The main function of social stratification is
to make the people of upper strata to work hard and to live up to their positions and status
. Pearson argues that American society values the achievements and efficiency of individual and puts emphasis on hard work and productive activity within the economy.
The thesis states that social stratification is
necessary to promote excellence, productivity, and efficiency
, thus giving people something to strive for. Davis and Moore believed that the system serves society as a whole because it allows everyone to benefit to a certain extent.
How is stratification beneficial to society?
The most important advantage of stratification is that
it facilitates social organization and governance
. Within the social group, having one or more acknowledged leaders leads to greater efficiency in decision-making, in contrast to egalitarian systems that rely on achieving consensus among the entire group.
Origins 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.
Social stratification can’t be eliminated
, but poverty can.
Is Inequality good or bad for society?
While economic inequality is associated with more social ills, economic prosperity dampens them. …
Inequality is bad for society
as it goes along with weaker social bonds between people, which in turn makes health and social problems more likely. At the same time, richer countries have less social ills.
Because members of high social classes tend to be
better educated
and have higher incomes, they are able to offer greater educational advantages, such as private schooling, to their children as well.
Concrete forms of social stratification are different and numerous. However, sociologists have grouped majority of these into four basic systems of stratification:
slavery, estates, caste and class
.
- Inequality or Higher-lower positions: …
- Social Stratification is a Source of Competition: …
- Every Status has a Particular Prestige Associated with it: …
- Stratification Involves a Stable, Enduring and Hierarchical Division of Society:
The two major explanations of stratification are the functionalist and conflict views. Functionalist theory says that stratification is necessary and
inevitable because of the need to induce people with the needed knowledge and skills to decide to pursue the careers that are most important to society
.
Social stratification is a process by which a society is divided into different layers, or strata, based on factors like level of education, occupation, income, and wealth. … For example, those
in the same social class tend to have the same types of jobs and similar levels of income
.
It
affects life chances, lifestyles and prestige
. It creates emotional stress and depression for the people belonging to lower social stratum as they have unequal access to wealth, power and prestige.
- unemployment or having a poor quality (i.e. low paid or precarious) job as this limits access to a decent income and cuts people off from social networks;
- low levels of education and skills because this limits people’s ability to access decent jobs to develop themselves and participate fully in society;
We find that cross-national patterns of social inequality differ significantly from patterns derived from measures of income inequality. This is important since countries with less social inequality have
higher levels of economic performance and human development
, and stronger political institutions.
What is the impact of inequality in our society?
At a microeconomic level, inequality
increases ill health and health spending and reduces the educational performance of the poor
. These two factors lead to a reduction in the productive potential of the work force. At a macroeconomic level, inequality can be a brake on growth and can lead to instability.
How does inequality harm society?
Both Richard Wilkinson’s research and the UNDP report found that even the rich in unequal societies suffer from
lack of trust
, harsher sentencing (partially because of stricter laws), greater incidence of physical and mental illness (due to the pressure to “watch your back”) and higher taxation, among several other …
