Social and
Political
Stratification
Social Inequality: The
Heart of Sociology
Social Stratification – people
belong to a group and occupy
a specific layer or stratum in
social hierarchy.
Inequality is caused by social
forces (invisible), pushing
people in all sorts of direction.
The Context of Social Desirables
Any rational individual will always aspire for things that bestow wealth,
power and prestige. Unfortunately, the ability to realize such aspirations is
severely constrained by situations where one is born into. People are born
with characteristics called ascribed traits. They are born with a particular sex
and ethnicity, religious and political milieu and inherit a particular physical
appearance.
This context shapes the individual.
It is also a source of constraints that limits potentials to achieve desirables.
Achieved traits
Ascribed traits
Some will achieve it easily
while other will have
difficulty.
Social Desirables: Availability and Accessibility
Inequalities among people are anchored on the presence of social
desirables which are defined as resources considered valuable by
societies. These resources maybe tangible or intangible.
Availability refers to the presence, absence or
scarcity of the social desirables.
Accessibility refers to the actual ways and means
of availing the resources.
Bases of Class According to Karl Marx and Max Weber
Karl Marx
Economic Stature
Material
prosperity,
ownership of the
means of
production
Max Weber
Power
Wealth
Political or social Material
authority or
Prosperity
control, especially
that which is
exercised by the
government
Prestige
Widespread
respect and
admiration felt
for someone due
to his/her
achievements or
quality
Forms of Capital and Inequalities
ECONOMIC CAPITAL
CAPITAL
CULTURAL CAPITAL
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SOCIAL CAPITAL
Social Mobility and Inequality
Social Mobility
– the ability of someone to go up the social ladder or to break
loose from the confines of a marginalized group.
- movement of individuals, families, households, or other
categories of people within or between layers or tiers in an
open system of social stratification.
Social Mobility is dependent on the capacity of the individuals
to improve their social capital or at least their access to it.
Types of Social Mobility
Absolute Mobility – happens
when people end up in a
different layer of stratification
from that of their parents.
Relative Social Mobility – refers to
the differences in probability of
attaining a certain outcome,
regardless of overall structural
changes.
Structural Mobility – a type of forced mobility that results from
change in the distribution of all or many of the statuses within a
society. Structural mobility can be upward but will also be
downward mobility.
Sources of Social Inequality
1. Inequality in the access to social, political and symbolic capital.
Social capital – ability of a collective to act together to pursue a
common goal.
Political capital – refers to trust, goodwill and influence possessed
by a political actor to mobilize support toward a preferred policy
outcome.
Symbolic capital – resources that one possesses which is a
function of honor, prestige, recognition or any other trait that
one values within a culture.
Sources of Social Inequality
2. Gender and sexual orientation
-Men are seen in many cultures as a natural leader and are
accorded more social and political rights while women have been
constrained by society that have a structural bias.
-Women are paid less despite doing more work in some industries.
-Women are faced with the double burdens of being both primarily
responsible for the care and upkeep of children and households
even as they work at the same time in public sphere.
-Women also suffer harassment in the workplace and domestic
violence.
3. Members of LGBT community struggle to win
recognition for their civil rights because they are often
subjected to discrimination and ridicule.
4. Ethnic minorities are also subjected to discrimination.
-Cultural marginalization, subject of ridicule for their
physical appearance, victims of development aggression
5. Persons with disabilities are also discriminated
because their impairment become basis for them to be
denied equal opportunity in employment.
Ways to address inequality
Policy
legislation
Promoting
cultural
transformation
GLOBAL INEQUALITY
Mechanisms to address global inequalities
1. Formation of regional groups such as ASEAN.
2. Enter into bilateral treaties and pacts with other countries.
3. Recourse to international treatises and agreements that set agreements on issues
as varied as climate change etc….
Ex. International Court of Justice (IJC)
United Nations Convention of the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)
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