Global Stratification

Chapter 9 Henslin’s Sociology: A Down To Earth Approach

What is social stratification?

Social stratification refers to a hierarchy of relative privilege based on

power, property, and prestige

. Every society stratifies its members, and in every society men as a group are placed above women as a group.

What are four major systems of social stratification?

Four major stratification systems are  Slavery  Caste  Estate  Class

Slavery:

The essential characteristic of slavery is that some people own other people. Initially, slavery was based not on race but on debt, punishment, or defeat in battle. Slavery could be temporary or permanent, and was not necessarily passed on to one’s children. North American slaves had no legal rights, and the system was gradually buttressed by a racist ideology

Apartheid

is another word for the separation of the races in a society.

Caste System:

In a caste system, status is

determined by birth and is lifelong

. Elaborate rules are developed to discourage the interaction between castes called

ritual pollution

, teaching that contact with inferior castes contaminate the superior caste.

Marriage is not permitted between castes and the practice of marrying within one’s own class is called

endogamy

India’s Caste System Based on Religion:

(Page 249 Table 9.1 Henslin)

Caste

Brahman Kshatriya Vaishya Shudra Harjian (Dalit)

Occupation

Priests and Scholars Nobles and Warriors Merchants and skilled laborers Common laborers The Outcasts, degrading labor

Estate System:

The estate system of feudal Europe consisted of  Nobility  Clergy  Commoners

Class System:

A class system is much more open than these other systems, for it is

based primarily on money or

material possessions.

Industrialization encourages the formation of class systems. Gender cuts across all forms of social stratification

What Determines Social Class?

Karl Marx argued that a single factor determines

social class

: If you own the means of production, you belong to the bourgeoisie; if you do not, you are one of the proletariat. Marx used the term ‘

false consciousness

’ to describe when workers identify with the interests of capitalists.

Max Weber argued that three elements determine social class:   

Property Prestige Power

Why Is Social Stratification Universal?

Functionalists

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore

argued that in order to attract the

most capable people

to fill its important positions, society

must offer them greater rewards

. Under this type of system, society would offer greater rewards for its more responsible and important positions.

Melvin Tumin

said that if this view were correct, society would be a

meritocracy, with all positions awarded on the basis of merit

.

Gaetano Mosca

argued that

stratification is inevitable

because every society must have leadership, which by definition means inequality.

Conflict theorists limited,

argue that stratification comes about

because resources are

and an elite emerges as groups struggle against one another for them.

Gerhard Lenski

perspectives suggested

a synthesis between the functionalist and conflict

How Do Elites Maintain Stratification?

To maintain social stratification within a nation, the ruling class

uses an ideology

that justifies current arrangements. It also

controls information

and

uses technology

, and, when all else fails,

depends on brute force.

What are key characteristics of stratification systems in other nations?

The most striking features of the British class system are

speech and education

. In Britain,

accent reveals social class

, and almost all of

the elite attend "public" schools (the equivalent of our private schools).

In what is now

the former Soviet Union

, communism was supposed to abolish class distinctions. Instead, it merely

ushered in a different set of classes

.

Global Stratification:

Until recently, global stratification was depicted by a model containing First, Second and Third World Nations with first world nations having the power and control due to industrialization and third world nations being the most under-developed and poor.

How are the world’s nations stratified?

The model presented in Henslin’s text divides the world’s nations into three groups: The Most Industrialized The Industrializing The Least Industrialized. This layering

represents relative property, power, and prestige

. The oil-rich nations are an exception.

Distribution of the World’s Land and Population

Land Population

31% 16%

Most Industrialized Nations Industrializing Nations Least Industrialized Nations

(Sources Computed from Kurian 1990,1991, 1992 - Henslin Page 261.) 20% 49% 16% 68%

Why are some nations rich and others poor?

The main theories that seek to account for global stratification are: Colonialism World System Theory The Culture of Poverty.

Colonialization:

This theory focuses on the fact that those countries that industrialized first, beginning with Great Britain in 1750, got the jump on monopolizing resources. They would move into another nation, planting their flags and assuming governmental control over the nation.

When the US industrialized, it sent corporations into other nations to establish economic colonies.

Whether benevolent or harsh or what the form of colonialization was, the purpose was always the same, to exploit the nation’s people and resources for the benefit of the ‘mother’ country.

The World System Theory:

(Immanuel Walkerstein -1974,1979,1984,1990)    

Core Nations

-Those that industrialized first.

Semi periphery

core nations.

Periphery

-Those who grew dependent on trade with the – fringe nations with limited trade arrangements.

External Area

-Those left out of the trade altogether.

The Globalization of Capitalism

– is the adoption of capitalism around the world as the basic economic system and it has created extensive economic ties between countries making all of the worlds nations interconnected.

The Culture of Poverty Theory:

John Kenneth Galbraith (1979) Galbraith proposed that some nations develop a way of life that perpetuates poverty from one generation to next.

Living with such limited resources, mean taking very few risks and duplicating traditional ways in order to survive for these nations Religion in many of these nations support this ‘fatalistic’ approach by reinforcing that the people’s lot in life is in God’s hands, so they need not attempt to improve themselves.

How do elites maintain global stratification?

There are two basic explanations for why the world’s countries remain stratified. 1.

Neocolonialism is the ongoing dominance of the Least Industrialized Nations by the Most Industrialized Nations.

2. The second explanation points to the influence of

multinational corporations

.

New technology

gives further advantage to the Most Industrialized Nations.