Part 1
Choose the correct judgments about social stratification and write down digits R NS under which they are indicated.
1) The concept of "social stratification" refers to a system of signs and criteria of social stratification.
2) The division of society into strata allows the presence of privileges for representatives of some strata.
3) The criteria for social stratification include the amount of power.
4) One of the criteria for social stratification is the individual psychological traits of a person.
5) Scientists distinguish two types of social stratification: progressive and regressive.
Are the following judgments about social stratification true?
A. The concept of "social stratification" refers to the system of social stratification of society.
B. The criteria for social stratification include the amount of income, the amount of power, the level of education.
1) only A is true
2) only B is true
3) both judgments are correct
4) both judgments are wrong
Choose the correct judgments about social mobility and write down the numbers under which they are indicated.
1) Intergenerational mobility - a comparative change in social status among different generations.
2) Organized mobility is called the state-controlled movement of a person or entire groups up, down or horizontally: with the consent of the people themselves, or without their consent.
3) The horizontal type of mobility includes obtaining an extraordinary military rank.
4) The vertical type of mobility refers to the transition of a person to a lower social stratum.
5) Social mobility is the division of society into groups that occupy different positions.
Select from the provided list the words to be inserted in place of the blanks.
“Social inequality characterizes the relative position of individuals and social (A). Specific group or individual ____ (B) are recognized by members of society, and in public opinion they are attributed to some importance.
Social inequality in modern society is most often understood as ____ (B) the distribution of social groups in a hierarchical order. And the concept of "middle class" just describes such a socially comfortable position: economic well-being, the presence of property, valued in society ____ (D) civil rights.
Social inequality is determined primarily by the importance and ____ (E) functions performed for society. In modern society, the profession becomes decisive ____ (E) social status ".
List of terms:
1) status
2) group
3) criterion
4) stratification
5) socialization
6) profession
9) mobility
Part 2
With the emergence of the "class of intellectuals" non-materialistic goals become the driving force of social progress, and that part of society that is unable to assimilate them objectively loses its significance in public life more than any other class in an agrarian or industrial society. Intellectual stratification, reaching unprecedented proportions today, is gradually becoming the basis of any other social stratification ...
The development of a modern economy based on the production and use of knowledge presupposes the formation of a new principle of social stratification, much more rigid in comparison with all known in history. In agrarian societies, the power of the feudal lord over the peasants was given the right of birth, in an industrial society the power of the capitalist was based on the right of property, and the influence of a civil servant was determined by his place in the political system; all these status factors were not conditioned by the natural and irreducible qualities of people - any member of society, finding himself in the place of representatives of the ruling class, could with more or less success perform the corresponding social functions ...
In modern conditions, it is not social status that is the condition for a person to belong to the elite of post-industrial society; on the contrary, he himself forms the qualities that make him a representative of the highest social stratum. It is widely believed that information is the most democratic source of power, because everyone has access to it, and a monopoly on it is impossible; however, it is also important that information is also the least democratic factor of production, since access to it does not at all mean possession of it ...
Each individual (1) belongs to some community of people. The participants in the historical process (2) are social groups, which are understood as stable aggregates of individuals united by common interests, values and norms of behavior (3). Interests can differ in the area of focus: they can be determined by the area of economics, social sphere (4), politics or culture. Interests can be both real and illusory (imaginary). Interests can be directed to the area of progress (5), or be regressive in nature. But in any case, they serve as the basis for the consolidation (6) of people, mobilize them for common actions
Social communities of people form the social structure (1) of society. Social scientists have long tried to find and define the main component of such a social group (2). Many considered the class to be such a unit, distinguishing only two classes - the poor and the rich. They associated the emergence of classes with the manifestation of political violence (3) by the oppressors over the oppressed. The Marxist-Leninist theory considers the attitude of people to property to be the main feature of the division of society into classes (4). Those who own property are the bourgeois class (5), those who do not own are the class of wage workers, as well as the peasant class. In modern Western sociology, instead of classes, they prefer to single out strata (6) - strata, dividing them according to the level of income, social status, education and other characteristics.
The concept of class is suitable for analyzing the social structure (1) of past societies, including industrial (2) capitalist society. But in modern post-industrial (3) society, it does not work, because in it, on the basis of widespread corporatization (4), as well as excluding the main shareholders from the sphere of production management and replacing them with managers (5), property relations (6) turned out to be blurred, lost their certainty. Therefore, the concept of "class" should be replaced by the concept of "stratum" or the concept of "social group", and the theory of social-class structure of society should be replaced by theories of social stratification.
The term "stratification" comes from geology, where it refers to the vertical arrangement of the earth's strata. Sociology has likened the structure of society (1) to the structure of the Earth and placed social strata (strata) also vertically. The basis is the ladder of inequality (2): the less well-off occupy the lower rung. The wealthy from the upper stratum tend to have a higher level of education. They also have more power (3). In addition, in public opinion (4) this or that profession (5), position, occupation enjoys varying degrees of respect. Therefore, all professions existing in society can be placed from top to bottom on the ladder of professional prestige (6).
Social inequality characterizes the relative position of individuals and social groups (1). Specific group or individual statuses (2) are recognized by members of society, and in public opinion they are attributed to some importance. Social inequality in modern society is most often understood as stratification (3) - the distribution of social groups in a hierarchical order. And the concept of "middle class" just describes such a socially comfortable position: economic well-being, the presence of property, a profession that is valued in society (4), civil rights. Social inequality is primarily determined by the significance and prestige (5) of the functions performed for society. In modern society, the profession is becoming the determining criterion (6) of social status. "
- Where do social differences come from?
