Social Stratification

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Social stratification is the division of groups into different layers on the basis of property, power, prestige, age and gender. It doesn’t specify an individual but to a group as a whole. Social stratification is present in every society. ‘It is a way of ranking large group of people into a hierarchy according to their relative privileges’ (Hunslin. James M, 4th edition, pg-155). As defined by Davis and Moore Stratification is defined as the unequal rights and perquisites of different positions in a society (http://ssr1.uchicago.edu//PRELIMS/Strat/stmisc1.html).
In the ancient times when the society commonly depended on hunting and gathering everyone had more or less same social position. As the societies after industrialization became more composite; then a change came in the social pattern. The entire population was basically divided on the segment of sex and age, status and role, qualification and inefficiency, ritual and ceremony and so on.
Theory of social stratification by Max Weber
Max Weber came up with the theory of class, status and party which was basically due to property, prestige and power. He divided stratification within the different groups
•              Class group
•              Status group
•              Party group
These groups were divided on the basis of economic and political terms. Men’s need was not only that of power but also of social behavior and prestige. Class, status and party are phenomenon of power distribution in the community.
 Class Group and Power
He defined class as a group of people whose ‘life chances’ and market opportunities were similar. The concept of class was determined by situation of the market. He said that those who have no faith and chance to use goods and services for themselves in the market are not class group. Therefore the power of a class is determined by the kind of property that is usable for returns and kind of services that can be offered.
Status Group and Power
In contrast to the class, status groups are normal community. They are made up of more social qualities and prestige rather than property. Much property-less people can belong to a particular status group. They are more likely to have a powerful sense of common identity and separate boundaries from others especially if there is racial, religious or ethnic component present. Weber argues social status groups emerges within the class i.e. property system or outside the class that is ideology.
Party Group and Power
As classes exist with the economic order and status is within the social order (honor), parties may represent interest determined through class situation and status situation. Parties always structurally and strategically favor for the domination within same group of class and status. Weber identified two different types of parties:
1.             Parties of Patronage
2.             Parties of Principle
Parties of patronage do not have moral commitment and firm structures and goals whereas parties of principles have firm doctrines and have a marked tendency to become heavily bureaucratized.
 Argument of Weber’s Theory with Karl Marx’s theory
Karl Marx said that society has two main classes: the ruling class or the bourgeoisie and the subject class or the proletariat and the means of production determined the social class of a person. Whereas Weber’s theory was about property, prestige and power combines to form social class.
Karl Marx looked at the time of industrialization whereas Weber looked at the time of pre-world war, during which many different division of the society took place.
Social Classes
Eric Olin Wright, in Classes (1985), introduced a 12-class scheme of occupational stratification based on ownership, supervisory control of work, and monopolistic knowledge. Wright''s book, an attack on the individualistic bias of attainment theory written from a Marxist perspective, drew on the traits of these 12 classes to explain income inequality. The nuanced differences between social groups were further investigated in Divided We Stand (1985) by William Form, whose analysis of labour markets revealed deep permanent fissures within working classes previously thought to be uniform(Britannia encyclopedia, 2004).
As said by Weber, class is basically the division of the society on the basis of wealth. It begins at birth. As the child is born, he falls into his parents’ class. As the child grows, he has to achieve some goals to stay in the same class. Example a child born in a rich family should take up his family business to mention his class. There is a chance that a person can move up or down in ladder of class depending on what he achieves or doesn’t achieve in his life.
The boundaries in a class system in quite flexible, due to which there is a movement in the ladder. This is known as social mobility. Due to the want to change in one’s social class, people go to work (try for a better job), send their children to school etc. Sometime some factors like poverty and family background makes a very little room for development and climbing of the ladder.