Society is a complex social organism, characterized by certain attributes and possessing certain functions. It is simultaneously integral, on the one hand, and capable of stratification into separate groups, on the other.
One of the ways of dividing society defines the concept of social stratification. It can be described as follows: it is a system of criteria and signs of social separation, as well as the situation in society. A stratum is a social layer of people who have the same or similar indicators according to one of the criteria.
What could be the reasons for relating people to different groups? In the social sciences, these are the so-called foundations of social stratification. Depending on the different approaches, they can be very different. Most often, the following reasons for stratification are given:
- biological factors;
- gender (gender) characteristics;
- access to various privileges in the economic and political spheres;
- access to limited resources is singled out separately (class division is the basis of social stratification in this case).
Biological factors include age, race, appearance, and more. Gender characteristics divide society into men and women. Access to certain privileges leads to the fact that among individuals there are both powerful holders of money and people living below the poverty line with a minimum number of opportunities.
But according to Parsons, the foundations of social stratification are divided into the following three sections:
- Congenital signs of individuals. This is gender, belonging to a certain ethnic group, age, family ties, abilities in intellectual and physical activity, and so on.
- Social signs characterizing the individual as part of a specific occupational community. It can be students, workers, retirees or sellers, miners, businessmen and so on.
- The other basis for social stratification is characterized by the possibility of “possession”. This is access to various values (both material and spiritual), resources, privileges. In addition, this also includes ownership of certain objects.
It is very simple to select and highlight examples of social stratification - just look around. Imagine a solemn line dedicated to September 1. Here you can divide the gathered people according to a variety of signs. In this case, many groups stand out:
- children and adults;
- men and women (boys and girls);
- representatives of various professions;
- students and workers;
- rich, middle class and poor;
- groups uniting representatives of different nationalities;
- others.
Social stratification took place at the very beginning of the emergence of society. Even at the beginning of human existence, large groups living in a certain territory were divided into small ones. There were clans, castes, tribes. Moreover, inequality was present both between social communities and within them. The same situation is observed today.
