Every society stratifies its members. Some people have more possessions and more of the resources that society values. Social stratification describes how different groups of people are placed in society. In other words, it is the hierarchical system by which society categorizes its members.
In a stratified society , the advantages and resources – property, power and prestige – are unevenly distributed. Generally, property (wealth), power (influence) and prestige (status) go together. People are, therefore, categorized hierarchically according to how much they have of society’s advantages and resources. People’s status is often determined by how society is stratified, according to the following factors:
- Wealth and income
- Social class
- Ethnicity
- Gender (male or female)
- Political status
- Religion
The stratification of society depends on the type of system in place – open or closed. In an open system , status is achieved through merit and effort. This is called meritocracy . In a closed system , the status is assigned, not acquired. This type of status depends on several factors: family ties (the feudal system in the Middle Ages), political factors (communist societies), ethnic factors (the apartheid regime in South Africa) and religious factors (the caste system in India) .
Modern stratification systems
Today, there are three main stratification systems: slavery, the caste system and the social class system.
Slavery
The most closed system is that of slavery, that is, the possession of human beings. Slavery has been a fairly common phenomenon throughout history.
The greatest example of this type of system was the slavery of blacks in the Americas.
Black slavery is one of the saddest and most shameful chapters in human history. Trafficking and subsequent enslavement of human beings occurred for economic reasons. Forced labor and ill-treatment resulted in the suffering and death of millions of people, cowardly enslaved by Europeans.
In 1518, Spain formalized the slave trade to the Americas. Since then, over almost four centuries, the slave trade has grown continuously. African slaves were brought to the Americas. Most were forced to work in mines and plantations; the minority worked as servants and artisans. When the slave trade finally came to an end, in the mid-19th century, there were 10 to 12 million slaves in the European colonies of the Americas.
Slavery still exists today: there are approximately 400 million people who live as slaves, despite laws that prohibit slavery. In Mauritania, Sudan, Ghana and Benin, slavery is practiced in the same way as it was 800 years ago. In other parts of the world – Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan – debt slavery is a common phenomenon. In some countries in Asia, sexual slavery – a phenomenon in which girls and girls are forced to prostitute themselves – is common.
The caste system
The caste system is a type of closed social stratification, which creates a static society, devoid of vertical mobility. The caste system has the following characteristics: heredity (the condition of each individual passes from father to son); inbreeding (people can only marry members of the same group); predetermination of the profession, eating habits and clothing of individuals in each group; and initiation rituals (the father transmits the professional knowledge and habits of the group to his son through closed rites and shrouded in mystery).
Caste system in India
In India, the term used for caste is jati , which means “birth” or “type”. According to Hindu sacred texts, each individual is predestined to belong to a caste. Each caste is associated with certain professions and has its own rules of conduct and religious practice. Such rules determine who your members can eat with, who they can associate with and what kind of work they can do. A member of a higher caste was forbidden to relate to someone who belonged to a lower caste, unless it was a matter of performing a daily task.
In India, initially, there were only four castes: the Brahmins (nobility and clergy); the Kshatriya (military); the vaixás (traders, craftsmen and farmers) and the sudras (slaves). Over time, these varieties have been subdivided.
In Indian society there have always been outcasts (the untouchables), now known as the harijans or haridchans . They are condemned to total marginality: at best, they are allowed to perform degrading and poorly paid jobs. Unfortunately, despite efforts by the Indian government to eliminate caste varieties, these continue to exist, as institutional legal provisions do not eliminate ingrained traditions.
The complex rules that controlled social contact between castes were very strict, but the Indian Constitution, in force since 1947, introduced certain measures to ban discrimination. However, it is not enough to change the legislation to end the old social and religious divisions. The caste system continues to play an important role, especially in the interior of the country.
South Africa‘s apartheid system
A country that used to have a caste system is South Africa. The term apartheid means “segregation” or “division” and refers to the total separation of the races that existed in the country. This policy was later called “separate life”.
The racist apartheid regime was introduced in South Africa in 1948 and relegated blacks to a much lower caste than whites. During apartheid , the black majority was overwhelmed by the white minority. Segregation rules were imposed: blacks were forbidden to attend the same public places as whites, to study in the same schools, to live in the same neighborhoods and to marry whites. Under apartheid, blacks were prohibited from voting. With the exception of those who were employed by whites, blacks in the country could not even enter the areas where the white population lived. Blacks could not even roam the country freely.
The struggle of Nelson Mandela and other leaders for the equality of blacks in South Africa made the apartheid system illegal. However, prejudice and discrimination against the black population still exists in the country.
Social class
Many societies, including all industrial ones, have a class system. In such a stratification system, everyone is born already belonging to a social class, but the possibility of rising or falling is much greater than in caste systems or in slave societies. The rise or fall of society depends on several factors: effort, knowledge, talents, luck, etc. In such societies, the individual has freedom of career choice, is not forced to marry anyone, and is not prohibited from attending certain social groups. The class system is more open than the other two stratification systems. It is the system that most offers vertical social mobility. Indeed, social mobility – the rise or fall of society – is one of the main characteristics of the class system.
Social class refers to a group of people who share similar levels of wealth, influence and status. It can be measured objectively or subjectively. The objective method classifies people according to one or more of the following criteria: profession, educational level and / or income. The subjective method asks people to what class they believe they belong.
In certain societies, social ascension is difficult to achieve.
The lower class
The lower class is typically made up of poor, unemployed and, in some cases, homeless people. Many of them have not completed high school, do not receive medical assistance, do not have a fixed residence, suffer from insufficient food and are subject to violence. When they get a job, it is usually manual (not specialized). They are underpaid and their prospects for professional progress are minimal.
The middle class
The middle class is “sandwich”. It consists of people who are in the middle of the social hierarchical ladder. The middle class is divided into two subclasses, each according to the level of wealth, education and prestige of its members. The lower middle class is made up of people who have less wealth and whose profession is not well paid. For example, teachers and secretaries. The upper middle class is made up of professionals who are well paid for their services: doctors, lawyers, engineers and dentists.
The upper class
The upper class is made up of wealthy people. They live in the best neighborhoods, attend high society and send their children to the best schools. They are usually people with power and influence. The big businessmen, bankers and landowners belong to the upper class.
