UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LEGAL STUDIES,

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH.

In partial Fulfilment of requirements for the syllabus of

B.A.L.L.B (Semester-I)

Topic of the Assignment- Social Stratification

SUBMITTED BY: KAMALPREET KAUR
COURSE: B.A. LL.B. (Honours.)
ROLL NUMBER: 251/20
SECTION: ‘C’
SUBMITTED TO: DR. ANUPAM BAHRI

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 Acknowledgement

In preparation of my assignment, I had to take the

help and guidance of some respected persons,
who deserve my deepest gratitude. As the
completion of this assignment gave me much
pleasure, I would like to show my gratitude to Dr.
Anupam Bahri, of Panjab University, Chandigarh,
for giving me good guidelines for assignment
throughout.

I would also like to thank my family and my

friends for constantly encouraging me during the
course of this Assignment, which I could never
complete without their support and continuous
encouragements.

I would also like to expand my gratitude to all

those who have directly and indirectly guided me
in writing this assignment.

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1. INTRODUCTION

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

3. PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

4. ORIGIN OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

5. HISTORICAL STRATIFICATION SYSTEM

6. MODERN STRATIFICATION SYSTEM

7. THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION

8. GLOBAL STRATIFICATION

9. THEORIES OF GLOBAL STRATIFICATION

10. CONCLUSION

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Introduction
Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people
into rankings of socio-economic tiers based on factors like wealth,
income, race, education, and power.
Social stratification is considered as one of the greatest concern of
sociology since last 5-6 decades. Social stratification is derived from
geology (Strata means layers) and refers to the arrangement of
population into higher and lower strata. In simplest terms, social
stratification refers to ‘society made up of layers’. Social
stratification refers to the arrangement of any social group or society
into hierarchy of positions that is unequal with regard to power,
property, social evaluation, etc. Those in the top strata have more
power, prestige, privilege than those in the Lower strata.
Stratification is viewed as a social process as well as a method
devised by sociologists to understand inequality in the society. It has
four sub processes:-
i) Differentiation: Differences exist socially as well as naturally
in every society.
ii) Evaluation: Differences are evaluated in terms of prestige,
desirability, etc. It leads to feelings of inferiority and superiority
among people with the differences.
iii) Ranking: Ranking is applied to people who share a set of
common characteristics, which are evaluated in terms of desirability
and undesirability.
iv) Rewarding: After differentiation and evaluation society
develops a system of rewards and punishment in the form of
differential opportunities to members belonging to different groups.

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 Characteristics of
Social Stratification
According to M.M Junín, the main characteristics of social
stratification are:-

1. Stratification is social- Stratification is based on the

Society as a whole and not the individual differences.
Strength, intelligence, age and sex can serve as the basis sometimes
but are not sufficient alone to explain why some statuses receive
more power and prestige than others.

2. Stratification is ancient- The system of stratification is quite old.

It is of the times when age and sex were the main determinants for
stratification. Thus, it is persisting over generations.

3. It is universal, but variable- The system of stratification has been

universal and no society has been able to escape from it. Difference
between rich and poor is present everywhere. All permanently
organised groups are stratified. But the features and criterions of
stratification vary from society to society.

4. It is in diverse forms- The system is variable and differs in all

societies. In ancient times, it was based on age and sex. Aryan society
was divided into 4 varnas whereas Marx divided into have and have-
nots. But in modern context, class, caste and estate are most widely
applied form of stratification.

5. It is Consequential: The stratification system has its own

Consequences. The most important, most desired and often the
scarcest things in human life are distributed unequally because of
stratification.
The system leads to two kinds of consequences:

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(1) Life chances an
(2) Life styles.
• Life chances refer to such things as infant mortality, longevity,
physical and mental illness, marital conflict, separation and divorce.
• Life styles include the mode of housing, residential area, education,
means of recreation, relation between parent and children, modes of
conveyance and so on.

