Topic of Assignment

Social Stratification

Submitted To
Mr. Muhammad Farooq

Submitted By
Usman Ghani

Session
2018-2023

Programme
2nd semester, LLB (hons)

University Law College

University of the Punjab, lahore
What is social stratification?

1. Ogburn and Nimkoff:

“The process by which individuals and groups are ranked in more or less enduring hierarchy of
status is known as stratification”

2. Lundberg:

“A stratified society is one marked by inequality, by differences among people that are evaluated
by them as being “lower” and “higher”.

3. Raymond W. Murray:

“Social stratification is horizontal division of society into “higher” and “lower” social units.”

4- According to Sutherland and Maxwell social stratification is defined as a process of

differentiation that places some people higher than the others.

Social stratification is a system which categories the members of society into different
rankings on the basis of factors like wealth, cast, race, religion and power.

Characteristics of Social Stratification:

Based on the study of the various definitions given by famous researchers, social stratification
may have the accompanying qualities.

1- Social stratification is universal:

There is no society on this world which is free from stratification. Present day stratification
contrasts from stratification of crude social orders. According to Sorokin “all permanently
organized groups are stratified.” It is worldwide phenomenon. But it is variable and takes place
in different forms in different society.

2- Stratification is social:
 Biological qualities do not determine anyone’s inferiority or superiority. Though biological
factors like age, sex, intelligence often play a part to distinguish one’s status but one’s education,
wealth, power, personality and character etc. are more important to build a status than biological
qualities. So, social stratification is social by nature.

3- Stratification is ancient:

Stratification is very old. It was present even in the small wandering tribes. In almost all the
ancient civilizations the difference of rich and poor existed. During the period of Plato and
Kautilya even accentuation was given to political, social and monetary disparities.

4- Stratification is diverse:

Stratification is Diverse in nature & remains same with only differences in the name.
Caste social stratification, slavery stratification, high-class, middle class, etc., are few such
examples.

5- Stratification is Consequential:

It has consequences for example, racial and class segregation, crooked utilization of
the law, and expanding salary hole between the rich and poor people. It likewise prompts disdain
between social classes.

6- Stereotyping:

Sometimes, individuals will generalize the individuals from various social strata,
solidifying a specific picture of them in the open's psyche.

Origin of Stratification:

With respect to inception of stratification numerous perspectives have been given:

(i) According to Davis, social stratification has come into being due to the functional
necessity of the social system.
 (ii) Professor Sorokin credited social stratification for the most part to acquired contrast
in natural conditions.
(iii) According to Karl Marx, social elements are in charge of the rise of various social
strata, for example social stratification.
(iv) Gumplowioz and other battled that the starting point of social stratification is to be
found in the triumph of one gathering by another.
(v) According to Spengler, social stratification is established upon shortage which is
made at whatever point society separates positive as far as capacities and forces.

Systems of stratification:

The Caste System:

“The caste system is a rigid social class system in which a social hierarchy is maintained
generation after generation simply as a result of being born into a caste.”

Caste systems are close stratification frameworks in which individuals can do close to
nothing or nothing to change their social standing. A caste system is one in which individuals are
naturally introduced to their social standing and will stay in it their entire lives. Individuals are
appointed occupations paying little heed to their abilities, interests, or potential. There are for all
intents and purposes no chances to improve an individual's social position. Caste may be based
on religious beliefs or historical influences, often a combination of many factors.

In the manner sociologists have generally seen the possibility of caste, an individual will
be relied upon to remain in the social classification where he's conceived. An individual's life
situation is accepted to involve fate. In numerous caste systems, a higher power is viewed as in
charge of deciding the standing of an individual. For example, on occasion before, the Hindu
caste system of India was organized so that the least fortunate of their kin, known as the
untouchables, were viewed as undeserving of regard, since they were being rebuffed for moves
made in a previous existence.
 Certain practices, for example, untouchability, in which higher castes don't come into
physical contact with the lower caste, are prohibited. Your hairdresser, for instance, never again
has the option to decline to trim your hair in light of your family foundation, however this may
even now happen in your locale. In spite of the fact that you have indistinguishable rights from
others now, your family and future ages may encounter a cycle of living in neediness. Indeed,
even in an increasingly open framework, it very well may challenge to move upwards in status
because of absence of assets and instruction, and when segregation restricts your chances.

