Social stratification and mobility

Sociology · Structure, order and change. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Social stratification is the ranking of people in layers with unequal wealth, prestige and power. It is a feature of society, not just of individuals, and it passes from one generation to the next.

Systems differ in how fixed they are. A caste system is closed: position is ascribed at birth and marriage is within the caste. A class system is open: position rests largely on achievement, so movement is possible. The estate system of feudal Europe lay between the two, with ranks fixed by law.

Social mobility is movement between positions. Theorists disagree on why inequality exists: Marx sees exploitation, Weber several dimensions, Davis and Moore a useful function.

Rules to remember

Marx: class depends on relationship to the means of production; bourgeoisie (owners) versus proletariat (wage workers); false consciousness and class consciousness.
Weber: three dimensions, class (economic), status (prestige) and party (power).
Davis and Moore (1945): unequal rewards are functional because they draw able people into important, demanding positions. Main critic: Melvin Tumin.
Three estates: clergy, nobility, commoners.
Vertical mobility: up or down in rank. Horizontal mobility: a change of position at the same rank.
Intergenerational: compared with one's parents. Intragenerational: within one person's own working life.
Structural mobility: many people move because the economy itself changes. Classic study: Sorokin, 'Social Mobility' (1927).

Common mistake

Students call any change of job 'vertical mobility'. Ask first whether rank changed (vertical or horizontal), then ask who the comparison is with: parents (intergenerational) or the person's own earlier career (intragenerational).

Worked example

A man starts work as a factory supervisor. Twenty years later the factory closes and he ends his career as a night watchman. Classify his mobility.

His rank changed, so the mobility is vertical, not horizontal.
A watchman ranks below a supervisor in pay and prestige, so the direction is downward.
The comparison is between two points in his own career, not with his father.

Answer: Downward vertical, intragenerational mobility.

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