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 Principles of
Social Stratification.
The three key principles of social stratification
are:-

1) Social stratification is a characteristic of society and not

simply a function of individual differences:

Social stratification is a society wide system that unequally

distributes the social resources among categories of people.
Stratification is present and viewed upon the whole community of a
society. It does not represent any single individual of a society. In
short, it is a mass phenomenon rather than an individual insight. For
example in India Hindu religion is not used for a particular individual,
instead, it is a collection of so many people altogether.

2) Social stratification persists over generations:

It is closely linked to the family and to the inheritance of social

resources from one generation to the next. A person’s social position
is ‘ascribed’. That means a child assumes the social position of his
parents. Stratification is not a new phenomenon of society. It has
been present in our society from a long period, in fact from the time
human beings evolution proceeded, its existence has been observed.
Only a few changes have been observed but it’s a global
phenomenon existing in every part of the world. Although
Stratification is a global phenomenon, it is a level of effects and
happenings in a different place to place.

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3) Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief or
ideology:

No system of social stratification is likely to persist over generations

unless it is widely viewed as being fair or inevitable. For example, the
Caste system in India is justified in terms of purity and pollution with
the Brahmins designated as superior and dalits as inferior. Typically,
people with greatest social privilege express the strongest support
for systems of stratification such as caste and race while the people
at bottom of hierarchy are most likely to challenge it. Stratification is
a combination of beliefs and norms which has occupied people’s
mind from generations. The inequality is not anybody’s agenda but
having beliefs different from others makes Stratification come into
account.

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 Origin of Social Stratification
In early societies, people shared a common social standing. As
societies evolved and became more complex, they began to elevate
some members. Today, Stratification, a system by which society
ranks its members in a hierarchy, is the norm throughout the world.
All societies stratify their members. A Stratified society is one in
which there is an unequal distribution of society’s rewards and in
which people are arranged hierarchically into layers according to
how much of society’s rewards they possess.

Hunting and Gathering Societies

Hunting and gathering societies had little stratification. Men hunted

for meat while women gathered edible plants, and the general
welfare of the society depended on all its members sharing what it
had. The society as a whole undertook the rearing and socialization
of children and shared food and other acquisitions more or less
equally. Therefore, no group emerged as better off than the others.

Horticultural, Pastoral, and Agricultural Societies

The emergence of horticultural and pastoral societies led to social

inequality. For the first time, groups had reliable sources of food:
horticultural societies cultivated plants, while pastoral societies
domesticated and bred animals. Societies grew larger, and not all
members needed to be involved in the production of food. Pastoral
societies began to produce more food than was needed for mere
survival, which meant that people could choose to do things other
than hunt for or grow food.

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Division of Labor and Job Specialization
Division of labor in agricultural societies led to job specialization and
stratification. People began to value certain jobs more highly than
others. The further someone was from actual agriculture work, the
more highly he or she was respected. Manual laborers became the
least respected members of society, while those engaged in “high
culture,” such as art or music, became the most respected. As basic
survival needs were met, people began trading goods and services
they could not provide for themselves and began accumulating
possessions. Some accumulated more than others and gained
prestige in society as a result. For some people, accumulating
possessions became their primary goal. These individuals passed on
what they had to future generations, concentrating wealth into the
hands of a few groups.

Industrialized Societies

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the mid-1700s,

when the steam engine came into use as a means of running other
machines. The rise of industrialization led to increased social
stratification. Factory owners hired workers who had migrated from
rural areas in search of jobs and a better life. The owners exploited
the workers to become wealthy, making them work long hours in
unsafe conditions for very low wages. The gap between the “haves”
and the “have-nots” widened.

