What is social stratification, and how do the three major systems of stratification compare?
What is social stratification, and how do the three major systems of stratification compare?
Individuals and groups are allocated different social positions according to various social hierarchies of differing socioeconomic factors like income, race, wealth, education, gender, ethnicity, occupation, power, and prestige. Such differentiation is known as social stratification.
The three major systems of stratification are slavery, caste system, and class system.
Slaves are identified as the section of society with the lowest socioeconomic position. Slavery is still prevalent in certain cultures even in this modern age despite laws forbidding it. Slavery exists in Sudan, Ghana same as it did hundreds of years ago with excessive exploitation, mental and physical abuse. Debt slavery is prevalent in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, whereas, sex slavery can still be found in Asia.
The caste system is defined as a social system based on ascribed statuses (status one gets being born in a certain community. E.g. race, nationality, gender, etc.). A caste system is so rigid that once an individual is born into a particular caste they are not allowed to change it or, marry someone from a different caste. For example, a person born in a Sudra family will always be marked as the established characteristics of a lower caste and is expected to stick to those occupations allotted for lower caste people. The caste system is exploitative as well. People belonging to the upper castes tend to impose their values and beliefs on those below them, look down upon them and exploit them in every manner possible, be it employing them as domestic help or refraining from giving them an equal position.
The class system is based on social factors as well as individual achievements and unlike the caste system, it is open. A class is defined as a set of people with similar social and economic status with regard to education, income, wealth, and occupation. Unlike the caste system, people here can climb up the ladder of class through upskilling. People belonging to the upper class also look down upon those of the lower class. Marxist view of social class has been identifying this class system as exploitative and polarized.
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