Defining Social Stratification & Forms of Exclusion

By the end of this session you should be able to:
- Define “stratification” and “social stratification.”
- Classify the major systems of social ranking, explaining both their limitations and their merits.
- Identify and critique the core sources of social stratification.

"Do you think one’s chances of success in life can increase based on where they grew up?"
- Indicators raised for debate:
- Local school quality, teacher–learner ratios, bursary availability.
- Physical infrastructure: electricity, safe drinking water, reliable internet.
- Social networks: alumni associations, family professional ties.
"If given a choice, would you select the same childhood environment? Why / why not?"
- Push factors (reasons to leave): limited opportunities, safety concerns, poor healthcare.
- Pull factors (reasons to stay): close-knit community, cultural belonging, low cost of living.

A socially stratified society = "a society with its members divided into categories which are differentially powerful, esteemed and rewarded" (Berreman, 1972, p. 385).
Common everyday markers used to sort people:
- Ancestry
- Race / skin tone
- Gender / sex
- Income & wealth
- Educational credentials
Note: The ranking process is maintained and rationalised by dominant ideologies (e.g.
meritocracy, racial purity myths, patriarchy).

Achieved vs. Ascribed Status
- Achieved = earned through behaviour/effort (e.g. college degree, occupational rank).
- Ascribed = assigned at birth or involuntarily later (e.g. age, gender, caste).
Birth-Ascribed vs. Non-Birth Ascribed
- Birth-ascribed: race, caste, biological sex.
- Non-birth ascribed: honourary titles, religious office attained in adulthood.
Bottom line: Social inequality flows through both ascribed and achieved channels; stratification is the structure that organises and justifies the hierarchy.

Class → primarily a function of wealth & material resources.
Status → social prestige; esteem granted by others.
Power → the capacity to impose one’s will or control others’ life chances.
- Power may derive from class and status but can also stem from organisational positions (e.g. a low-paid election official still wields power).

Examples: racial, caste, ethnic, sexual stratification.
Key properties:
- Status determined by shared ancestry or visible traits at birth.
- Allocation of opportunities, rewards & social roles is fixed; mobility is typically forbidden or viewed as abnormal.
- Often justified by claims about inborn or immutable characteristics.
Extreme form = caste (e.g. traditional Indian caste codes forbidding inter-dining or inter-marriage).

Focuses on phenotypical traits (skin colour, hair texture) rather than verified genetics.
Historical pattern: darker-skinned populations colonised, enslaved, or marginalised by Europeans.
Key sociological maxim: "Race acquires meaning only through its social definition in a given society" (Berreman, 1972, p. 392).
- Illustrative contrast:
- In the U.S., the "one-drop rule" classified anyone with any known African ancestry as Black.
- In Brazil, racial identity is more fluid, with multiple intermediate colour categories.

Relies on biological sex differences as a basis for organising inequality.
Typical consequences:
- Differential pay for comparable work.
- Occupational segregation (e.g. nursing vs. engineering).
- Legally codified exclusions (e.g. historic denial of voting rights, current limits on reproductive autonomy).

Rank is tied to acquired status—income, occupation, education, lifestyle.
Individual mobility is legitimate and theoretically attainable (e.g. "American Dream" narrative), yet structural barriers make upward movement difficult.
Comparison with racial stratification:
- Miscegenation (mixing of races) is a core anxiety in closed racial systems; no analogue exists for crossing class lines.
- A wealthy person of a stigmatised race may still face racial discrimination despite class privilege.

Class inequalities pervade & reinforce birth-ascribed hierarchies.
- Example: The racial wealth gap in the U.S.—median white household wealth >10× median Black household wealth.
Conversely, attaining higher class status rarely neutralises racial stigma; symbolic and institutional barriers persist.
Big Picture: **All collective ranking systems help retain *privilege* for the powerful and impose oppression on the powerless**.

Meritocracy Myth: An ideology suggesting achievement is purely a function of personal effort, masking structural obstacles.
Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Outcome: Open class systems promise the former but seldom deliver without policy interventions (e.g. progressive taxation, affirmative action).
Human Rights Lens: Birth-ascribed stratification clashes with principles of intrinsic human dignity and equality (see Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 1 & 2).

Choose one category of stratification from the prescribed readings (e.g. disability, religion). Determine whether its hierarchy is grounded in social constructs or biological facts.
Outline the means of mobility within that hierarchy (education, marriage, migration?).
Analyse the interaction between this category and the race–class nexus in your context.

Re-visit Weber’s tripartite model (class, status, power) introduced last week; today’s lecture expands on concrete criteria of assignment.
Link the ideology discussion to last semester’s unit on "Hegemony" (Gramsci)—dominant ideas that naturalise inequality.
Practical application: Map your own life trajectory onto an intersectionality grid (Crenshaw) to visualise overlapping privileges and disadvantages.

Ascribed Status: A social position assigned at birth or involuntarily later.
Achieved Status: A social position earned by personal effort.
Closed System: Social structure prohibiting mobility (e.g. caste).
Open System: Structure allowing some mobility (e.g. class).
Phenotype: Observable physical attributes.
Miscegenation: Interbreeding of distinct racial groups—taboo in strict racial hierarchies.

U.S. racial wealth gap (Federal Reserve, 2019): \text{Median White Wealth} \approx 8 \times \text{Median Black Wealth}
Gender pay gap (global average, ILO 2022): \text{Women’s Earnings} \approx 0.80 \times \text{Men’s Earnings}
Percentage of world population living under caste-like restrictions (UN Special Rapporteur 2016): \approx 260\text{ million people}

End of Notes – Use as a standalone study guide.