How Social Stratification Is A Social Hierarchy Essay

1221 Words Aug 20th, 2015 5 Pages
Thoughts on Social Stratification.
1.To be able to simplify the view on social stratification, and inequality I would put it in this way. As we already know social stratification is a social hierarchy. The military would be a great example, because it provides a ranking system. In the enlisted side it starts out with the lower rank being airman first class, until they prove themselves to be good enough to move up in rank. (Years in service, passing of examination, earned EPR bullets, and putting together a good package). If in a certain amount of years these airmen do not move up in rank, they are viewed as inferior. So the ones who do move up consider themselves better than the ones in the bottom. Almost all societys evaluate people based on some characteristics and are placed into higher or lowert ranking groups.
Similarly, social inequality occurs when certain members of society do not have the same privileges or opportunities as others. This may be because of wealth, status, sometimes race, gender and ethnicity. Although this is changing, women still do not have the same opportunities in the workforce as men do. To take it a little further this example I would like to mention that the inequality increases when we start subcategorizing these women from their race, ethnicity, and sometimes sexual orientation. The same thing happens with men who are not white, or heterosexual. “Dan Black, Gary Gates, Seth Sanders, and Lowell Taylor’s (2000) research indicates that gay men…

Related Documents