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1 Angel Ontiveros SOC-102 March 29, 2020 Dr. Tim Larkin Social Stratification Analysis A person’s background or experiences within a society can be differentiated based on their ascribed status, wealth, income and prestige. On the other hand, society is placed in a more organized system due to stratification. Social stratification is “the way in which a society organizes itself so that individuals know their place or rank, also known as their social position” on where they lie within society (Larkin, 2015, para. 4). Within today’s society, there are stratification systems in place that allows greater or less flexibility with regard to social mobility, which includes slavery, class and caste (Larkin, 2015). Throughout this paper, I will analyze the stratification systems and decide which system is the strongest. Part One: Slavery falls within the stratification system, which is one of the utmost forms of condoned social inequality. An individual can be enslaved by hereditary or military conquest (Larkin, 2015). In other words, someone who is born in a family that is involved of being enslaved will automatically become a slave in the future. An individual can be owned by someone else, which considers that individual enslaved, and the owner is at liberty to treat the enslaved individual in any manner that the owner desires (Larkin, 2015). For example, African Americans have been enslaved in the United States around the 1800’s due to the increased labor of removing seeds from cotton fibers, whereas growing cotton was very labor intensive and “African American slaves supplied this labor” (“African American Slavery” l.c., para.2).

2 On the other hand, another social stratification system is class. This type of stratification system ranks people by their economic position, and it is one of the most common systems that is utilized in society (Larkin, 2015). The class system is divided into 3 main classes, which include the upper, middle and lower classes. The upper class would be the wealthiest people, the middle class are financially stable, and the lower class are financially unstable. The class stratification system was founded by sociology theorists Dennis Gilbert and Joseph Kahl. Upper-middle class, lower-middle class, working class, working-poor class and the underclass are all considered the capitalist class, whereas individuals that lie within this area of society are dependent on education or income (Larkin, 2015). A person’s place in the class system is determined heavily by their origin along with the ascribed factors that contribute to the individual’s place in the class system. Lastly, the caste system is another component of the stratification system. This type of stratification is based on heredity placement. In other words, people who are born into a particular caste, they would have to remain there for the rest of there lives (Larkin, 2015). The caste system is more commonly known in India, where it is led by the Hindu religion. The India case system has four castes, which includes priests, warriors, merchants and artisans/farmers (Larkin, 2015). The last category in the India caste system is the “untouchables”, which is considered very lowly that as a result its members are not allowed to have a place in the stratification system (Larkin, 2015, para.13). This being said, individuals who are born into a specific caste must remain in that particular caste. Regardless of the previously mentioned stratification systems, they all contain a distinction in social mobility. Social mobility is the capability to move up or down within a social stratification hierarchy (Larkin, 2015). Slavery has very minimal amount of social

3 mobility because they were “prohibited from learning to read or write, and their behavior was strictly controlled by their owner” (“Slavery in America, n.d., para.3). Slavery would be a closed system since they are restricted to move from their social position. However, whoever lies within the open systems such as the class system are allowed to shift upwards from their current social position (Larkin, 2015). For example, if someone was currently working as a lawyer but has continued to enhance their academic studies and become a judge, that person has vertical mobility because the individual shifted into a higher social position. On the other hand, the caste system has limited social mobility due to strict boundaries. Such boundaries include marriage within their caste or working jobs that are appropriate in their caste. They are also strictly unable to socialize with other people who are not within their same caste (Larkin, 2015). While comparing all three systems, it appears that slavery and the caste system have very minimal social mobility, as opposed to the class system where they are feely mobile. Part Two: Despite that there is a variety of stratification systems to categorize within a society, there are other components such as gender that could help differentiate individuals. For example, males and females can be compared with each other based on their race, class and education level. In order to note the difference of the class position between males and females, we can distinguish the wage amounts between both genders. However, there is a wage gap between both genders. The reason behind that is due to a woman who works full time earns approximately $36,000 a year, and on the other hand, males who work full time make about $44,000 a year (Hegewisch & Williams-Baron, 2017). It is estimated about 21.5% of males have earned their bachelor’s degree which requires 4 years at a university, as opposed to women where it is

4 approximately 31.5% that have earned their bachelor’s degree (“American factfinder”,n.d). This being said, individuals can be distinguished by race, class, and academic achievements. The statistics that were previously mentioned demonstrates that males are above the wage earnings as opposed to females. It appears that males earn $8,000 more than females per year, regardless of the equivalent hours that are worked between both genders, which typically means that they have more access to resources. In addition, it also appears that there is a 10% gap between both genders in regard to achieving a bachelor’s degree and males still earn more than females. This is an indicator on an inequality between both genders. On the other hand, the population appears to be composed of mostly Caucasian males and females, which could result in an imbalance between other races. For example, the Hispanic population that are students are most likely to withdraw from their academic studies due to financial instability (“American factfinder”, n.d.). As opposed to Caucasians and Asian students, they are mostly likely to achieve a master’s degree which is due to them having financial stability, whereas they have access to more opportunities to enhance their education status to gain more money in the future (“American factfinder”, n.d.). It is without uncertainty that particular gender and race groups will have more power in their category as opposed to others. When these groups have a better economic status, their power exhibits more opportunities that are available for them. For example, when a female has a higher educational status, their income will eventually increase as they continue to shift upwards. Additionally, one can suggest that males have more power due to the fact that they have a higher income rather than females despite the higher education level. Given these points, the social stratification system is critical for all societies to organize themselves so that one can give themselves the opportunity to shift upwards in their social

5 mobility. This is can be achieved by accomplishing the work necessary in order to shift closer to the top of the hierarchy. Otherwise someone may fall behind or remain in their current social status where consequences can arise.

6 References Hegewisch, A., & Williams-Baron, E. (2017). The gender wage gap by occupation 2016; and by race and ethnicity. Retrieved from https://iwpr.org/publications/gender-wage-gap-occupation2016-race-ethnicity/ Larkin, T. M. (2015). Social Stratification. In Grand Canyon University (Ed.), Our Social World: An Introduction to Sociology (pp. 39 – 45). Retrieved from http://lc.gcumedia.com/soc102/our-social-world-an-introduction-to sociology/v1.1/#/chapter/7 Library of Congress. (2016). Pre-Civil War African American Slavery - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Library of Congress. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/time line/expref/slavery/ Slavery in America. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery...