AN100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Social Stratification, Status Group, Rank
Document Summary
Refer to the ordering and ranking of individuals within a society. This ranking is normally based on pervasive systems of inequality that privilege particular classes, castes, races, or genders over others. Those at the top of the hierarchy are generally afforded more power, wealth, prestige, or privileges in a society. Hierarchies can be based on race, gender, class, caste, ethnicity, national affiliation, or other factors. Social hierarchy is not an inevitable feature of human societies. More- over, there does not seem to be a universal inclination to rank people by one criterion or another; in some societies, skin color makes a difference, while in others, it does not. In some societies, men are accorded far greater status than women; in others, there is little, if any difference in gender rank. Some people contend that the hierarchical ordering of people and groups is unavoidable.
