.
·
“Without
slavery there is no cotton; without cotton there is no modern industry.” (Karl Marx)
·
The
slave labor force grew from 530,000 in 1780 to 1,180,000 million in 1830, to
2,340,000 in 1860.” (Steinberg, 1981)
·
Whereas
only 12,000 pounds of cotton were exported in 1790, by 1860, the figure had
grown to 1.7 billion pounds.
(Steinberg, 1981)
·
By
1860, cotton constituted 60 percent of American exports; nearly all went to
Britain. “Cotton was the most important
stimulus to growth in both countries.” (Thistlewaite, 1959)
·
“The
Unites States was built up on an economy of slavery. That in itself was no crime.
Many societies and countries have been based on slavery. The crime of the United States is that it is
the first and only country which, having freed its slaves legally, by
proclamation, by law and in the courts, then continued to enslave them and
denied them equal rights on the basis of their color.” (Boggs, 1970)
·
“A society which had consistently underinvested in black students
ought to now adopt race based policies aimed at helping young blacks overcome
the deficits yielded by segregation.
The legacy of decades of systematic deprivation could be overcome only
by color conscious policies direct at the victims of that deprivation.” (Howard, 1997)
·
“Opponents of affirmative action have sought to seize the moral
high ground, arguing that such policies betray the central ethical claim which
drove the civil rights movement in its long struggle against segregation. People ought to be accorded equal treatment
without regard to race, gender, or other extraneous characteristics. …the main burden of change must lie with programs
that can develop a degree of genuine equality that will make affirmative action
unnecessary.” (Howard, 1997)
3.
Gender
is the patterning of difference and domination through distinctions between
women and men. Gender roles are social
constructions: they contain self-perceptions and psychological traits, as well
as family, occupational, and political roles assigned to each sex. Patriarchy is the term for forms of
social organization in which men are dominant over women.
Order
Perspective on Stratification: "Society must provide suitable rewards
(money, prestige, and power) to induce individuals to fill positions such as
those that involve decision-making, medicine, religion, teaching, and the
military. A differential reward system guarantees that the important societal
functions are fulfilled, thereby ensuring the maintenance of society.
Differential ranks actually serve to unify society through a division of labor
and through the socialization of people to accept their positions in the
system. Is inequality primarily integrative or divisive?
Conflict
Perspective on Stratification: "Conflict perspective assumes that
stratification reflects the distribution of power in society and is therefore a
major source of discord and coercion. The unequal distribution of rewards
reflects the interests of the powerful and not the basic survival needs of
society. Stratification is unjust, divisive, and a source of social instability
or change" (p. 238).
Institutional
Discrimination
is when the customary way of doing things, prevailing attitudes and
expectations, and accepted structural arrangements work to the disadvantage of
the poor.