Social stratification is the hierarchical division of a society into layers based on socioeconomic factors such as wealth, income, occupation and education, a structural property of societies that tends to reproduce itself across generations. The concept was given its modern sociological name by Pitirim Sorokin in his 1927 book Social Mobility. Karl Marx argued that in any class-based society there exist at minimum two classes defined by their relationship to the means of production, while Max Weber complicated this picture with a three-part model distinguishing class, status and power as related but analytically separate axes of stratification.
Facts
Institution TypeSourced to the subject's own account Emergence PeriodSourced to the subject's own accountHierarchical social ranking is ancient and predates written records, but its systematic sociological analysis as class stratification dates to the nineteenth century, chiefly Karl Marx's account of economic class conflict and later Max Weber's multidimensional model treating class, status and party as separate but related sources of power. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The caste system is a hereditary, endogamous form of social stratification; a specific historical instance of the general institution.
Weber's three-component model (class, status, power) is one of the two most influential classical theories of stratification, alongside Marx's two-class model.
A system of stratification organized by gender rather than by caste or economic class, but structurally comparable as a hierarchy that allocates authority and resources unequally.
Critiqued Here
Meritocracy is proposed by its advocates as an allocation principle superior to inherited class position, though critics, including Young himself, argue it obscures rather than eliminates class advantage.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Social Stratification
1. Wikipedia: Social Stratification
WikipediaLead section, terminologyQuote, Lead section, terminology
Social stratification refers to a society's hierarchical categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors such as wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power.
1. Wikipedia: Social Stratification
WikipediaTheories section, classical foundationsQuote, Theories section, classical foundations
Working approximately half a century after Marx, Weber developed a three-component theory of stratification.
1. Wikipedia: Social Stratification
WikipediaAssociated With: Max Weber, Marx and Weber discussionView the Source 1. Wikipedia: Social Stratification
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