Stratification: Class and Caste

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Chapter 12

• Stratification Class and Caste

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Chapter Outline

• Explaining Social Stratification
• Criteria of Stratification Power, Wealth and
  Prestige
• Ascription and Achievement
• Caste

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Explaining Social Stratification

• No culture has ever devised a successful means of
  organizing a large population without
  stratification and inequality.
• From a functionalist perspective, inequality and
  the promise of economic and social rewards
  motivate people to engage in difficult, jobs.
• Although social stratification may be and of some
  benefit, it is also a source of conflict and
  instability.

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Explaining Social Stratification

• In the view of the conflict theory, social
  stratification is a result of the struggle for
  scarce goods and services.
• Inequalities exist because individuals and
  groups who have acquired power, wealth, and
  prestige use their assets and their power to
  maintain control over the apparatus of the state,
  particularly its institutions of coercion and
  ideology.

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Theories of Stratification

• Functionalism specifies that specific cultural
  institutions function to support the structure of
  society or serve the needs of individuals in
  society.
• Conflict theory focuses on inequality as a source
  of conflict and change.

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Question

• If one looks at how social stratification may
  benefit a state-level society and/or its members,
  one is taking a(n) ________ perspective.
• anthropological
• functionalist
• historical
• evolutionary
• psychological

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Answer b

• If one looks at how social stratification may
  benefit a state-level society and/or its members,
  one is taking a functionalist perspective.

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Dimensions of Stratification

• Power is the ability to control resources in
  ones own interest.
• Wealth is the accumulation of material resources
  or access to the means of producing these
  resources.
• Prestige is social honor or respect.

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Ascribed Vs. Achieved Status

• Ascribed StatusSocial position into which a
  person is born. (sex, race, kinship group)
• Achieved StatusSocial position that a person
  chooses or achieves. (professor, criminal, artist)

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Social Class in the United States

• Status depends on occupation, education, and
  lifestyle.
• The American Dream, is based on the democratic
  principle of equality and opportunity for all.
• Social class in the United States correlates with
  attitudinal, behavioral, and lifestyle
  differences.

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Stratification Systems

• Closed system A system of stratification based
  primarily on ascription.  
• Open system A system of stratification based
  primarily on achievement.
• Class systemA form of social stratification in
  which the different strata form a continuum and
  social mobility is possible.

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Social mobility

• Movement from one social class to another.

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Life Chances

• Opportunities people have to fulfill their
  potential in society.
• Include
• chance of survival and longevity
• opportunities to obtain an education
• opportunities to participate in cultural life
• opportunities to live in comfort and security

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Social Classes as Subcultures

• Many studies demonstrate that social class
  correlates with differences in attitudes,
  behavior, lifestyle, and values.
• A social class has aspects of a subculture
• its members tend to share similar life
  experiences, occupational roles, values,
  educational backgrounds, affiliations, leisure
  activities, buying habits, religious affiliation,
  and political views.

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Caste System

• System of stratification based on birth.
• Movement from one caste to another is not
  possible.
• Castes are hereditary, endogamous, ranked in
  relation to one another and usually associated
  with a traditional occupation.

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Hindu Caste System

• Four caste categories
• Brahmins - priests and scholars
• Kshatriyas - ruling and warrior caste
• Vaisyas - the merchants
• Shudras - menial workers and artisans
• Harijans untouchables

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Question

• Which of the following is not characteristic of
  caste systems?
• based on birth
• marriage is exogamous with respect to caste
• caste is hereditary
• ranked with respect to one another
• a person cannot move from one caste to another

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Answer b

• That marriage is exogamous with respect to caste
  is not characteristic of caste systems.

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Changes in the Caste System

• There have been important changes in the caste
  system in the past 50 years.
• Caste ranking appears to be less sharply defined
  within the higher caste categories.
• Caste is less relevant for occupations.
• Differences in caste are now referred to in
  public as cultural differences, rather than as a
  hierarchy based on spiritual purity and pollution.

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. The view that social stratification and
  inequalities in a state result from competition
  for scare goods and services, and that the elite
  classes attempt to maintain control over the
  state apparatus is called
• functionalism.
• evolutionary theory.
• conflict theory.
• cultural relativity.
• structuralism.

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Answer c

• The view that social stratification and
  inequalities in a state result from competition
  for scare goods and services, and that the elite
  classes attempt to maintain control over the
  state apparatus is called conflict theory.

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• 2. Social scientists refer to the opportunities
  that people have to fulfill their potential in
  society as
• social statuses.
• roles.
• social mobility.
• life chances.
• random.

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Answer d

• Social scientists refer to the opportunities that
  people have to fulfill their potential in society
  as life chances.

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• 3. The example of poor whites in the American
  south who did not join with poor blacks to work
  for a desperately needed improvement of their
  economic situation illustrates ________
  observation that people may often value prestige
  more than economic self-interest.
• Margaret Mead's
• Karl Marx's
• Max Weber's
• Emile Durkheim's
• Wilhelm Lang's

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Answer c

• The example of poor whites in the American south
  who did not join with poor blacks to work for a
  desperately needed improvement of their economic
  situation illustrates Max Weber's observation
  that people may often value prestige more than
  economic self-interest.

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• 4. Social class in American society can be
  described by all except which one of the
  following statements?
• People of a social class share cultural patterns,
  so a class can be also seen as a "subculture."
• Members of a social class associate with one
  another, more than with people in other social
  classes.
• Friendship and marriage generally occur between
  people of the same social class.
• One's social class is determined almost
  exclusively by one's income level and amount of
  accumulated wealth.
• People born into higher social classes work hard
  to maintain their position, often trying to keep
  others from upward mobility.

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Answer d

• Social class in American society can not be
  described by the following statements
• One's social class is determined almost
  exclusively by one's income level and amount of
  accumulated wealth.