6: Social Stratification

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No matter what determines it, a society’s stratification has significant consequences for its members’ attitudes, behavior, and, perhaps most important of all, life chances—how well people do in such areas as education, income, and health. We will see examples of these consequences in the pages ahead and end with a discussion of some promising policies and programs for reducing inequality and poverty.

6.1: Prelude to Social Stratification
This page examines the effects of poverty on children in Wichita, Kansas, during the 2009 recession, with a focus on hunger and homelessness. It includes a personal narrative highlighting struggles for basic necessities and uses a Monopoly analogy to illustrate social stratification and unequal wealth distribution.
6.2: Systems of Stratification
This page compares open and closed societies through various stratification systems, highlighting slavery, estate, caste, and class systems. It examines the rigid nature of caste systems in India and apartheid South Africa, contrasted with the greater mobility in class systems of industrial societies. Additionally, it discusses social class stratification in the U.S.
6.3: Explaining Stratification
This page elaborates on sociological perspectives regarding social stratification, primarily examining functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalism views stratification as a necessity for societal roles, whereas conflict theory critiques it as a product of power inequalities. The influence of the American Dream fosters a blame-the-victim mentality toward poverty, emphasizing personal responsibility over structural issues.
6.4: Social Class in the United States
This page examines social class measurement in the U.S., highlighting objective methods like socioeconomic status and subjective classifications. It delineates the four main American classes: upper, middle, working, and lower. The challenges of the working and lower classes are explored, noting their susceptibility to economic instability and limited mobility. Approximately 30% of the workforce is in blue-collar jobs, while about 15% live on below $22,500.
6.5: Economic Inequality and Poverty in the United States
This page examines U.S. inequality and poverty, referencing Michael Harrington's work. It notes significant income disparity, with the richest 20% earning nearly as much as the bottom 80%, and discusses outdated poverty measurements. The U.S. has higher poverty rates than other Western democracies due to lower social welfare and labor protections, with a focus on demographic disparities.
6.6: Global Stratification
This page explores global stratification by categorizing nations into wealthy, middle-income, and poor based on economic factors. It contrasts modernization theory, which blames cultural values for poverty, with dependency theory, emphasizing exploitation by wealthy nations. The dire consequences of this inequality, including high rates of infant mortality and disease in poorer regions, are highlighted. Finally, the page suggests structural solutions for reducing poverty in the U.S.
6.S: Social Stratification (Summary)
This page discusses social stratification, highlighting how societies are divided by resources such as wealth and power. It outlines different systems like slave, caste, and class societies, noting that class societies enable more mobility. Functionalism views stratification as necessary, while conflict theory critiques discrimination. In the U.S., socioeconomic status affects mobility and poverty rates are influenced by race, age, and gender.

Thumbnail: The evolving Byculla and Saat Rasta skyline in Mumbai, viewed from The Baya Victoria in Byculla West. Towering residential high rises dominate the foreground, reflecting rapid urban redevelopment and rising density. Below them sit older low rise buildings and long established informal settlements, revealing sharp contrasts in scale, age, and socioeconomic layers. The scene documents Mumbai’s accelerated vertical growth, highlighting tensions between heritage neighborhoods, housing demand, real estate expansion, and the lived reality of one of the world’s most complex megacities. (Unsplash License; Zoshua Colah via Unsplash)

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