The Improvement of Working Conditions

By the middle of the 1900s, workers had begun to secure rights for
themselves, and the workplace became safer. Wages rose, and
workers had something they had never had before: buying power.
They could purchase homes, automobiles, and a vast array of
consumer goods. Though their financial success was nothing

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compared to that of their bosses, the gap between the two was
narrowing, and the middle class grew stronger.
At the same time, new forms of inequality took hold. The increasing
sophistication and efficiency of factory machines led to the need for
a different kind of worker—one who could not only operate certain
kinds of equipment but could also read and write. The classification
of the skilled worker was born. A Skilled Worker is literate and has
experience and expertise in specific areas of production, or on
specific kinds of machines. In contrast, many unskilled workers could
neither read nor write English and had no specific training or
expertise. The division arose between skilled and unskilled workers,
with the former receiving higher wages and, as some would say,
greater job security.

Post-industrial Societies

The rise of post-industrial societies, in which technology supports an

information-based economy, has created further social stratification.
Fewer people work in factories, while more work in service industries.
Education has become a more significant determinant of social
position. The Information Revolution has also increased global
stratification. Even though new technology allows for a more global
economy, it also separates more clearly those nations who have
access to the new technology from those who don’t.

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 Historical Stratification System
All societies are stratified, but the criteria used to categorize people
vary widely. Social stratification has taken many forms throughout
history, including slavery, the estate system, indentured servitude,
the caste system, and the class system.

Slavery
Slavery is a system of stratification in which one person owns
another, as he or she would own property, and exploits the slave’s
labor for economic gain. Slaves are one of the lowest categories in
any stratification system, as they possess virtually no power or
wealth of their own.

Slavery’s Global History

Many Americans view slavery as a phenomenon that began with the
colonization of the New World and ended with the Civil War, but
slavery has existed for a very long time. Slavery appears in the Old
Testament of the Bible, as well as in the Qur’an. It was common
practice in ancient Greece and Rome .

The Causes of Slavery

A common assumption about slavery is that it is generally based on
racism. Though racism was the primary cause of slavery in the
United States, it was not the main reason that people in other areas
were enslaved. Reasons for slavery include debt, crime, war, and
beliefs of inherent superiority.

Debt: Individuals who could not pay their way out of debt
sometimes had to literally sell themselves. If a slave’s debt was not
paid off before his or her death, the debt was often passed down to
his or her children, enslaving several generations of the same family.
Crime: Families against whom a crime had been committed might
enslave members of the perpetrator’s family as compensation.

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Prisoners Of War: Slaves were often taken during wartime, or when a
new territory was being invaded. When Rome was colonizing much
of the known world approximately 2,000 years ago, it routinely took
slaves from the lands it conquered.

Beliefs of Inherent Superiority: Some people believe that

they have a right to enslave those who they believe are inherently
inferior to them.

The Estate System

An ancient stratification system that no longer exists today was the
Estate System, a three-tiered system composed of the nobility, the
clergy, and the commoners. During the middle Ages, much of Europe
was organized under this system.

Nobility
Members of the Nobility had great inherited wealth and did little or
no discernible work. They occupied themselves in what we would
term leisure pursuits, such as hunting or riding. Others cultivated
interests in cultural pursuits, such as art and music.

Clergy
The eldest son was guaranteed a healthy income upon the death of
his father, but other sons had to find their own means of income.
Few, if any, were trained for work, so many became members of the
Roman Catholic Clergy, a body of religious officials. The clergy was
very powerful in European society in the middle Ages, and
membership offered long-term job security and a comfortable living.
The higher up the ladder a priest went, the more power he had over
the masses

Commoners
The third tier of the estate system consisted of the masses of people
known as the Commoners. They spent their lives engaged in hard
physical labor, with virtually no chance of moving up in society.
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 Modern Stratification System
In today’s world, three main systems of stratification remain: slavery,
a Caste System, and a Class System.

Slavery
Slavery still exists today. As many as 400 million people live under
conditions that qualify as slavery, despite laws prohibiting it. In
Mauritania, the Sudan, Ghana, and Benin, slavery exists much as it
did 800 years ago. In other parts of the world, including Bangladesh,
India, and Nepal, and Pakistan, debt slavery is common. Sex slavery,
the forcing of girls into prostitution, is prevalent in Asia.

