Download Chapter 9 – Social Stratification

Chapter 9 – Global Stratification
Learning Objectives
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Define social stratification and explain why it is sociologically significant.
Describe and provide examples of the four major systems of social stratification.
Discuss the relationship between gender and social stratification.
Describe the major points of disagreement between Karl Marx and Max Weber
regarding the meaning of social class in industrialized societies.
As articulated by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore, list the functions that social
stratification provides for society.
Discuss Melvin Tumin's rebuttal to Davis and Moore's functionalist view of social
stratification.
Explain the conflict perspective's view of social stratification as it relates to class
conflict and scarce resources.
Evaluate Gerhard Lenski's attempt to synthesize the functionalist and conflict
perspectives' views on social stratification.
Define ideology and understand how elite classes use it to maintain social
stratification.
Compare the social stratification system in Great Britain and the former Soviet Union
to the social stratification system in the United States.
Identify the major characteristics associated with the Most Industrialized Nations,
Industrializing Nations, and Least Industrialized Nations.
Describe and evaluate the major theories pertaining to the origins of and maintenance
of global stratification.
Chapter Summary
Social stratification is the division of large numbers of people into layers according to their
relative power, property, and prestige. It applies to both nations and to people within a nation,
society, or other group. Social stratification affects all of one's life chances from the access to
material processions to their position in society to their life expectancy. Although they may
differ as to which system of social stratification they employ, all societies stratify their
members. The four major systems of social stratification are slavery, caste, estate, and class.
Slavery is defined as a form of social stratification in which some people own other people. It
has been common in world history with reference to slavery being made in the Old Testament,
the Koran, and Roman and Greek history. Slavery was usually based on debt, as a punishment
for a crime, or a matter of conquest. Racism was not associated with slavery until southern
plantation owners developed a new ideology to justify their enslavement of Africans in the
17th century. Today, slavery is known to be practiced in the Sudan, Mauritania, and the Ivory
Coast.
The caste system is a form of social stratification based on ascribed status that follows an
individual throughout their life. India provides the best example of a caste system. Based on
religion, India's caste system has existed for almost three thousand years. Although the Indian
government formally abolished the caste system in 1949, it still remains a respected aspect of
Indian tradition and is strictly followed by a significant portion of the population.
During the middle ages, Europe developed the estate stratification system. In the estate
system there were three groups, or estates. These were the nobility, clergy, and commoners.
In the last system, social stratification is based on the possession of money or material
possessions. A major characteristic of the class system is that it allows social mobility,
movement up and down the class ladder.
Another method by which all societies stratify their members is by gender. Cutting across all
systems of stratification, these gender divisions universally favor males over females.
Karl Marx and Max Weber disagreed on the meaning of social class in industrialized societies.
According to Marx, people's relationship to the means of production is the sole factor in
determining their social class. They either belong to the bourgeoisie (those who owned the
means of production) or the proletariat (those who work for the owners). According to Weber,
Marx's typology is too limiting since, in actuality, social class, as well as people's social class
standing, consists of three interrelated components: property, prestige, and power.
Although all sociologists agree that social stratification is universal, they disagree as to why it
is universal. The functionalist view of social stratification, developed by Kingsley Davis and
Wilbert Moore, concludes that stratification is inevitable because society must make certain
that its positions are filled; ensure that the most qualified people end up in the most important
positions; and finally, reward people for the time and energy it takes to develop strong
qualifications.
Melvin Tumin identified three problems with the functionalist view: first, how does one
determine which positions are more important than others; second, to what degree are
societies really meritocracies, promoting people on the basis of their achievements, rather
than on their income, assets, and connections; and third, how functional is stratification for
the people on the lower ends of the stratification continuum who, denied opportunities to
advance or achieve, often never get to realize their fullest potential?
Conflict theorists contend that conflict, not function, is the basis of social stratification. Italian
sociologist Gaetano Mosca argued that in every society groups compete for power. Those
groups that gain power use that power to manipulate, control, and exploit the groups
"beneath them." Members of the ruling elite in every society develop ideologies that justify
their society's social stratification system. By dominating their society's major social
institutions and, thereby, controlling information and ideas, members of the ruling elite are
able to socialize other group members into accepting their "proper places" in the social order.
Marx believed the elite maintained their position at the top of the stratification system by
seducing the oppressed into believing that their welfare depend on keeping society stable.
Gerhard Lenski suggested the key to understanding stratification is based on the accumulation
of surplus.
Depending on the political climate and resources available to those in power and those who
are ruled, the stratification system is maintained by various means. This means include
controlling ideas, controlling information, controlling technology, and the use of force. Of all
methods, the use of force is the least efficient.
Stratification is universal, although the methods for stratification vary from culture to culture.