Caste is firmly associated with the Hindu way of thinking and religion, custom and
convention .It is accepted to have had a celestial source and approval. It is profoundly
established social foundation in India. There are in excess of 2800 castes and sub-castes with
every one of their eccentricities. The term position is gotten from the Spanish word caste
significance breed or heredity. The word caste additionally connotes race or kind. The Sanskrit
word for caste is Varna that implies shading.

In the Hindu caste tradition, individuals were relied upon to work in the control of their
caste and to go into marriage as indicated by their caste. Tolerating this social standing was
viewed as an ethical obligation. Social qualities fortified the framework. caste systems advance
convictions in destiny, predetermination, and the desire of a higher power, instead of advancing
individual opportunity as a worth. An individual who lived in a station society was associated to
acknowledge their social standing.

India used to have an unbending caste system. The individuals in the most minimal caste
experienced extraordinary neediness and were avoided by society. A few parts of India's ancient
caste system remain socially significant. In this photograph, an Indian lady of a particular Hindu
caste works in development, and she obliterates and fabricates houses. (Photo courtesy of
Elessar/Flickr)

Functions of caste system:

1. Assurance of social status:

Caste accords the individual a fixed status in the general public. An individual naturally
appreciates the status of the caste into which he is conceived. For instance, a Brahmin involves
the most noteworthy situation in Hindu society not in view of his extra-common characteristics
or accomplishments, but since of his introduction to the world in a Brahmin caste.

2. Social security:
The caste system gives social security to the person. Hutton counts the various advantages
streaming to the person from the caste system. He says that the framework furnishes the person
with a changeless assortment of affiliations which exercise a solid power over his conduct.

It is the person's caste that canalizes his decision in marriage, goes about as his worker's
guild, assumes the jobs of the state-club, the halfway house and the advantage society.
Additionally, it likewise gives him medical coverage benefits. It even accommodates his burial
service.

3. Socialization:
Caste assumes an urgent job during the time spent socialization by showing people the way
of life and customs, qualities and standards of their general public.

4. Cultural security:
Through the caste system, the expertise, information, conduct, traditions, convictions and
beliefs of the general public are transmitted starting with one age then onto the next. Along these
lines rank gives social security.

5. Religious security:
Cast practices significant effect on the religious existences of the ruralites. Execution
everything being equal and customs, loving of various types of divine beings and goddesses and
festivities of various religious celebrations are dictated by the caste system. Cast and religion are
inseparably interwoven. A.R. Desai observes, “It is the caste system that rightly determines the
place of its members in the religious life of the people.” So caste provides religious security.

6. Provides of division of labour:

The cast system provides a system of division of labour. In every caste, everyone has a
proper duty to perform. The caste system also preserves skilled labour by providing vocational
skill from one generation to other. In this way, it also helps society to make progress and to
continue crafts.

7. Political function:
Caste plays a great role in the politics as well. Members of a particular caste support and a
cast vote to the candidate belongs to their caste. Politicians and ministers need the help and
support of the village leaders to win in the election.

8. Subordinate the members of caste:

Every caste has its own norms and values which every member of that caste has to follow. It
prevents deviance and crimes through binding of its members with its values and norms.
Therefore, the caste system has proved itself to be a very useful social institution.

The dysfunctions:

Caste system advanced distance and oppression certain individuals from the general
public. It ruined both level and vertical social versatility constraining a person to carry on the
customary occupation without wanting to and limit. The status of ladies was influenced and they
were consigned to the foundation. The caste system separated the general public into commonly
unfriendly and clashing gatherings and subgroups.

