A caste system is one in which people are born into their social standing and will remain in it their whole lives. People are assigned occupations regardless of their talents, interests, or potential. In the Hindu caste tradition, people were expected to work in the occupation of their caste and to enter into marriage according to their caste.
Accepting this social standing was considered a moral duty. Cultural values reinforced the system. Caste systems promote beliefs in fate, destiny, and the will of a higher power, rather than promoting individual freedom as a value.
A person who lived in a caste society was socialized to accept his or her social standing. Although the caste system in India has been officially dismantled, its residual presence in Indian society is deeply embedded. In rural areas, aspects of the tradition are more likely to remain, while urban centers show less evidence of this past.
As a global center of employment, corporations have introduced merit-based hiring and employment to the nation. A class system is based on both social factors and individual achievement.
A class consists of a set of people who share similar status with regard to factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation. Unlike caste systems, class systems are open. People are free to gain a different level of education or employment than their parents. They can also socialize with and marry members of other classes, which allows people to move from one class to another.
In a class system, occupation is not fixed at birth. Though family and other societal models help guide a person toward a career, personal choice plays a role. In class systems, people have the option to form exogamous marriages , unions of spouses from different social categories. Marriage in these circumstances is based on values such as love and compatibility rather than on social standing or economics.
Though social conformities still exist that encourage people to choose partners within their own class, people are not as pressured to choose marriage partners based solely on those elements. Marriage to a partner from the same social background is an endogamous union.
Meritocracy is an ideal system based on the belief that social stratification is the result of personal effort—or merit—that determines social standing. High levels of effort will lead to a high social position, and vice versa. The concept of meritocracy is an ideal—because a society has never existed where social rank was based purely on merit. Because of the complex structure of societies, processes like socialization, and the realities of economic systems, social standing is influenced by multiple factors—not merit alone.
Inheritance and pressure to conform to norms, for instance, disrupt the notion of a pure meritocracy. While a meritocracy has never existed, sociologists see aspects of meritocracies in modern societies when they study the role of academic and job performance and the systems in place for evaluating and rewarding achievement in these areas.
Social stratification systems determine social position based on factors like income, education, and occupation. Caste systems correlate with high status consistency, whereas the more flexible class system has lower status consistency.
Susan earned her high school degree but did not go to college. That factor is a trait of the lower-middle class. She began doing landscaping work, which, as manual labor, is also a trait of lower-middle class or even lower class. However, over time, Susan started her own company. She hired employees.
She won larger contracts. She became a business owner and earned a lot of money. Those traits represent the upper-middle class. In a class system, a person can work hard and have little education and still be in middle or upper class, whereas in a caste system that would not be possible. In a class system, low status consistency correlates with having more choices and opportunities. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who is in line to be king of England, married Catherine Middleton, a so-called commoner, meaning she does not have royal ancestry.
It is rare, though not unheard of, for a member of the British royal family to marry a commoner. Kate Middleton has an upper-class background, but does not have royal ancestry. Her father was a former flight dispatcher and her mother a former flight attendant and owner of Party Pieces. Its social hierarchy placed royalty at the top and commoners on the bottom. This was generally a closed system, with people born into positions of nobility.
Wealth was passed from generation to generation through primogeniture , a law stating that all property would be inherited by the firstborn son. Social stratification isn't just based on wealth, however.
In some societies, tribal affiliations, age, or caste result in stratification. In groups and organizations, stratification may take the form of a distribution of power and authority down the ranks. Think of the different ways that status is determined in the military, schools, clubs, businesses, and even groupings of friends and peers. Regardless of the form it takes, social stratification can manifest as the ability to make rules, decisions, and establish notions of right and wrong.
Additionally, this power can be manifested as the capacity to control the distribution of resources and determine the opportunities, rights, and obligations of others. Sociologists recognize that a variety of factors, including social class , race , gender , sexuality, nationality, and sometimes religion, influence stratification.
As such, they tend to take an intersectional approach to analyzing the phenomenon. This approach recognizes that systems of oppression intersect to shape people's lives and to sort them into hierarchies. Consequently, sociologists view racism , sexism , and heterosexism as playing significant and troubling roles in these processes as well.
In this vein, sociologists recognize that racism and sexism affect one's accrual of wealth and power in society. The relationship between systems of oppression and social stratification is made clear by U.
Census data that show a long-term gender wage and wealth gap has plagued women for decades , and though it has narrowed a bit over the years, it still thrives today. A survey of young adults in the U.
They also have 8. These findings show that education clearly plays a role in social stratification, but race intersects with academic achievement in the U. The Pew Research Center has reported that completion of college is stratified by ethnicity. This data reveals that systemic racism shapes access to higher education , which, in turn, affects one's income and wealth.
According to the Urban Institute , the average Latino family had just During the same timeframe, the average Black family had a mere Ultimately, wealth, education, and race intersect in ways that create a stratified society. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Stratification describes the way in which different groups of people are placed within society.
The status of people is often determined by how society is stratified - the basis of which can include; Wealth and income - This is the most common basis of stratification Social class Ethnicity Gender Political status Religion e.
Open Status is achieved through merit, and effort. Closed Status is ascribed, rather than achieved. Sociology Study Notes. Our subjects Our Subjects. Explore Explore. Contact Contact. Back to top.
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