Social Class and Stratification

Analyze the different social stratifications

Overall, social stratification is a specific form of social inequality. Almost every other society arrange their members based on superiority, equality or even inferiority. Stratification could be defined as the process of interaction or differentiation in which certain individuals rank higher than the others. The division of society into different layers or strata is what sets social stratifications. Individuals could be listed based on their social class or even some of the social positions that they hold. Some of the different social stratification systems include wealth, social class, education as well as power (Guo, 2016). Wealth elevates an individual to a specific social level in the society with those having wealth believed to be highly educated and commanding some degree of power. Therefore, it is evident that the different social stratification is always intertwined together with the core objective being on maintaining social prestige as well as enhancing the social systems. Individuals that command quite a significant proportion of the societal wealth have an influence on both the politics as well as some critical policies that are formulated within the context of any society (Lenski, 2014). Therefore, they will have an influence on the power systems as well as the political structures in a given society.

Explain Sexual and Racial Discrimination

Sexual discrimination is the sidelining of members of a particular gender based on their sexual orientations. Typically, this is experienced in the spheres of employment as well as various family set-ups(Mason, 2013). The victims of sexual discrimination have been women who have been discriminated upon, and this has led to some movements that aim at advocating for the rights of women. Sexual discrimination could also be against men though this has not been widely experienced.

Racial discrimination, on the other hand, is the sidelining of an individual or a group of individuals based on their race. Blacks suffered racial discrimination in the United States before the rise of movements that advocated for equal rights irrespective of the skin color. However, racial discrimination is an issue that is experienced up to date given the dynamics of the various societies that we live in. Both sexual and racial discrimination affects the self-esteem of an individual and at the same time makes the morale to be so low. It is therefore incumbent upon individuals who have suffered these types of discrimination to be strong and establish an internal strength that is likely to see them through (Lenski, 2014).

Critique Inequalities in Gender and Age and their Impacts on Society

The inequalities in gender and age is an issue that affects society significantly. Women just like men do have abilities and strengths that will enable them to perform some of the roles that men can. Therefore, denying women opportunities based on their sexual orientation should be an issue of the past and as such there is need to ensure that both men and women are accorded equal opportunities so that they can grow and advance in their careers as well as do tremendous things within the fields that they are engaged (Mason, 2013). An impact of gender inequality is that a substantial number of women will be dependent on their husbands which therefore could subject them to abject poverty.

Analyze Poverty and Its Effect on Society

Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. It is usually coupled with the lack of a sufficient amount of money and is generally defined by those who live below a dollar in a typical day. Poverty has significant effects on the society some of which include the increase in dependency levels which strains the available resources which could be used in the financing of other development projects (Guo, 2016). Poverty also affects the economic well-being of any given state thus changing their economic agenda as these states have to budget for some of the requirements for the poor such as the financial aids as well as relief food during times of drought and other natural disasters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Guo, Y. (2016). Introduction: class and stratification in the People’s Republic of China. Handbook on Class and Social Stratification in China, 2(1), 1-18. doi:10.4337/9781783470648.00008

Lenski, G. E. (2014). Power and Privilege: A Theory of Social Stratification (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Mason, K. (2013). Social Stratification and the Body: Gender, Race, and Class. Sociology Compass, 7(8), 686-698. doi:10.1111/soc4.12058

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