Chapter 8: Social Stratification

Social Stratification is an interesting topic in sociology. One focused on by many Marxist sociologists. Andersen and Taylor (2011) define Social Stratification as: a relatively fixed hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have different access to resources, power, and perceived social worth.

Sociologists are not the only people to study Social Stratification. Many people are interested in social stratification because it causes inequality. Social stratification is often represented as a pyramid with the elites at the top. The pyramid model is good because it symbolizes how the people who govern the means of production are a very small group with the highest prestige. Whereas at the bottom of the pyramid are those individuals who work for little or no wages almost completely under the control of the elites.

Karl Marx (n.d.) once said in relation to class consciousness:"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness."

This is a link to a website titled What is Social Class? (n.d.)  that does an excellent job of summarizing the general issues and the history of the study of social class.

http://udel.edu/~cmarks/What%20is%20social%20class.htm.

This web page by Sociologyindex (n.d.) does an excellent job of defining stratification as well as its place in sociology. It also includes an extensive list of other resources on stratification.

http://sociologyindex.com/stratification.htm.

This is a link to a wonderful 1957 video on social stratification in the United States. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhI9V1fAHrY.

This is a link to an article by Felicia R. Lee (2003) about two sociologists at Cornell, Professor David B. Grusky, and assistant professor Kim Weeden, who explored the concept of social mobility in America.  Interestingly, they find that the ways current social classes are defined make little difference in preferences, and another colleague suggests another way to define class.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/18/arts/does-class-count-in-today-s-land-of-opportunity.html?src=pm

References

Andersen, M. L., & Taylor, H. F. (2011). Sociology: The essentials. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Lee, F.L. (2003, January 18). Does Class Count in Today’s Land of Opportunity? [Article]. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/18/arts/does-class-count-in-today-s-land-of-opportunity.html?src=pm.

Marx, Karl (n.d.). [Quotation]. Retrieved from http://www.engled101.com/quotes.html.

Sociologyindex (n.d.). Social Stratification. Retrieved from http://sociologyindex.com/stratification.htm.

What is Social Class? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://udel.edu/~cmarks/What%20is%20social%20class.htm.

1957 Social Class in America (2008, July 21). [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhI9V1fAHrY.