Caste System
A Caste System is a social system based on Ascribed Statuses, which
are traits or characteristics that people possess as a result of their
birth. Ascribed statuses can include race, gender, nationality, body
type, and age. A caste system ranks people rigidly. No matter what a
person does, he or she cannot change castes.
People often try to compensate for ascribed statuses by changing
their nationality, lying about their age, or undergoing plastic surgery
to alter their body type. In some societies, this strategy works; in
others, it does not.
Example: Religion is an ascribed status in some societies. Americans
may convert to other religions, but in other countries, people may
not change out of the particular religion into which they were born.

India’s Caste System

The Indian government officially outlawed the caste system in 1949,
but vestiges of it remain today. The system originated with the Hindu
religion, which subscribes to the concept of Reincarnation, the belief
that while the physical body dies, the soul of a person is immortal
and goes on to is reborn into another body. People who are good in
their current life will come back to improved circumstances in the
next life, but if they are evil, they will be punished in the next one.

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Therefore, those who are poor or ill are suffering punishment for
having done something wrong in a past life. One should not interfere
in the life of another person because that individual’s circumstances
are the result of what he or she has done in a previous incarnation.

Some might view reincarnation as religious tradition. Others might

view it as Ideology, a set of values that people devise to rationalize a
particular social custom. In the case of the caste system, the custom
being rationalized is inequality. If an individual is poor, for example,
blaming his or her circumstances on what he or she did in a past life
absolves others in the society of the responsibility for providing any
assistance. Ideology also attempts to explain why some are in
positions of wealth and power. Hindu tradition would say that the
wealthy and powerful are being rewarded for what they did in a past
life, and therefore they deserve every privilege they have.

The Five Castes

The Indian caste system has existed for about 3,000 years. There
were four original castes, and one caste so low that it was not even
considered to be part of the caste system:
 The Brahman caste usually consisted of priests or scholars and enjoyed a
great deal of prestige and wealth.
 The Kshatriya caste, or warrior caste, was composed of those who
distinguished themselves in military service.
 The Vaishva caste comprised two sets of people—business-people and
skilled craftspeople.
 The Shudra caste consisted of those who made their living doing manual
labor.
 The Harijan, Dalit, or Untouchable caste was thought to comprise only
inferior people who were so repulsive that an individual who
accidentally touched one would have to engage in extensive ritual
ablutions to rid himself or herself of the contamination.
 There is no social movement in a caste system. An individual born into
the Harijan caste cannot change his or her fate. Nor can someone be
demoted to a lower caste; the caste into which a person is born is the
caste he or she will have for life.

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Castes and Work
Caste dictates the type of work an individual is allowed to do.
Members of the Shudra caste, for example, are relegated to
performing hard physical work regardless of their skill, intelligence,
or ambition. Those born into the Brahman caste must attend
university or become a member of the clergy, even though they may
show no interest or aptitude toward that end.

Castes and Marriage

In a true caste system, societies practice Endogamy, or marriage
within one’s own group or caste, with marriage between castes
strictly forbidden. Traditionally, love is not used as a basis for
marriage in a caste system. Rather, parents arrange marriages,
sometimes when the future bride and groom are still children. The
Indian concept of marriage is that while love is wonderful, it is
neither a necessary nor desirable condition of marriage. If the couple
is considered compatible in terms of major demographic variables,
then the marriage is considered appropriate. Caste is one of the
important variables, along with religion and educational level.

Modern India’s caste system has many more than the original five
castes. Because the distinctions between these numerous castes
have blurred over time, some people marry outside their caste. In
general, however, caste is still considered an important determinant
of whom one will marry. When people do marry outside of their
caste, they are likely to marry someone whose caste is only a few
levels away from their own.

