Download Global Social Stratification - Introduction to Sociology - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Global Social Stratification Social Stratification • system in which people are divided into layers reflecting their relative wealth (property), power, and prestige – does not refer to individuals, but rather a way of ranking large groups of people that shows their relative privileges – affects life chances – every society stratifies its members – nations of the world are stratified as well – supported by ideology (system of beliefs that justifies social arrangements) Systems of Stratification • slavery – early historical causes (debt, violation of law, war & conquest) and conditions (temporary in some cases, not necessarily inheritable, not necessarily powerless & poor) – new world cause was economic and racist ideology developed to justify slavery (and continued discrimination after civil war) • caste – society divided into strata – individual status determined by birth and is lifelong – racial caste system replaced slavery in U.S. after civil war • class – population divided into layers based primarily on wealth – allows for the possibility of social mobility • gender – gender is a basis for stratification in every society – males have greater access to socially valued resources Basis of Social Class • Marx: means of production – bourgeoisie, proletariat – class consciousness, false consciousness • Weber: wealth, power, prestige Docsity.com 2 Why is stratification universal? • functionalist perspective – social positions must be filled > some positions more important than others > more important positions require more qualified people > greater reward must be offered to motivate more qualified people – criticisms (Tumin) • lacks independent measure of “importance” • implies meritocracy which does not exist (example: college admission) • stratification is dysfunctional for many • conflict perspective – competition for scarce resources – groups in power use social institutions to maintain disproportionate share of resources – ruling groups develop ideology to justify their position at top • synthesis (Lenski) – functionalist perspective is accurate for less developed societies, conflict perspective is accurate for more developed societies How is stratification maintained? • ideology is more important than force – controlling ideas – controlling information – social networks – technology Global Stratification • most industrialized nations – north america, western europe, japan, australia, new zealand – capitalist economies, 16% of population, 32% of land, very wealthy • industrializing nations – eastern europe, russia – 16% of population, 20% of land, much lower income & standard of living • least industrialized nations – most of latin america, africa, southern asia – 68% of population, 49% of land, extreme poverty Docsity.com