The class system:

Social class also called class, a group of individuals inside a general public who have the
equivalent financial status. Other than being significant in social hypothesis, the idea of class as
an accumulation of people having comparative financial conditions has been broadly utilized in
censuses and in investigations of social portability.

Definition of Class System:

P.Gisbert: "A social class is a category or group of persons having a definite status in
society which permanently determines their relation to other group – feeling of superiority &
inferiorities. The relative position of the class in the social scale arises from the degree of
prestige attached to the status”.

Mac Iver & Page: "A social class is any portion of community marked off the from the
rest by social status 'Ongburn & Nimk off. A social class is the aggregate of persons having
essentially the same social status in a given society." i.e. a class consciousness.

Max weber describes that "classes are aggregate of individuals who have the same opportunities
of acquiring goods. The same exhibited standard of living”.

The class system is all inclusive marvel indicating a classification or gathering of people
having a positive status in the public eye which forever decides their connection to different
gatherings. The social classes are accepted gatherings (not legitimately or religiously
characterized and endorsed) they are generally open not shut. Their premise is unquestionably
financial however they are more than monetary gatherings. They are trademark gatherings of the
modern social orders which have created since seventeenth century. The relative significance and
meaning of enrollment in a specific class varies significantly after some time and between social
orders, especially in social orders that have a legitimate separation of gatherings of individuals
by birth or occupation. In the notable case of financial class, numerous researchers see social
orders as stratifying into a various leveled framework dependent on occupation, economic status,
riches, or salary.

Classes are believed to have their birthplace in the division of the social item into a
fundamental item and a surplus item. Marxists clarify history as far as a war of classes between
the individuals who control generation and the individuals who really produce the merchandise
or administrations in the public arena (and furthermore improvements in innovation and so
forth). In the Marxist perspective on free enterprise this is a contention between business people
(bourgeoisie) and compensation laborers (low class). Class hostility is established in the
circumstance that authority over social creation fundamentally involves command over the class
which produces products - in private enterprise this is the abuse of laborers by the bourgeoisie.
Marx saw class classifications as characterized by proceeding with authentic procedures.

Common Basis for Division of Class:

 Property – capitalist & the poor – the haves & the have nots.
 Education - Illiterate & literate
 Business or Occupation - farmers, clerk officers, industrialists etc.

There are three types of classes:

1. Upper Class
They are compelling individuals who have the chief and a large portion of the forces in
their grasp. They have well associations in the general public which make their work done in the
portion of seconds.

2. Middle Class
They are the gathering of individuals who neither goes under Upper Class or Poor
People. They experience a set example of battle through as long as they can remember. Nor are
they persuasive not they are the most denied individuals of society. They need to proceed with
their battle on a medium pace for the duration of the life. The quantity of white collar class
individuals is surely more than high society or needy individuals.

3. Lower Class or Poor People

They are the individuals who really face neediness. They are denied of their privilege of
carrying on with an affluent life. They experience a measure of battle which different class
individuals can't go in their own life since they are utilized to the offices given.

Characteristics of Class System:

1. Class system is based on occupation, wealth, education, age and sex.
2. Progressive system of status gathering. By and large there are 3 class –upper center and
tower. Status, esteem and job is joined. High society is less in no in contrast with the other two
though their status and renown is most. This resembles a pyramid.
3. Feeling of superiority & inferiority. In these 3 classes there are such feelings the upper
class people feel they are superior to the other two whereas the lower class feels it is inferior to
the upper class.
4. Class awareness – any place a class is shaped this inclination a cognizance is an
unquestionable requirement. There ought to feel of in gathering for example I have a place class
strife is because of this the individuals of the preliterate class feel the high society misuses them,
they join revolt. The conduct activity is dictated by this class cognizance.
5. Sub-classes, class is isolated into various gatherings. Like standing framework, the class
framework is separated.
6. Class system is an open system.
7. There's social confinement in this as well. As a rule there is endogamy in a class. To keep
up their status and position they blend among themselves and it is only here and there that
marriage between upper and lower class is wished. Differentiation between Caste and class.
They are the two wonders of social (Stratification is division of society based on birth).

