Self-reflection on Social Stratification
Social stratification entails categorizing people in a particular community into several hierarchical clusters based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, derived power, and race. In my opinion, these strata exist in every society globally, because those in power and higher social classes enjoy privileges at the expense of the poor and powerless individuals. I think stratification results in social inequality that culminates in the ubiquitous protests among various groups like workers and feminists. This paper addresses my self-reflection on social stratification and its impact on communities.
Essentially, some social stratification theorists posit that it provides the structural functionality that leads to society’s smooth running. However, my predicament is that the people who enjoy the privileges that come with strata resort to the needy individual’s exploitation and oppression. It would be modest if the reward system for society recognized the lower class individuals’ efforts, however small their contributions are. Ideally, social construction dictates that the rich will continue to be rich, while the poor become poorer (Kerbo, 2017).
The categorization of people into social groups has affected many societies on unprecedented levels. Social hierarchies have led to inequalities in several dimensions, such as political, socioeconomic, and ideological levels based on an intersectional approach. Ideally, the monopoly of power and wealth results in social disparity where the low-class individuals suffer. The suffering is characterized by unequal life chances and prestige, which may cause emotional stress or even depression. Additionally, it creates a rift so huge between the classes that it causes chaos in society. This scenario is in line with Karl Marx’s prediction about the workers’ revolution to overthrow capitalism (Sanderson, 2018).
Conclusively, the system of evaluating and ranking community members should be treated as archaic. It leads to social disparities that cause chaos in the community in terms of social movements and revolutions. Moreover, the divisions among community members result in oppression and exploitation of the disadvantaged. Although it is impractical to abolish the system entirely, as evidenced by the failure of Karl’s prediction, I pledge for improvements to acknowledge the low class’s efforts and move towards equality.
References
Kerbo, H. (2017). Social stratification. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-4.
Sanderson, M. R. (2018). Everything flows unevenly: social stratification in coupled socio-ecological systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 33, 51-57.