Two examples of how stratification differs are illustrated by social stratification in Great Britain
and the former Soviet Union. In Britain, the most striking features of the class system are
differences in speech (including accents) and education. In the former Soviet Union,
communism resulted in one set of social classes being replaced by another. The nations of the
world can be divided into three categories, using the extent of industrialization as a basis for
stratification. This results in a triadic division of the Most Industrialized Nations, Industrializing
Nations, and Least Industrialized Nations. Just as every society stratifies its member, the
nations of the world are also stratified with the Most Industrialized Nations controlling most of
the world's wealth and resources. Three theories explain the origins of global stratification:
colonialism, world system theory, and the culture of poverty.
Global stratification is currently maintained through neocolonialism (the economic and political
dominance of the Least Industrialized Nations by the Most Industrialized Nations) and
multinational corporations (companies that operate across many national boundaries).
Working closely with the elite of the Least Industrialized Nations, multinational corporations
are able to gain access to those countries' raw materials, labor power, and markets.
Key Terms in Chapter Nine
apartheid: The separation of races as was practiced in South Africa. (p. 235)
bourgeoisie (capitalists): Marx’s term for the people who own the means of production. (p. 237)
bonded labor (or indentured servitude): A contractual system in which someone sells his or her
body (services) for a specified period of time in an arrangement very close to slavery,
except that it is entered into voluntarily. (p. 232)
caste system: A social stratification form where one’s lifelong status is determined by birth. (p.
234)
class consciousness: Karl Marx’s term for awareness of a common identity based on one’s
position in the means of production. (p. 237)
class system: A form of social stratification based primarily on the possession of money or
material possessions. (p. 236)
colonialism: The process by which one nation colonizes another nation, usually for the purpose
of exploiting its labor and natural resources. (p. 249)
culture of poverty: A culture that perpetuates poverty from one generation to the next because of
its values, beliefs, and behaviors. (p. 253)
divine right of kings: The idea that the king’s authority comes directly from God. (p. 241)
endogamy: Marriage within one’s own group. (p. 234)
estate stratification system: The stratification system of medieval Europe, consisting of three
groups or estates: the nobility, clergy, and commoners. (p. 235)
false consciousness: Karl Marx referred to this as workers identifying with capitalist interests. (p.
237)
globalization of capitalism: Capitalism (investing to make profits) becoming the globe’s
dominant economic system. (p. 249)
ideology: Beliefs about the way things ought to be that justify social arrangements. (p. 232)
indentured servitude (or bonded labor): A contractual system in which someone sells his or her
body (services) for a specified period of time in an arrangement very close to slavery,
except that it is voluntarily entered into. (p. 232)
means of production: The tools, factories, land, and investment capital used to produce wealth.
(p. 237)
meritocracy: A form of social stratification where all positions are awarded on the basis of merit.
(p. 239)
multinational corporations: Companies that operate across many national boundaries; also
called transnational corporations. (p. 254)
neocolonialism: The economic and political dominance of the least industrialized nations by the
most industrialized nations. (p. 254)
proletariat (workers): Karl Marx’s term for the people who work for those who own the means
of production. (p. 237)
slavery: A form of social stratification in which some people own other people. (p. 231)
social mobility: Movement up or down the social class ladder. (p. 236)
social stratification: The division of large numbers of people into layers according to their
relative power, property, and prestige; applies to both nations and to people within a
nation, society, or other group. (p. 231)
world systems theory: economic and political connections that tie the world’s countries together.
(p. 249)
Key People in Chapter Nine
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore: Davis and Moore developed the functionalist view of
social stratification, explaining why it is universal and how it is functional. (p. 239)
John Kenneth Galbraith: Galbraith articulated the culture of poverty theory, arguing that the
poor, due to cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors, perpetuate poverty from one
generation on. (p. 253)
Michael Harrington: According to Harrington, colonialism was replaced after World War II
with neocolonialism, which accounts for the economic and political dominance of the
least industrialized nations by the most industrialized nations. (p. 254)
Gerhard Lenski: Lenski offered a synthesis of the functionalist and conflict perspective views of
social stratification, linking the former to societies without surpluses and the latter to
societies with surpluses. (p. 241)
Gerda Lerner: Lerner observed that the first people enslaved through warfare are women who
are “valued” for sexual purposes, reproduction, and their labor. (p. 231)
Karl Marx: Marx tied social class to the means of production, arguing that people’s social class
standings were determined by whether they owned the means of production or worked
for those who owned the means of production. (p. 237)
Gaetano Mosca: Mosca argued that every society inevitably stratifies itself along lines of power.
(p. 240)
Melvin Tumin: Tumin criticized Davis and Moore’s functionalist view of social stratification.
(p. 239)
Immanuel Wallerstein: Wallerstein developed the world systems theory to help to explain the
origins of global stratification. (p. 249)
Max Weber: Weber linked social class to three, interrelated components: property (or wealth),
prestige, and power (legitimate authority to control others). (p. 237)