Social Stratification In The Caribbean

The Caribbean Social Structure can be seen as the way in which the Caribbean is socially comprised. This is based on the racial composition as well as other social factors that were impacted by history. One of the major events of history that impacted the way in which the Caribbean is socially constructed can be seen as colonialism. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Colonialism can be defined as “The practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another” (Kohn, 2006). Colonialism is not a modern day phenomenon. It was responsible for the development of several systems that were established in history that have all influenced the Social Structure of the modern day society. Some of these systems that were developed from acts of colonialism can be seen as enslavement, indentureship, plantation and migration. These social structures were all different but all included the introduction of foreign individuals or immigrants to the Caribbean. The introduction of a vast number of individuals into a similar space then resulted in the stratification process of persons. Social Stratification can be defined as the emergent and/or purposeful categorization of people and groups which is used to establish and/or reinforce differences in relative social worth i.e. (social ranks). Categorization is the fundamental feature of social stratification. In the Caribbean it is clear that some groups have higher status, wealth and privilege than other