Difference between Class and Caste system

S.No. Caste Class

1. Based on birth Birth, education, wealth etc.

2. In general there are 3000 castes & sub- Whereas class has subclasses (based on
castes in India. different things)

3. Caste is a closed group Whereas Class is an open system

4. Even Sanskritisation is unable to change Whereas class can be changed quiet easily.
caste
5. Caste is hereditary

6. Caste is a closed class. A child of Brahmin But there is no such thing in class.
will always be a Brahmin.

7. Status is inborn and ascribed in Caste Whereas in class system, it is acquired &
System. achieved.

The slavery system:

It is an outrageous type of disparity where a few people are claimed by others as their
property. The slave proprietor has full control including utilizing savagery over the slave. L.T
Hobhouse characterized slave as a man whom law and custom view as the property of another.
In extraordinary cases he is entirely without rights. He is in lower condition as contrasted and
freemen. The slaves have no political rights he doesn't pick his administration, he doesn't go to
the open gatherings. Socially he is disdained. He is constrained to work. The subjection
framework has existed sporadically at commonly and puts however there are two noteworthy
instances of subjugation - social orders of the antiquated world dependent on bondage (Greek
and Roman) and southern conditions of USA in the eighteenth and nineteenth hundreds of years.
As per H.J Nieboer the premise of subjection is constantly financial on the grounds that with it
rose a sort of nobility which lived upon slave work.

The estate system:

The bequest framework is synonymous with Feudalism. The primitive domains had three
significant qualities .in any case they were legitimately characterized; every home had a status
with lawful rights and obligations, benefits and commitments. Besides the homes spoke to an
expansive division of work and were viewed as having unmistakable capacities. The
respectability was appointed to protect all, the ministry to appeal to God for all and the hall to
give nourishment to all. Thirdly the primitive homes were political gatherings. A get together of
domains had political power. Starting here of view the serfs didn't establish a domain until
twelfth century. This period saw the development of third bequest - burghers who were an
unmistakable gathering inside the framework. In this manner the three bequests - ministry,
honorability and plebeians worked like three political gatherings.

THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION

1. KARL MARX
Without a doubt, Karl Marx was the person who developed to stress scholar of
constantly. His work picked up individuals consideration posts his passing for example after
1883. He is known as the dad of Conflict Perspective in which he was worried about the workers
and lower class individuals conditions. He disheartened the well-known idea of Iron Cage. He
was consistently against Social Stratification. He worked proficiently to cause individuals to
comprehend what they are missing because of less learning. He accentuated an expression that
the contrast between high society and lower class individuals. The more high society individuals
will continue gaining more and denied individuals will continue diminishing.

He gave the idea of capitalist mode into two types:

1. Substructure

The substructure or base is the premise of a working style. The laborers and their
connection with one another go under substructure. For the most part substructure doesn't
influence Superstructure.

2. Superstructure

The superstructure comprises of industrialist and proprietors. No one but they can influence
substructure by changing any of the standards present in an association.

2. Max Weber
Max Weber was likewise significantly associated with Conflict Perspective after Karl
Marx. He was dazzled by Karl Marx however only one out of every odd time he concurred with
his everything speculations. He didn't have faith in complete expulsion of Stratification. He
composed three key components of stratification.
 1. Class

2. Status

3. Power

Weber has classified people in four groups:-

1. The Upper Class

2. The white collar workers

3. The petite bourgeoisie

4. Manual Working Class

3. Wright Mills

After Karl Marx and Weber, another humanist came into notice and amended
their thoughts and reasoning with respect to Social Stratification.

He concurred with their point that social class relies upon the monetary state of a man, yet it
additionally relies upon political and ethnicity of a gathering of individuals as well. He arranged
the gathering of individuals in three unique sorts during his time.

1. Political Leadership
Political parties have consistently been a noteworthy significant job in the basic
leadership process in the public eye. Consequently the pioneers of an political party are
significantly significant in the public eye.

