Notes - Some Principles of Stratification PDF

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Notes - Some Principles of Stratification...

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Notes - Some Principles of Stratification The Functional Necessity of Stratification - There are different methods of stratification - Stratification is needed to distribute members in society to make them perform the duties of their positions. - There are two systems:! - competitive system gives greater importance to the motivation to achieve positions! - non competitive system gives greater importance to the motivation to perform the duties of the positions. - If the various positions were given out equally this would be problematic since people would not have the training for it and also not the diligence that their importance requires. - Societies has rewards for different positions and this leads to the social order and stratification. - There are three kinds of rewards. The rewards are built into the position such as right. - As rights and perquisites of different positions in a society are unequal then the society must be stratified. Social inequality is therefore unconsciously evolved by where societies see that the most important positions are filled by the most qualified people. Therefore every society has a certain amount of institutionalised inequality. - The amount or type of inequality is not the same in all societies. The Two Determinants of positional rank - The two factors that determine the rank of different positions are! - those which have the greatest importance for the society (Function)! - those that require the greatest training or talent. (Means and scarcity) - Differential Functional Importance - different positions depending on their functional importance do not need to be rewarded but there just needs to be sufficient reward to insure that they will be filled competently. - Differential Scarcity of Personnel - all positions need some skill for performance, but the higher the position, the higher skill required. - There are two determinants of differential reward in different systems of stratification, which are functional importance and scarcity of personnel. Positions which are important in one society may not be important in other societies due to the conditions faced by the societies or their degree of internal development may be different. Major Societal functions and stratification - Religion is necessary since society achieves its unity through society having possession certain ultimate values and ends in common which influence behaviour and their integration enables the society to operate as a system. - Religion provides integration in terms of sentiments, beliefs and rituals. - Through the worship of the sacred objects, and the acceptance of religious manners is a powerful control over what humans do and leading to obtain the ends and values. - People that work in religion get greater rewards than an ordinary member of society. - Religious functionaries are associated with the highest position of power. However, they do not get total control over their societies. The factors that stop this is the amount of technical competence they need for their religious duties is small and anyone can do it as you do not need a scientific or artistic skills. - The highest general position given to the priest happens in the medieval type of social order, such as Catholicism of feudal Europe. - In an advanced society which is built on scientific technology, the priesthood loses status because sacred tradition and supernaturalism loses stance. However, no society has become so secularised to lose complete sacred tradition. Government - The government organises the society in terms of law and authority. - The main functions of government are enforcing norms, dealing with conflicting interests, planning and directing society, handing war and diplomacy.

- The government acts as the agent of the entire people, has a monopoly of force and controls all individual within its territory.

- Political action needs authority. An official can command because he has authority and the

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citizen must obey the authority. Stratification is therefore inherent in the nature of political relationships since there is a hierarchical order from governance from the state to the population. In political positions there is political inequality since that the actual holders of political office and the one that determine top policy are only a few compared to the population. Political power is limited by the rulers having to represent the interests of the group and are restricted by rules.

Wealth, Property and Labour - Every position is economically rewarded. - Social status comes from the amount of economic return people get. - Positions with high income do not bring power and prestige. Positions which have high incomes are due to it being functionally important and the people that can do the job are only a limited number of the population - Economic source of power and prestige comes from income, ownership of capital goods. - One kind of ownership of production goods is the right over the labour of others. This is slavery and this kind of ownership has the greatest significance for stratification as there is an unequal relationship. - Even the ownership of capital goods creates stratification. Technical knowledge - Positions which need technical skill receive high wages in order to draw talent and motivate training. Variation in stratified systems - There are different systems based on certain modes of variation - Degree of Specialisation - The Nature of the Functional Emphasis - where a society emphasis a certain matter and this matter has to be followed by all of society - The Magnitude of Invidious Differences - the amount of social distance between positions. There are considerable differences between different socities with regard to the social distance between positions. - The Degree of Opportunity - mobile (open opporunity) or immbole (closed opporunity). - The Degree of Stratum Solidarity - degree of class solidarity in a society, such as specific organisation which promote class interest. External conditions - The conditions outside the system of stratification influences the system. - The stage of cultural development effects it. As cultural heritage grows, this leads to increased specialisation needed which leads to mobility, decline of statum solidarity and changing in functions. - The situation with respect to other societies effects stratification. - The size of the society - a small society limits the degree to which functional specialisation can go, the degree of segregation of different strata, and the magnitude of inequality....