In societies where all men are free before the law, stratification may be based upon accepted and self estimation of superiority or inferiority. Every society displays at every point dissensions and conflict, social conflict is ubiquitous. The Greeks and the Romans had also the racial notions; and the Turks in our country had no less. Third, Tumin questions the view that social stratification functions to integrate social system. Power and Prestige inequalities are essential for the coordination and integration of a specialised division of labour. Instead there has been tremendous growth in the middle class. Over the time, and at some places even now, race and ethnicity was and is taken to be the basis of inequality and stratification. In this article we will discuss about Social Stratification:- 1. The Western people, wherever they went, claimed racial superiority and attributed their success to it. Social stratification is universal. In the middle ages in Europe serfs usually possessed some plot of land and they might cultivate the land for themselves. Society makes elaborate arrangements for the training of younger generation. These rules constitute “Social Contract”, under which people give the right to one man to rule, who has collective desire and will. If, on the other hand, he is born into a family which does not open up these opportunities easily, he is naturally condemned to a lower rung of social fabric. The Western societies are highly developed; it is attributed to the fact that these societies adopted open system of stratification. Members of a particular group have common identity, like interests, and similar life-style. Raymond Aron and Lipset have tried to argue against Marx’s theory of class. In Russia, in one form or another it continued to exist down to the October Revolution (1917). A few simple examples will be illuminating. Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels and from different perspectives. Stratification is a particular form of social inequality. Such distinctive patterns will be found most likely in those societies with a high degree of concern for status-honor, where individual behaviour is always shaped by a concern for whether it is appropriate for membership in a particular socio-economic level. A number of theoretical approaches to social stratification have been put -forwarded. Social Stratification is a classification whereby people rank and evaluate each other as higher and, based on evaluations; inequality rewarded one … Dimensions. Balban (1266- 86), a Turk by origin, was full with the notion of racial superiority, and held that a Turk alone had the qualities to rule. Is the money ‘old’ and ‘dignified’ or ‘new’ and ‘ostentatious’? Bottomore claims that gulf between the two major classes has not widened because there has been a general rise in everyone’s standard of living. It follows from Parson’s argument that there is a general belief that stratification system are just, right and proper, since they are basically an expression of shared values. In addition to the aforesaid phenomena of social inequality, there is another type of social inequality which is sociologically more important. To sum up, Davis and Moore regard social stratification as a functional necessity. This system has to do with the culture of eating, and might therefore be called the alimentary index. The fact that a person lives in a locality, considered respectable in public estimation, adds to his standing in society. In case, a person with higher qualification is not allowed to move higher in the social ladder, he feels dissatisfied with his job. In this state of nationwide sample of adult was asked to rate ninety occupations in accordance with prestige associated with each occupation. Eva Roserfeld has identified two distinct social strata which are recognised by members. When individuals and groups are ranked according to some commonly accepted basis of valuation, in a hierarchy of status levels based j upon inequality of social position, we have social stratification. Williams: Social Stratification refers to “The ranking of individuals on a scale of superiority-inferiority-equality, according to some commonly accepted basis of valuation. Conflict theorists view stratification in terms of individuals and subgroups within a society. different occupational groups perform different activities but when these groups become social groups in the sense that they are placed hierarchically and they have interaction within the group and at the inter-strata level, then such type of inequality is called social inequality. It is of varied nature. Wealth may include land, livestock, buildings, money and many other form of property owned by individuals or social groups. The ‘physician’ had the highest prestige and shoe shiner, the lowest. Meaning of Social Stratification 2. Raymond W. Murray: Social stratification is horizontal division of society into “higher” and “lower” social units.” By stratification we mean that arrangement of any social group or society by which positions are hierarchically divided. Does this mean that the skills of the surgeon are twenty times greater or more valuable to society than those of the miner. It is connected with a certain stage in the development of production, with certain stage in development of production with certain type of production relation. Social stratification is also based on caste. Fixation of status of a caste group also facilitates better training of the members. In between them were other occupation like clerical and sale occupation etc. It may be argued that managers are more important than routine office staff since the staffs are dependent on direction and organisation from management. It refers to the presence of social groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of the power, prestige and wealth their members possess. Further, different ways of earning it are subject to varying evaluations. As the jobs are given to the individuals according to their skills and education, the