2. Military Circle
During the wartime particularly at the hour of 1950-1960 numerous choices were
under military heads. They were the greatest chiefs of that time.
 3. Corporate Elite
The time, at which military pioneers got its predominance, same time corporate
pioneers worked in a parallel manner with military pioneers to have their place in the public eye.

Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification

Functionalism

In sociology, the functionalist perspective of view looks at how society's parts

work. As per functionalism, various parts of society exist since they fill a required need. What is
the capacity of social stratification?

In 1945, sociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore distributed the Davis-Moore
proposition, which contended that the more noteworthy the practical significance of a social job,
the more prominent must be the reward. The hypothesis places that social stratification speaks to
the intrinsically inconsistent estimation of various work. Certain assignments in the public arena
are more profitable than others. Qualified individuals who fill those positions must be
compensated more than others.

As indicated by Davis and Moore, a fireman's activity could really compare to, for example, a
supermarket cashier's. The clerk position doesn't require a similar aptitude and preparing level as
firefighting. Without the motivator of more significant compensation and better benefits, for
what reason would somebody hurry into consuming structures? In the event that pay levels were
the equivalent, the fireman should fill in as a supermarket clerk. Davis and Moore accepted that
compensating increasingly significant work with more elevated amounts of salary, distinction,
and power urges individuals to work more enthusiastically and more.

Davis and Moore expressed that, by and large, the level of aptitude required for an occupation
verifies that activity's significance. They likewise expressed that the more expertise required for
an occupation, the less qualified individuals there is carry out that responsibility. Certain
employments, for example, cleaning foyers or noting telephones, don't require much expertise.
The workers needn't bother with a higher education. Other work, such as planning a thruway
framework or conveying an infant, requires monstrous expertise.

In 1953, Melvin Tumin countered the Davis-Moore proposal in "A few Principles of
Stratification: A Critical Analysis." Tumin addressed what decided an occupation's level of
significance. The Davis-Moore proposal doesn't clarify, he contended, why a media character
with little training, aptitude, or ability ends up well known and rich on an unscripted TV drama
or a battle field. The theory additionally doesn't clarify disparities in the training framework or
imbalances because of race or sexual orientation. Tumin accepted social stratification kept
qualified individuals from endeavoring to fill jobs (Tumin 1953). For instance, an oppressed
youth has less possibility of turning into a researcher, regardless of how brilliant she is, in light
of the general absence of chance accessible to her. The Davis-Moore theory likewise doesn't
clarify why a b-ball player wins a huge number of dollars a year when a specialist who spares
lives, an officer who battles for others' privileges, and an educator who helps structure the
psyches of tomorrow will probably not make millions throughout their vocations.

The Davis-Moore proposal, however open for discussion, was an early endeavor to clarify why
stratification exists. The proposal expresses that social stratification is important to advance
greatness, profitability, and effectiveness, in this way giving individuals something to take a stab
at. Davis and Moore accepted that the framework serves society all in all since it enables
everybody to profit partially.

Conflict Theory

Conflict theorists are profoundly incredulous of social stratification, affirming

that it benefits just a few people, not all of society. For example, to a conflict theorist, it appears
to be off-base that a ball player is paid millions for a yearly contract while a government funded
teacher wins $35,000 every year. Stratification, conflict theorists accept, propagates imbalance.
Struggle scholars attempt to carry attention to disparities, for example, how a rich society can
have such a large number of poor individuals.
Many conflict theorists draw on crafted by Karl Marx. During the nineteenth-century period of
industrialization, Marx accepted social stratification came about because of individuals'
relationship to generation. Individuals were isolated by a solitary line: they either claimed plants
or worked in them. In Marx's time, middle class industrialists claimed high-delivering
organizations, processing plants, and land, as despite everything they do today. Low classes were
the laborers who played out the difficult work to deliver merchandise. High society industrialists
rounded up benefits and got rich, while average workers low classes earned scanty wages and
attempted to endure. With such restricting interests, the two gatherings were partitioned by
contrasts of riches and influence. Marx saw laborers experience profound distance, seclusion and
hopelessness coming about because of frail status levels (Marx 1848). Marx contended that low
classes were mistreated by the cash hungry common.

