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Meaning and Characteristics
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Social stratification refers to structured inequality and hierarchical ranking of individuals or groups in society based on wealth, income, status, power etc.
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It involves differential access to scarce resources, privileges, and valued rewards.
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Key characteristics include hierarchy, inequality, ascribed status vs achieved status, power, prestige, social mobility.
Functions
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Motivation Function: The promise of gaining more privileges motivates people to accept key goals.
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Facilitation Function: Qualified persons occupy the most important societal positions.
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Stability Function: Predictable inequality ensures stability in social structure.
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Political Function: Maintains dominance of certain ruling groups over others.
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Symbolic Function: Denotes what people can rightfully expect due to status.
Forms of Stratification
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Estate System
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Based on ownership or non-ownership of properties.
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Estate groups include nobility, clergy, serfs/slaves.
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Nobility exercises control and power while slaves have little agency.
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Minimal social mobility between estates.
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Caste System
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Caste determined at birth based on ideas of purity, pollution.
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Traditional occupation based on caste e.g. priest, warriors, menials.
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Endogamy within caste boundaries.
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Social ostracism and exclusion of dalits/outcasts/untouchables.
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Class System
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Based on economic differences - income, wealth.
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Allows for social mobility between classes.
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Major classes - upper class, middle class, working class, poor.
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Class conflicts over distribution of resources.
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The structured inequality creates a hierarchy of groups leading to differential life chances and experiences. The form it takes has consequences for social mobility, access to resources, and perpetuation of status differences.