Crash Course: Social Stratification

What is an example of a mixed caste system?

Modern Britain is a good illustration of a mixed system of stratification. It still maintains a limited caste system of nobility as a legacy of the feudal system of estates, which survives alongside, and helps reinforce, a class system similar to what we have in the U.S.

How does a mixed caste system work?

Not every society is strictly a caste system or a class system. Really, there's two poles on a spectrum.

What is an example of an open system of stratification?

The US class system. They combine ascribed status and personal achievement in a way that allows for some social mobility. In class systems, the boundaries between class categories are often blurred, and there's greater opportunity for social mobility into and out of class positions.

What does a society's cultural beliefs tell us?

How to categorize people, and they also define the inequalities of a stratification system as being normal, even fair. Put simply: if people didn't believe that the system was right, it wouldn't last.

Why is the idea of meritocracy as much a justification for inequality as it is an actual principle of stratification?

In an open, class-based system of stratification, it's easy to believe that anyone who's not upwardly mobile deserves their poverty. Because a meritocratic class system is supposed to be open, it's easy to ignore the structural factors that influence class standing.

When we talk about socioeconomic status, what three things are included?

Income, education, and occupational prestige.

What is an example of a closed system of stratification?

India's caste system. This whole system was based on a set of strong cultural and religious beliefs, establishing caste as a right of birth and living within the strictures of your caste as a moral and spiritual duty.

What is a key principle of stratification?

It persists across generations.

How is stratification universal, but variable?

It shows up in every society on the planet, but what exactly it looks like -- how it divides and categorizes people, and the advantages or disadvantages that come with that division -- vary from society to society.

What is a open system of stratification?

They allow for much more social mobility, both upward and downward. Social position tends to be achieved, not ascribed.

What is a closed system of stratification?

They tend to be extremely rigid and allow for little social mobility. In these systems, social position is based on ascribed status, or the social position you inherit at birth.

Why is stratification a characteristic of society, and not a matter of individual differences?

We see the effects of social stratification on people, independent of their personal choices or traits: For example, children of wealthy families are more likely to live longer and be healthier, to attend college, and to excel in school than children born into poverty.

What is structural mobility?

When a large number of people move around the hierarchy because of larger societal changes. When a recession hits, and thousands of people lose their jobs and are suddenly downwardly mobile, that's structural mobility.

What is status inconsistency?

A situation where a person's social position has both negative and positive influences on their social status.

What is social stratification?

A system by which society categorizes people, and ranks them in a hierarchy.

What is meritocracy?

A system in which social mobility is based on personal merit and individual talents.

What is social mobility?

Changes in position within the social hierarchy.

What is horizontal mobility?

Changing positions without changing your standing in the social hierarchy. This is common in the US.

What does US class system tend to reproduce?

Existing class inequalities, because the advantages that you start with have an incredibly powerful impact where you can end up.