Castes and Socializing

One’s caste also determines social contact. Friendships and
relationships in general, are rare among members of different castes.
They neither live nor work near each other and rarely have any
contact with one another.

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South Africa’s Apartheid System
The apartheid system of South Africa is another example of a caste
system. The term Apartheid refers to the total separation of the
races. White Europeans colonized South Africa starting in the
seventeenth century, and the area remained part of the British
Empire until its independence in 1961. The policy of apartheid,
introduced in 1948, relegated black people to a caste far below that
of whites. Black people could not vote, receive an education, or mix
with whites in any way. The work of Nelson Mandela and others who
fought for black equality have made apartheid illegal in South Africa,
but, like the caste system in India, some prejudice and discrimination
remain.

Class System
In a class system, an individual’s place in the social system is based
on Achieved Statuses, which are statuses that we either earn or
choose and that are not subject to where or to whom we were born.
Those born within a class system can choose their educational level,
careers, and spouses. Social Mobility, or movement up or down the
social hierarchy, is a major characteristic of the class system.

The American Dream

The value referred to as the American Dream is indicative of the
American social class system. The American Dream reflects what we
see as the kind of equality of opportunity that can exist only in a class
system. Americans believe that all people, regardless of the
conditions into which they were born, have an equal chance to
achieve success. Part of the American Dream is the belief that every
child can grow up to be president of the United States. Former
president Bill Clinton is its one of the biggest example.

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 Theories of Stratification

For centuries, sociologists have analyzed social stratification, its root

causes, and its effects on society. Theorists Karl Marx and Max
Weber disagreed about the nature of class, in particular. Other
sociologists applied traditional frameworks to stratification.

Karl Marx
Karl Marx based his conflict theory on the idea that modern society
has only two classes of people: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
The Bourgeoisie are the owners of the means of production: the
factories, businesses, and equipment needed to produce wealth. The
Proletariat are the workers.

According to Marx, the bourgeoisie in capitalist societies exploit

workers. The owners pay them enough to afford food and a place to
live, and the workers, who do not realize they are being exploited,
have a false consciousness, or a mistaken sense, that they are well
off. Marx foresaw a workers’ revolution. As the rich grew richer,
Marx hypothesized that workers would develop a true class
consciousness, or a sense of shared identity based on their common
experience of exploitation by the bourgeoisie. The workers would
unite and rise up in a global revolution. Once the dust settled after
the revolution, the workers would then own the means of
production, and the world would become communist. No one
stratum would control the access to wealth. Everything would be
owned equally by everyone. Marx’s vision did not come true. As
societies modernized and grew larger, the working classes became
more educated, acquiring specific job skills and achieving the kind of
financial well-being that Marx never thought possible. Instead of
increased exploitation, they came under the protection of unions
and labor laws. Skilled factory workers and traders eventually began
to earn salaries that were similar to, or in some instances greater
than, their middle-class counterparts.

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Max Weber

Max Weber took issue with Marx’s seemingly simplistic view of

stratification. Weber argued that owning property, such as factories
or equipment, is only part of what determines a person’s social class.
Social class for Weber included power and prestige, in addition to
property or wealth. People who run corporations without owning
them still benefit from increased production and greater profits.

Prestige and Property

Weber argued that property can bring prestige, since people tend to
hold rich people in high regard. Prestige can also come from other
sources, such as athletic or intellectual ability. In those instances,
prestige can lead to property, if people are willing to pay for access
to prestige. For Weber, wealth and prestige are intertwined.

Power and Wealth

Weber believed that social class is also a result of power, which is

merely the ability of an individual to get his or her way, despite
opposition. Wealthy people tend to be more powerful than poor
people, and power can come from an individual’s prestige.
Example: Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoyed prestige as a bodybuilder
and as an actor, and he was also enormously wealthy. When he was
elected governor of California in 2004, he became powerful as well.
Sociologists still consider social class to be a grouping of people with
similar levels of wealth, prestige, and power.