Today, while working conditions have improved, clash scholars accept that the stressed working
connection among managers representatives still exists. Entrepreneurs possess the methods for
generation, and a framework is set up to make entrepreneurs rich and keeps laborers poor. As
indicated by struggle scholars, the subsequent stratification makes class strife. On the off chance
that he were alive in the present economy, as it recoups from a drawn out retreat, Marx would
almost certainly have contended that the subsidence come about because of the voracity of
industrialists, fulfilled to the detriment of working individuals.

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is a hypothesis that utilizations ordinary collaborations of

people to clarify society all in all. Representative interactionism analyzes stratification from a
smaller scale level point of view. This examination endeavors to clarify how individuals' social
standing influences their ordinary associations.

In many networks, individuals associate principally with other people who offer a similar social
standing. It is unequivocally a result of social stratification that individuals will in general live,
work, and partner with others such as themselves, individuals who offer their equivalent salary
level, instructive foundation, or racial foundation, and even preferences for nourishment, music,
and dress. The inherent arrangement of social stratification gatherings individuals together. This
is one reason why it was uncommon for a regal sovereign like England's Prince William to wed
an ordinary person.

Emblematic interactionists additionally note that individuals' appearance mirrors their apparent
social standing. Lodging, garments, and transportation demonstrate economic wellbeing, as do
hairdos, taste in extras, and individual style.

To symbolically convey social standing, individuals regularly participate in obvious utilization,

which is the buy and utilization of specific items to own a social expression about status.
Conveying expensive yet eco-accommodating water containers could demonstrate an individual's
social standing. A few people purchase costly stylish tennis shoes despite the fact that they will
never wear them to run or play sports. A $17,000 vehicle gives transportation as effectively as a
$100,000 vehicle, yet the extravagance vehicle owns a social expression that the more affordable
vehicle can't satisfy. Every one of these images of stratification are deserving of assessment by
an interactionist.

Social stratification in Pakistan:

Economic resources:

The size of landholdings in country regions has a place with privileged societies. While the
occupants, smithies, shoemakers, stylists have a place with the lower class.

Occupation:

Landowners, industrialists, businessmen, high government officials, corporate officials belong to

the upper class.

Servicemen, small businessmen, whose income equals to their expenditures, are the middle class.

Manual workers, carpenters, blacksmiths, washer men all constitute the lower class.
Prestige:

Regard of a person in the public arena is identified with the degree of esteem that he appreciates.

Distinction incorporates respectability, innocuousness, taking an interest in social welfare

ventures, helping the penniless and so on.

Power:

Power gains one respect. In Pakistan, following characteristics could be important:

Outspoken in public, educated, well off in financial resources, interest in solving people’s
problems, active, religious oriented etc.

Caste:

Caste system in Pakistan is an important element in social stratification. Some castes are
considered high, some are low.

Castes like Arain, Jutt, and Dogar are considered to be very respectful while other castes have
low respect in society.

In Pakistan people usually do marriages in their own castes and there is no system of out caste
marriages.

Education:

Education like every single other society on the planet, characterizes economic well-being in
Pakistan as well. Educated individuals are better appraised and regarded socially attributable to
their occupations, callings and status while ignorant individuals consistently have a place with
lower class.

Social Class:

Generally, three classes exist in Pakistan.

High

Middle

Low

Biradri:

It is the group of people belonging to same caste, intermarrying together.

Two or more families related to each other are called biradri.

People of biradri do not necessarily live at the same place.

There may be different languages, styles, and customs in biradri.

Old biradries having same caste are still strong in Pakistan. They have more rigid norms.

Social violations in biradries are strictly condemned.

Endogamy is a strict condition in some of the biradries.