SOCI 1001H Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Social Stratification, Ascribed Status, Class Consciousness
14 Jun 2018
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Lecture 7: Stratification, Inequality, and Power Part 1: Class and Gender
Stratification: a system in which a society rank order categories of people in a hierarchy
• Creates system where some people get more than others and are higher up than others
• It is not an equal situation
• Social stratification is intertwined with concept of social inequality
Social inequality: used to describe how certain attributes that are deemed to be valuable are
unevenly distributed across social groups
• Feature of almost every type of society, there are almost always hierarchies
• Different types of societies have different criteria to be higher in hierarchy
• Sociologists have found traditionally most profound stratification systems revolve around
three types of characteristics in capitalist society:
• Social Class
• Most powerful of the three
• Race and Ethnicity
• Gender
• We typically have no control over these groups, and are born into them
• Ascribed status: a social position generally conferred at birth
• Determine our life experiences and chances to a high extent
• Achieved status: a social position which is earned on the basis of how well an
individual performs a certain role
Social Class as a Stratification system
Karl Marx:
• Karl Marx believed social class was the most powerful force in shaping society and
individual lives
• Understanding social class was key to understanding society
• Main conflicts in society were rooted in tension and divisions between
bourgeoisie and proletariat
• Bourgeoisie: capitalist/owning class
• Proletariat: working class
• Capitalist mode of production: where means of production are privately owned but
collectively worked upon for a wage
• Owners and workers have interests that are naturally opposed to one another
• Karl Marx argued capitalism is similar to slavery as workers need to enter work
contracts to survive
• He believed tension between two classes would ultimately lead to overthrow of
capitalism, and wanted to see that change
• Class consciousness (Karl Marx): develops as the working class/proletariat shifts from
being a class in itself (objective- class membership) to becoming a class for itself
(subjective- awareness of situation)
• Must happen for social change to happen
• 4 stages of developing class consciousness:
• Identify as a class
• Class opposition: understanding the capitalist class is the opponent
• Class totality: understanding this structure of classes shapes almost all aspects
of someone’s life
• Alternative vision for society: must have a desired alternative for when they do
overthrow class system
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