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 Global Stratification
Not only is each society stratified, but in a global perspective,
societies are stratified in relation to one another. Sociologists employ
three broad categories to denote global stratification: most
industrialized nations, industrializing nations, and least industrialized
nations. In each category, countries differ on a variety of factors, but
they also have differing amounts of the three basic components of
the American stratification system: wealth (as defined by land and
money), power, and prestige.

The countries that could be considered the Most Industrialized

include the United States, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, France, and
the other industrialized countries of Western Europe, all of which are
capitalistic. Industrializing Nations include most of the countries of
the former Soviet Union. The Least Industrialized Nations account for
about half of the land on Earth and include almost 70 percent of the
world’s people. These countries are primarily agricultural and tend to
be characterized by extreme poverty. The majority of the residents
of the least industrialized nations do not own the land they farm, and
many lack running water, indoor plumbing, and access to medical
care. Their life expectancy is low when compared to residents of
richer countries, and their rates of illness are higher.

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 Theories of Global Stratification
Several theories purport to explain how the world became so highly
stratified.

Colonialism

Colonialism exists when a powerful country invades a weaker

country in order to exploit its resources, thereby making it a colony.
Those countries that were among the first to industrialize, such as
Great Britain, were able to make colonies out of a number of foreign
countries. At one time, the British Empire included India, Australia,
South Africa, and countries in the Caribbean, among others. France
likewise colonized many countries in Africa, which is why in countries
such as Algeria, Morocco, and Mali French is spoken in addition to
the countries’ indigenous languages.

World System Theory

Immanuel Wallerstein’s World System Theory posited that as

societies industrialized, capitalism became the dominant economic
system, leading to the globalization of capitalism. The Globalization
Of Capitalism refers to the adoption of capitalism by countries
around the world. Wallerstein said that as capitalism spread,
countries around the world became closely interconnected.

Neo-colonialism

Sociologist Michael Harrington used the term Neocolonialism to

describe the tendency of the most industrialized nations to exploit
less-developed countries politically and economically. Powerful
countries sell goods to less-developed countries, allowing them to
run up enormous debts that take years to pay off. In so doing, the
most developed nations gain a political and economic advantage
over the countries that owe them money.
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Multinational Corporations

Sometimes, Multinational Corporations, large corporations that do

business in a number of different countries, can exploit weak or poor
countries by scouring the globe for inexpensive labor and cheap raw
materials. These corporations often pay a fraction of what they
would pay for the same goods and employees in their home
countries. Though they do contribute to the economies of other
countries, the real beneficiaries of their profits are their home
countries. Multinational corporations help to keep the global
stratification system in place.

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 Conclusion
Social stratification refers to the process of placing groups in a
hierarchical order of ranking. All societies differentiate members in
terms of roles and all societies evaluate roles differently. Some roles
are regarded more important as compared to others. Social
stratification and social differentiation are two closely linked
concepts but differ in their approaches. Differentiation may be
regarded the first stage preceding stratification in society.
Stratification is based on economic and social inequalities as well as
on beliefs of people. Beliefs make system of social stratification work.

According to Ogburn and Nimkoff, “The process by which

individuals and groups are ranked in more or less enduring hierarchy
of status is known as stratification”

According to Lundberg, “A stratified society is one marked by

inequality, by differences among people that are evaluated by them
as being “lower” and “higher”.

According to Gilbert, “Social stratification is the division of

society into permanent groups of categories linked with each other
by the relationship of superiority and subordinations”.
Thus, different sociologists have different definitions for stratification
and it varies from society to society.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

i. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
1.-GEORGE RITZER
ii. SOCIOLOGY THEMES AND
PERSPECTIVES
- HARALAMBOS AND HOLBORN
WEBSITES:
i. en.m.wikipedia.org

ii. www.sociologyguide.com

iii. courses.lumenlearning.com

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