Social Science : SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

Theories on Social Stratification

• Weber believed that class, status, and power are important bases of stratification. He used the term "class"referring to a group of people who have similar level of wealth (ownership of objects) and income. The term "status" is referred to people who have the same prestige or lifestyle while "power " is a man's ability to impose his/here will over others. It is said that power and wealth are correlative. Where there is power, there is wealth and vice-versa.

• Gerhard Lenski observed that development of technlogy was largely responsible for social stratification. It means that economic conditions of society improve significantly when its technology becomes more complex.

• According to the Functionalist theorists, the people who perform special and difficult tasks which required special talent and training should be given special positions in society and must be highly compensated, like for example, physicians or lawyers.

Categories of Social Stratification

Social Class
A social Class refers to a group of people who have the same amount of specific resources like wealth, education and occupation. Thus, we speak of working class, executive class, or a governing class.

Social Class is a factor that determines the person's "life chance", that is, the opportunities to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences.

Status
Sociologist use the term "status"to describe a social position that a person holds. Status enables an individual to command prestige and esteem. By prestige, we mean the value attached to a position without regards to who occupies it. The greater the prestige, the higher the status is.

Power
Power is the ability of an individual to influence other people to do what he/she wants them to do, with or without their consent. Most people feel uncomfortable with the idea "with or without their consent" attached to power. It appears that it intentionally dominates others or even exploits them.

In Pacem in Terris St. John XXIII speaks of authority as a necessity that arises from human nature. Since human beings are social by nature they need to live in society to acquire some necessities which they alone cannot achieve.