Post by Radrook Admin on Aug 23, 2019 20:09:30 GMT -5
Social Stratification
Don't let the high sounding word Stratification fool you into thinking that we are dealing with some profound truth that only a Rocket Scientist might understand. True, the word stratification sounds fancy, but the concept it represents is simple. Stratification means the division of something into different levels. The word is usually associated with geology where the soil is divided into layers or strata and identified with different geological periods. Some strata contain dinosaur fossils while others don't In fact, there is a strata that clearly divides the one where dinosaur fossils are found from those beneath which has them. It is the examination of that layer or strata which indicates that dinosaur extinction was caused by some comet or asteroid impact.
So that is all that the word means, a division into clearly differentiated segments. The only difference is that in Geology it involves between geological stratification and social stratification is that geological stratification involves the soil and rock layers while social stratification involves a division of people into different groups within any given society, from modern to the most primitive. Each is stratified in its own unique ways typical of its category except for a very rare few. The excerpt below explains it further.
Social Stratification
Social stratification is a kind of social differentiation whereby members of society are grouped into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit.
In modern Western societies, social stratification is typically defined in terms of three social classes: (i) the upper class, (ii) the middle class, and (iii) the lower class; in turn, each class can be subdivided into strata, e.g. the upper-stratum, the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum. Moreover, a social stratum can be formed upon the bases of kinship, clan, tribe or caste, or all four.
The categorization of people by social strata occurs in all societies, ranging from the complex, state-based or polycentric societies to tribal and feudal societies, which are based upon socio-economic relations among classes of nobility and classes of peasants. Historically, whether or not hunter-gatherer societies can be defined as socially stratified or if social stratification began with agriculture and common acts of social exchange, remains a debated matter in the social sciences.
Determining the structures of social stratification arises from inequalities of status among persons, therefore, the degree of social inequality determines a person's social stratum. Generally, the greater the social complexity of a society, the more social strata exist, by way of social differentiation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stratification
Concept Usefulness
The concept of social stratification is useful to the social scientist because with it he can better understand the behavioral dynamics within any given society. Why is there more crime in some social strata than in others,. Why were there so many revolutions in Mexico as opposed to he United States? Why is social mobility easier in some societies while difficult in others? An examination of a particular countries social stratification will provide the key to understanding much of this otherwise incomprehensible behavior and make finding a solution to any problem resulting from it easier.