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Social Class and Inequality Video

Social Class Inequalities

Social stratification in one form or another is present in all societies. This means that members of a given society are categorized and divided into groups, which are then placed in a social hierarchy.

Members may be grouped according to their gender, race, class, age, or other characteristics, depending on whatever criteria are important to that society. Some groups will be ranked higher in the social strata levelswhile others will fall into the lower ranks. The higher-level groups enjoy more access to the rewards and resources within that society, leaving lower-level groups with less.

This unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige results in what is called social inequality. We find several different systems of stratification operating in the United States, where it is not hard to demonstrate that being wealthy, white, heterosexual, or male typically confers a higher status and all that goes along with it on a person than does being poor, nonwhite, queer, or female.

There are four basic principles of social stratification. First, it is a characteristic of a society, rather than Social Class and Inequality reflection Inequalitg individual differences. Second, social stratification persists over generations.

Inequality And Social Class

In Great Britain, a child inherits not only physical characteristics such as race but also other indicators of class standing, such as regional accent. It is because of this principle of stratification that wealthy Social Class and Inequality remain wealthy from one generation to the next.

Third, while all societies stratify their members, different societies use different criteria for ranking them. For instance, the criterion in industrialized nations is material wealth social classbut in hunter-gatherer societies, such as Soocial Khoisan Bushmen of southern Africa, it is gender. Fourth, social stratification is maintained through beliefs that are widely shared by members of society.]