3.1: Social Stratification Notes: 

WHAT IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION?

• Social stratification is a hierarchy in which groups have different statuses and different levels of privilege

• It can occur through 3 main forms: social class, age, and ethnicity and gender

• In all societies, there are specific statuses (position that someone has in society) and roles identified for each person/group. An example would be how men are seen as the "breadwinners" while the women take care of the house. These roles are socially constructed and are known as social differences

• The more tasks that are available, the more differentiated a society is because more statuses and roles exist

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION AND STRATIFICATION:

• Social differentiation only refers to the difference in roles/statuses and has nothing to do with superiority or social position in a society

• However, when a hierarchy can be seen from the roles assigned to people, the social differentiation becomes social stratification

• Example: It is known that men are physically stronger than women so they are assigned jobs that are physically dominant. This is social differentiation. But when this role started portraying women as weak, it became social stratification

HOW IS SOCIAL STRATIFICATION FORMED?

• Stratification is found in all societies and is based on rules/norms/values

• In modern industrial societies (societies that use technology for mass production), stratification is dynamic not static. This is because groups try to improve their status and power with respect to others

• Minority groups (based on ethnicity, age, disability, or other factors) often have less power so they have a lower position

FORMS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION:

CLOSED SYSTEM:

• It exists in a closed society where mobility between different levels of stratification is impossible for people

• It includes slavery, Caste, and estates

1. SLAVERY:

• Many early societies were stratified into citizens and slaves

• The citizens carried rights that slaves didn't

• It is considered a closed system since slaves cannot become citizens and vice versa

3. ESTATES:

• It was found in Europe in the Medieval period

• Like the Caste, an individual is born into a social layer called an estate where they could not move. What makes an estate different than a Caste is the ability for intermarriage and mobility

• There are 3 types of estates: clergy (priests), nobility/aristocracy, and commoners

OPEN SYSTEM:

• It allows more mobility between classes

• Example: social class since it can be changed (is not permanent like closed systems)

• Despite the fact that there is movement of people in open systems, social stratification remains inevitable

*Note: no system it completely open or closed

*Note: stratification + gender + ethnicity work together to produce different patterns of inequality

ASCRIBED, ACHIEVED, AND MASTER SOCIAL STATUSES:

1. ASCRIBED STATUSES:

• They are given to people by their group/society (usually traditional societies) where the people have little control over the status (however they can still be changed)

• Examples: age, sex, religion, ethnic group, social class, etc. 

• Age differs because it changes over time and brings a higher status since one gains more experience so they will be respected more

• However, in modern industrial societies, when someone gets older they lose their status because they retire. When discrimination against older people occurs, this is known as ageism 

2. ACHIEVED STATUSES:

• People achieve them by choice and competition

• Includes changing statuses given at birth (for example: social class)

• Some are more specific than ascribed such as an occupational status (being an engineer)

3. MASTER STATUSES:

• It is the most important status

• Example: a woman is both a mother and an engineer. She chooses her master status as a mother because it's more important to her. Another woman may choose her career as her master status

• For children, sex and age are often their master statuses

Note: the term "traditional societies" can be misleading since it implies that they can't change. However, all societies change, even traditional ones.

Note: Ageism can also refer to discrimination against young people such as being denied some of the rights that adults have unfairly

LIFE CHANCES:

• They're opportunities that people have to improve their lives

• Life chances depend on aspects of stratification such as class, gender, and ethnicity and they include:

1. Employment 

2. Education

3. Health

4. Housing

5. Social mobility

6. Life expectancy

• All of these elements listed above indicate the overall life quality a person has

FACTORS THAT AFFECT LIFE CHANCES:

1. The nature of stratification and norms/values/laws:

• Laws can include human and civil rights which can prevent people from improving their life chances

• Example: in the 1960s in the USA when African-Americans were not provided the same education as the Whites or the right to vote. Also, in South Africa during the apartheid period (1948-1994), the life chances of Black South Africans were limited by segregation laws.

2. The individuals perception on their life chances:

• Some social groups such as the working class may have a pessimistic attitude towards their life chances and fall into fatalism

• Fatalism is the individual's belief that they cannot control what happens to them

• Marxists argue that the working class fatalism comes from false consciousness where the workers have to accept that the capitalist society is fair, their low position is their fault, and that the wealthy deserve their position

• A fatalistic outlook on life is likely to be a self-fulfilling prophecy since if people do not think they can improve their life, it will be unlikely that they will

3. Gratification:

• It can be either deferred gratification or immediate gratification

• Deferred gratification includes the ability to set long term goals and plan for the future. For example, a high school student chooses to enroll into university to study engineering. This student is currently making less money than if s/he would've worked immediately after graduating high school. However, once s/he graduates from university, s/he would be making more money than if they didn't go to university at all

• Immediate gratification is the ability to choose instant satisfaction rather than waiting for a greater reward in the future. For example, if a person from the working class won the lottery, it is more likely they will spend it on a desire rather than saving it up. This may be because their standard of living is low so immediate improvement is highly desirable 

AN EXAMPLE OF LIFE CHANCES: LIFE EXPECTANCY:

• Life expectancy shows the average number of years a person is expected to live

• It measures to illustrate how life chances varied between societies and stratified groups

• Life expectancy varies between

1. Gender

• Women tend to live longer than men by an average of 5 years (in modern industrial societies). This can be due to:

1. Men being more exposed to high-risk situations so they have a higher risk of accidental death. Example: cleaning the windows of a skyscraper from the outside 

2. Men consume more drugs, tobacco, and alcohol than women so they're more likely to suffer from a disease

3. Men's work exposes them to risks such as accidents in mining/factories

4. There are biological reasons for differences between the life expectancy of men and women

2. Social class:

• People of the working class have a lower life expectancy than the middle class. This can be due to:

1. Working class occupations have more risks so it's more dangerous

2. Working class live in unhealthy environments such as near sources of pollution so they are more likely to catch a disease

3. They may be unable to afford good healthcare

3. Ethnicity:

• Minority ethnic groups (they have a national or cultural tradition) tend to slow down the socioeconomic scale and are affected by the same factors of social class and life chances as well as specific ethnic factors (prevalence of particular health conditions)

NOTES DONE BY FARIDA SABET

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