workers get job satisfaction. The term social inequality refers to the socially created inequalities. But antagonism would not disappear, class antagonism would disappear in a Marxist Utopia, but surely other types of antagonism would arise. There are three dimensions of evaluation: Which refers to honour and it involves the respectful behaviour. Weber argues that the evidence provides a more complex and diversified picture of social stratification. Multidimensional theory is associated with the name of Max Weber felt that the influence or the effect that the behaviour of another individual or group, manifests itself in several ways. This mechanism is social stratification. Plagiarism Prevention 4. Class. Marx said that class conflict is resolved by revolutionary abolition of the old production relation and old classes and their replacement by new ones. Stratification is that system by which different positions are hierarchically divided. Such a situation was more applicable in the traditional societies where knowledge was foil knowledge and it could be acquired through membership of a caste group. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Fourth, the sociologists cast doubt on the implicit assumption that actual differentials of reward do reflect difference in the skills required for particular occupations. A structure of social class involves (1) a hierarchy status groups, (2) the recognition of the superior – inferior positions and (3) some degree of permanency of the structure. A system of social hierarchy that allows individuals movement between classes. The assumptions of the conflict theorists basically are: 1. The society that Plato envisioned is explicitly meant to be class-structured, so that all citizens belong to one of three classes: He eliminated inheritance of class status and provided equality of opportunities regardless of birth. The persons with more training skills, experience and education are given better positions. In India, for instance, white collar occupations usually obtain a higher evaluation in comparison with blue-collar occupations. The third dimension of social stratification is power. However, in contrast to its earth-science usage the sociological usage of the concept of stratification often includes, implicitly or explicitly, some evaluation of the higher and lower layers, which are judged to be better or worse according to a scale of values”. Max Weber has profoundly influenced modern sociological writing about social stratification. Every element in a society renders a contribution to its integration and change. (4) Adequate sanctions including rewards and punishment exist to motivate persons. Social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of a society. "Muslim Hausa social organization is characterized by a complex system of stratification, based on occupation, wealth, birth, and patron-client ties. Power is legitimate authority in a sense that is generally accepted as just and proper by members of society as a whole. Hindu society in traditional India was divided into five main strata: four Varnas and fifth group, the out caste or untouchables. This theory argues that inequality exists in society because there is always a shortage of available valued goods and services and therefore there is always a struggle over who shall get what. For a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of social stratification, we may note that the social positions assigned to the various social strata are unequal with regard to property, power, social evaluation and psychic gratification. At the bottom of the structure lies the lowest social class and above it other social classes arranged in a hierarchy. In all societies learning, whether sacred or secular, distinguishes those who have it from those who do not. Evaluation is both a personal and societal attribute. The people who belong to each such stratum constitute a social class. Do you imagine protests for equal pay between men and women? In short, we can say that social stratification has both positive and negative functions. Social stratification is multi-dimensional. Thus, if a man is accidentally born into a wealthy family, he can afford to seek education in institutions of renown which, in turn, helps him get a high salaried appointment. Hindu society in traditional India was divided into five main strata: four Varnas or caste and a fifth group, the out caste, whose members were known as untouchables. Among the various criteria of evaluation that appear to be related to class status in our complex society, we may briefly discuss the following. The pressures to adopt appropriate styles may be sufficiently subtle so that an individual is unaware of the extent to which he orients his choices to considerations of status”. For the proper functioning of society, it has to work out some mechanism by which people engaged in different occupations get different recognition. The power of American business executive is seen as legitimate authority because it is used to further productivity, a goal shared by all members of society. Evaluations of occupational statuses vary widely from society to society and from time to time in the same society. The differentiation between classes existed as early as the Indus Valley society. In open stratification systems, social mobility is possible, although some members of the population do not have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Weber emphasized the existence of three types of groups based on different forms of inequality and the fact that they may be independent of one another. Every slave is under a master whom he/she belongs to. When you hear the word 'inequality,' what do you think of? The distribution of income, both cash and real income among individuals or families, in all capitalist countries takes the form of a gradient, with a relatively small group at the top receiving huge amounts and at the other extreme, a somewhat larger but still a small number of persons in the “negative income” bracket.