Stratification - Grade: A+ PDF

Preview

Summary

Stratification within society with examples. ...

Description

SOC-102 March 28, 2017 Social Stratification Analysis Part One Social stratification is a system which groups of people are further divided based upon power, property, and prestige. Social stratification can be different based upon the system it operates. Stratification systems can be based on what is most important in one’s society such as religion, education, or economic value. The values of society are different across the entire world, making stratification systems different throughout the entire world. There are four distinct systems: slavery, caste, feudal, and class. The class system functions around ranking people through their economic position (Larkin, 2015). This allows for more social mobility within the system because people can improve upon their own economic value. Even though there is room for social mobility it is still not completely flexible for people to move up. Some people may struggle to have access to good and services. (Larkin, 2015). As earlier stated, the class system is determined by the economic value of the person within the system. This can be related to the feudal system as it is based on where people are born. In the class system if someone is born into a higher ranked family then they will most likely have a higher rank in society over all. If someone is born into a family with less value than they may stay at a lower economic or find it harder to move up because they are not born into a family that has easy access to goods and services. The complete opposite from the class system is the slavery system. The slavery system is completely closed off and doesn’t allow for movement between the classes. The social mobility of slavery is completely closed off so that the slave is property of another person. The slave has no control over their life and all decisions are made through the owner (Larkin, 2015).

In the slavery system, individuals are sorted by slaves and slave owners. Slaves can be enslaved through heredity or the use of military (Larkin, 2015). Someone who is born into a family that is enslaved will automatically become a slave. Someone who is part of a region that becomes conquered by another country can also become a slave. Once someone is a slave, it is nearly impossible for them to move out of that rank, one of the only ways to move is to escape. The third system is caste system. This system is highly popular in India and is comprised of four ranks: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Dalit (Larkin, 2015). The caste system is slightly open. It is mostly determined on the jobs that someone holds. The top of this system in a priest. This person holds the most power in the caste system. The social mobility of the caste systems is only slightly open because it is expected that people will marry others from their caste. However, technology has provided more mobility for people within the caste system because it allows for people to acquire better goods and services by using technology (Larkin, 2015). Part two Overall, women and men are very much different. Through wealth, power, prestige women and men can be completely different. It is a well known fact that most men make more money than women, even while working the same job. It was found that between men and women, both working full-times year- round, men will earn over $20,000 more than the average women (Maloney, 2016, pg. 9). This makes a ratio difference of 79% overall in 2010, which is quite a big gap between wages. In general, women of color will earn less than white men, “African-American woman would earn more than $877,000 less than the typical white man over 40 years, and the typical Latina would earn roughly $1,007,000 less” (Maloney, 2016, pg. 9). In fact, a male man will earn more than all women regardless of their race. It is also common to see

that more males will attend college compared to females. Not only do more males attend college but more males also graduate college than females. To be exact, 35,468 males will graduate with

MeanEar ni ngbyHi ghestDegr eei n2009bySex Educat i onDegr ee

Mal e

Femal e

Hi ghSchoolDi pl oma

35, 468

23, 304

SomeCol l ege-NoDegr ee

39, 204

25, 340

Associ at e' sDegr ee

47, 572

33, 432

Bachel or ’ sDegr ee

69, 479

43, 589

Mast er ’ sDegr ee

90, 964

58, 534

Pr of essi onal

150, 310

89, 897

Doct or alDegr ee

114, 347

83, 708

a high school diploma while only 23,304 females will graduate (Larkin, 2015).

Through these findings, I found that through the stratification system women will nearly always be found behind men, but are even further divided by race, class, and education. Race is a tremendous determination of rank in society within both genders. It is a constantly trend to see white and Asian races at the top of household ownership, education, and annual earnings. They are further divided by education, those who have an after high school education will make a large amount of money. On average, those who have a doctorates degree will earn around $7,304 monthly compared to $1,196 monthly of a high school diploma (Bureau, 2000). This shows that in an class system, stratification values males with a high education who tend to be of a white or

Asian race. Women will automatically earn less than men and those with a college education will earn more than those without. That being said, I believe that an educated Asian male holds the most power. First it is shown that who’s with a college education will earn more than someone who acquires a high school diploma (Larkin, 2015). Asians also have more college degrees than any other race, having about 60% or 25 to 29 year olds with a bachelor’s degree or higher (Larkin, 2015). Further, Asians have one of the lowest poverties rates among all men, women, and children. (Larkin, 2015). Overall, Asians make more than all other races and have a median income of $64,308 (Larkin, 2015).

Overall, Asian/Pacific Islanders make more money, acquire more college degrees, and seem to be overall more successful. The stratification of this system can then be said that this society values males more than females, educated males or non, and Asian males or other races.

Overall the stratification of our world is very confusing and complex. Many things can separate people and groups in our world. Stratification can be used in different systems and each system is focused on different values. Overall, stratification separates people into their ranks or classes based on the specific values that that society has. Stratification can be seen through many cultures and continues to expand itself in our day to day lives.

References Bureau, U. C. (2000). Census.gov. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from https://www.census.gov/ Bureau, U.C. (2016). Cencus.gov. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from https://www.census.gov/ Larkin, T. M. (2015). Sociological beginnings. In Grand Canyon University (Ed.) Our social world: An introduction to sociology. Available from http://lc.gcumedia.com/soc102/oursocial-world-an-introduction-to-sociology/v1.1/ Maloney, C. B. (2016). Joint Economic Committee . United States Congress. Retrieved April 2, 2017, from https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/0779dc2f-4a4e-4386-b8479ae919735acc/gender-pay-inequality----us-congress-joint-economic-committee.pdf....