EDUC 515

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION



Keshav Raj Ghimire


An Assignment
Submitted to
I.P. Pokharel, Tutor


School of Education
Katmandu University



In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course EDUC 515 Foundations of Education of M.Ed. in EESD

Balkumari, Lalitpur
November 2009

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Social stratification is the classification of society in different recognizable- identical groups. So, stratification means social diversity and differentiation. For example, in a society there are many classes like farmers, businessman, rich, poor, elite persons, teachers , male female, white , black, upper caste, lower caste, Hindu, Muslim, etc. such diversity of society is called social stratification. They are different by their profession or their level, by their social norms values, traditions, economic status or their prestige etc.
To have the clear concept of social stratification, we need to learn some definitions of some scholars.
According to Gilbert "Social stratification is the division of society in to permanent groups or categories linked with each other by relationship of superiority and subordination."
P. W. Murray says "Social stratification is a horizontal division of society into higher and lowers social units."
“It is the economic status that forms the basis of social stratification”. Karl Marx.
So, after studying the definitions stated above, we can say that social stratification is the identical divisions on the basis of social traditions, cultures, economic status, political aspects, class, and races and so on. A system in which a group of people are divided into layers or rankings based on their relative properties, prestige, and power. Resources and opportunities can also be distributed among various social factors on the basis of social stratifications.
Patterns of social stratification
The pattern of social stratification depends upon the causes of stratification. Generally, the physical and mental ability of an individual, energy, qualification, talent, behavior, social, political, economic and cultural situations are the causes of social stratification. Following are the different patterns of social stratification-
1. Sexual stratification –Male, female, their interest, needs, physical differences
2. Age stratification – Child, youth, old- their abilities, interest, needs, behavior.
3. Racial stratification –Higher class, lower class, white, black, lower caste, upper caste and different traditions accordingly.
4. Class stratification –Rich, poor, Boss, slave class
5. Economic stratification –Main cause of stratifications, poor, rich etc.
6. Religious stratification –On the basis of religious norms and values- Hindu, Muslim, Christian etc.
7. Political stratification –On the basis of getting power of government, ruling party, apposition party.
In this way, we find various stratifications in our society and social patterning totally depend on such stratifications and get their identifications as well. It has great effects on the life style of the people, on the institutional pattern of conduct, on the values, attitudes and ideologies and so on.
Theoretical positions on social stratification
Theoretical positions on social stratifications refer to how various kinds of social stratification occur. In this regard there are four popular theories. They are –
1. Divine Theory
According to this theory, the theoretical base of social stratification is towards the god. It means it is the god who has divided every person as black, white, rich, poor, male, female, lower casts, upper caste, capable, incapable etc and set the different traditions, norms and values. So, this theory believes that God is the creator of social stratification and all have to accept it without question. If anyone breaks the system then, he\ she should be punished.
2. Marxian position
Karl Marx has propounded this theory. According to him economic status forms the basis of social stratification. In the society every people needs different kind of goods. The capacity of producing those essential goods only on the hands of limited people. So, he predicted that rich people would get richer and richer and the poor one poorer and there would be always class struggle between the two groups Burjuwa and proletarian So, there is only one way to wipe out such tradition, that is Revolution which would ensure and communism would replace capitalism.
Change
He believes that all of the nature” from the smallest thing to the biggest from a grain of sand to the sun….to man, is in a ceaseless laws of movement and change. History is the process of change from one era to another in accordance with the rigorous and inexorable laws of historical motion. He has talked two kinds of change- quantitative-the base form and qualitative change – optimum change. For any change, it takes time and the change passes through real history. Here, changes mean the emergence of new structures, novel forms. Quantitative alternations of things lead to something qualitatively new.
Unity and conflict
Law of Opposites
According to Karl Marx, everything in existence is a unity of opposites and contains mutually incompatible and exclusive but nevertheless equally essential and indispensable parts or aspects. This unity of opposites is what makes each entity and provides a constant motivation for movement and change. Some opposites are antagonistic as in the competition between capitalists and labors. Factories owners offer the lowest wages possible, while workers seek the highest wages. Sometimes, this antagonism sparks strikes or lockouts.
Law of Negation
