Concept Of Social Stratification

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Sociology
The concept of social stratification
Social stratification is a system through which a society the society ranks people categories in a hierarchy. In the majority of the society, some of the groups have attained greater power, status and wealth when compared to others. These are the differences that constitute to social stratification. Social stratification is specific types of social inequality. All the societies have a tendency of categorizing the members in terms of equality, superiority, and inferiority. It is a process of differentiation or interaction through which some of the people are ranked higher. When groups and individuals are ranked as per the accepted valuation basis in a status level

Rather than the natural differences, humans are differentiated according to a criterion that is socially approved. The phrase social inequality refers to the existence of the inequalities that have been socially created. The sociologists are concerned not merely with the social differences facts but with their social valuation. A significant determinant of social standing refers to the one’s parent social standing. The parents have a tendency of passing their social position to their kids. Individual inherit the social standing and the cultural norms that accompany a specific lifestyle. They share these with the family members and the friend’s networks. The different societies have distinct ways of deciding the places in their hierarchy and in some of the cases, once a person occupies a specific place within the hierarchy it might be hard to change but this largely relies on the society that a person lives in. Over the time, the rationale of stratifying the classes has changed, and this depends on the society. Some of the stratification systems are based on the ideas that the position of a person in the society is usually given at birth. Other hold the view that a person can attain their position in the society through hard work, marriage, lottery winnings or education, but there are some of the cases where a person can gain status from a mix of ascription ad achievement. In the United States, a majority of people holds the belief that every person has an equal chance towards attaining success. Nonetheless, sociologists recognize the fact that social stratification is a system within the society making inequalities prevalent. No person, poor or rich can be blamed for the existence of the social inequalities. The social standing of an individual is affected by the overall society