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241In every society people differ on the basis of sex age cultural background economic status etc Thus human society is not homogeneous but heterogeneous Human beings apart from being differentiated based on natural criteria are also distinguished by their social and cultural background Women s work is different from men Peoples occupation differ from one another right from primitive society we have people occupied in food gathering fishing hunting etc In tribal society one clan differs from the other because of their association with a different totem Social Stratification is a societies categorization of people into socio economic strata based on their occupation and income wealth and social status or derived power both social political It is a relative positioning of people in a social group category position or region Thus we can say that society is divided into various layers from which we get the word strata In this classification of society the social strata is continuously changing and we find unequal distribution of goods and privileges in society
There is a ranking system which seems to divide society on various social criteria namely caste class creed financial status occupation etc For example rich people can afford expensive education gadgets housing luxury goods etc Whereas those who are economically poor don t have access to all the above and are often left to fend with the left overs Social stratification can also be understood as a social hierarchy In our society today we have a hierarchical system like the upper middle lower middle and lower class of society These distinctions are brought about in the society as a whole and not an individual In India where we have a prominent caste divided society people inherit an acquired status wherein they are born in a certain stratum of society The Brahmins are considered to be on the top and hold the highest rank in society The Shudras are at the bottom rung of society The privileges that each one enjoys greatly differ from each other In fact the shudras are deprived of most privileges even today Their access to education housing jobs temples etc are restricted even today They were basically considered to be impure and are not allowed to mix with mainstream society Thus we see a dimension that is unhealthy for the growth of the Indian society Social stratification is thus a type of social inequality There are social groups which rank higher than the others with the amount of wealth power and prestige that each stratum possesses
While Marx has stratified society based on class
Weber adds two more categories namely status and power For Weber people possess certain skills e g engineering medicine etc which have high market value Those who have such skills have better ranks in society than those who are semi skilled Thus Weber rejects the idea of the ruling class of Marx Also every individual occupies a certain social status based on his situation of interaction in society With every social position one plays a particular role This would be an action that one is expected to perform in a given position For e g a man may be a manager in the bank but when he comes home he plays the role of a loving father which greatly differs from the role of manager of a bank These statuses can be ascribed by facts related to birth or it can be achieved through one's efforts One becomes a Brahmin because he is born into a Brahmin family whereas one becomes a Manager by his education qualifications skills efforts to go through tough competition to get the job etc Because of the way our society is setup there is scope of social mobility Social Mobility is the ability to move up or down or sideways within this social stratification system It provides for movement within society and keeps the society more flexible and open to changes There is upward mobility where you move upwards or downward mobility where you slide downwards There is also inter generational mobility that takes place between generations and intra generational mobility that occurs with the generation themselves