According to this theory, entities in the nature tend to negate themselves in order to advance or reproduce a higher quantity. The nature of opposition which causes conflict in each element and gives it motion also tends to negate the thing itself. It very clearly states that the fundamental thing of change is inside it, just like the same as an example of egg and chicken. It means revolution starts within it and change occurs within it. In society, we have the case of class. This illustrates that the the cycle of negation is eternal, as each class creates its’ Gravedigger”, its successor, as soon as it finishes burying its creator.
3. Weberian position
According to Weber there are three major elements are taken as a power which plays the role for social stratification they are-
i. Political power
ii. Economic power
iii. Status
These three things are closely related with each other. Economic power helps to raise the political power and vice versa and both of them increase the status of an individual. The people who have political power his economic status and prestige also become high. Likewise the people of high status obviously have good political power and economic conditions.
4. Functionalist position
Each person who lives in the society has the different profession and functions. By which each society looks different. The functions of some societies are very important and some are less important. Therefore, the priority is also given differently according to the roles of each society. According to T. Parson social stratification is necessary to develop the society. If there is no stratification, there is no competition. If there is no competition, there is no development of society. It shows that meritocracy exists in our society. I f we work hard we can achieve anything- rewards and success are commensurate with hard work and ability. Inequality and stratification are natural and necessary for the functioning of society.
5. Conflict theorist position
This conflict theory is related with Dahrendorf. According to him the major cause of social stratification is social conflict. There are different conflict groups in the society and there is the conflict among them. Power and authority are the major causes of conflict. The group who has no power and authority tries to take from another group. There are four types of stratification as a result of conflict among the groups.
i. The ruling group : ruling party of a country
ii. The service class : who helps for ruling group i.e. personnel and other classes
iii. The subjected group : public ( who are under i and ii )
iv. The intellectuals : free persons (i and ii also can not affect them)
6. Synthetic theory
Lenski has developed this theory combining or synthesizing all Marxian, Webrian, functionalist and conflict theories of stratification. According to him distribution system is the only one cause of social stratification. Distribution system consists-
i. Distribution of survival needs - food, water, shelter etc.
ii. Distribution of power: political power and other powers.
iii. Distribution of privilege: rights, advantages, grants, etc.
iv. Distribution of prestige: reputation, importance etc.
Distribution of all those things should be equal to the each individual, society and community. If there is no equal distribution the conflict arises and social stratification appears.
Social class
The forms of social stratification can be divided into different categories. Social class also considered as one of the forms of social stratification. The following are the major forms of social stratification-
1. Slavery: It was existed many years ago both in the eastern and western countries. They were not considered as the citizen of their country and they did not have any voting rights also. Especially black people were in this category.
2. Estate: There are three types of estate-
i. The lords of spiritual: Priests, chairman of church and other status group.
ii. The lords of temporal: merchant etc.
ii. The commons: general people or public.
3. Caste: There is discrimination between caste systems even in our country. There are many castes according to their profession and so on. But now a day it is considered as the surname or title.
4. Social class: In many countries it is considered that there are three types of social class according to their economic, agriculture, religion, political, social condition like-
i. Upper class
ii. Middle class
iii. Lower class
Social class can be defined as a level in society made up of people who consider themselves equals due to similarities in family background, level of education, occupation, race and attitudes towards social issues.

Conclusion
To sum up, the classification of society in different recognizable- identical groups by their profession or their level, by their social norms values, traditions, economic status or their prestige etc. gives each society an identity, a kind of value. Resources and opportunities can also be distributed among various social factors on the basis of social stratifications. Although there are various criteria of social stratification, they may be the identity of the people and on the basis of which the change appears in the society. Because of the social stratification, great change, great revolutions have been seen in the world. So, social stratification is the agent catalyst of revolution that leads to the great change, development of the society. But the discrimination between the various classes, divisions should be wiped out slowly and gradually.

References:
Aggarwal, J.C. (1985). Theory and principles of education. Delhi: Vikas publication house.
Wagley, M.P. (2003). Foundations of education. Kathmandu:
Pokharel. I.P. (2009). Course Pack. Katmandu: KU photocopy centre.
Sharma, C. (2006). Foundations of education. Katmandu: M.K.publishers and distributors.