- Why is there social inequality?
- How to solve the problem of social inequality?
It is impossible to find two people who are the same. People differ in gender, age, temperament, height, hair color, intelligence and many other characteristics. These are biological differences, they are given to us by nature.
Social differences
Social life also makes people different. They differ in occupation, income, lifestyle, education, political and religious affiliation, etc. These are social differences, they are associated with a person's life in society, generated by social factors: lifestyle (urban and rural population), division of labor (mental and physical workers), social roles (father, doctor, politician), etc.
For example, there are social differences between the poor and the rich, the newcomers and the locals, the student and the teacher, the city dweller and the villager, doctors and politicians, bosses and subordinates. And between relatives, friends, pedestrians, tall and short people, blondes and brunettes, they are not.
Social inequality
Social inequality appeared in primitive tribes and intensified in subsequent stages of the development of society.
In modern society, large social groups are distinguished, differing in the amount of income (wealth), in the level of education, in the profession and in the nature of work. They are called classes, social strata.
In society, there is a social division into groups of the rich (upper class), wealthy (middle class), and poor (lower class).
We advise you to remember!
Social inequality - social differences in which individuals, social groups are at different levels of the social "ladder", have unequal opportunities to meet their vital needs.
The innate and acquired qualities of a person (intellect, abilities, will, diligence, character, temperament, etc.), education, profession, level of material wealth, participation (or not participation) in governing the state determine the social position (status) of a person in society, his belonging to a particular social class (stratum).
The rich, the upper class include those who own a lot of property, money. They are on the top rung of the social “ladder”, receive large incomes, and have large property (oil companies, commercial banks, etc.). A person can become rich thanks to talent and hard work, inheritance, and a successful career.
Interesting Facts
In any society, there is a difference in income between rich and poor. For example, according to the United Nations, in Russia the incomes of the richest 10% are 12.7 times higher than the incomes of the poorest 10% of Russians. In the United States, the figure was 15.7.
Between the rich and the poor is the middle class of the wealthy, wealthy. They maintain a decent standard of living that allows them to satisfy all reasonable needs (to buy quality food, expensive clothing, housing).
The poor - the lower class - receive a minimum income in the form of wages, pensions, scholarships, social benefits. With this money, you can purchase only the smallest amount of the means of subsistence necessary to maintain the health and life of a person (food, clothing, etc.).
Smart thought
"The prudent is the one who does not grieve about what he does not have, and, on the contrary, is glad of what he has."
- - Democritus, ancient Greek philosopher - -
Why do you think this monument to a beggar, located in the Norwegian city of Bergen, was erected at the entrance to a large bank?
Extreme poverty is poverty. Beggars are able to satisfy only the physical needs that ensure human survival. Some of them make up the so-called social bottom (homeless people, beggars, alcohol abusers and drug addicts).
Additional reading
A person's social position affects his health and life expectancy. For example, the upper class live on average longer than the middle class and the poor. Since each step up the social “ladder” yields tangible results. Even a small advancement - a promotion or moving from a two-room apartment to a three-room apartment - leads to better health. At the same time, changes do not have to be of a material nature: anything that increases self-esteem has a positive effect. Oscar-winning actors live on average four years longer than equally popular and wealthy non-award-winning actors.
Jealousy of people who earn more than you and who are higher on the social “ladder” can contribute to the development of various diseases.
What do you think, in addition to social status, can affect the health and life expectancy of a person?
Let's think: maybe there is something good about social inequality? Let's imagine for a second that all people are socially equal. Universal equality deprives people of the incentive to move forward, the desire to exert maximum effort and ability to fulfill their responsibilities (people will assume that they receive no more for their work than they would get if they did nothing all day).
Representatives of what social classes are shown in the photographs? Give reasons for your answer.
How the problem of social inequality is solved
Modern society seeks to reduce the gap in the level of income of different segments of the population. The social sphere of society includes various institutions and organizations that provide social assistance to citizens in need.
In this regard, the social policy of the Russian Federation provides for a system of measures and state programs to improve the level and quality of life of the entire population, support for the poor, unemployed, disabled people, large families, pensioners, war and labor veterans.
The social orientation of the economy presupposes the allocation of public funds to help broad strata of the population: ensuring a guaranteed living wage, the needs of the population for education, health care, social protection, purchasing housing, regulating employment so that unemployment is minimal.
Let's sum up
In society, there are social groups (classes, social strata) that differ in the amount of income, level of education, profession, nature of work. The modern state seeks to reduce the gap in the level of income of different segments of the population.
Basic terms and concepts
Social inequality.
Test your knowledge
- What are the reasons for the existence in society of such a phenomenon as social inequality?
- What are the names of social groups that differ in terms of income, level of education, profession, nature of work? Give examples.
- Give specific examples proving that there are social differences and social inequality in modern society.
- How is the social orientation of the economy expressed? Expand it on the example of our country.
Workshop
- Complete the Social Inequality diagram and characterize each class.
- Was there social inequality in the Ancient World and in the Middle Ages? Write in your notebook at least five arguments to prove your point.
- What would you suggest to do to a society where there are many poor people? Formulate 4-5 specific sentences. Justify your judgment.
- Do you know the hero of English folk ballads, Robin Hood? Do you think he was trying to eliminate social inequality? Justify your answer.
Inequality characterizes the uneven distribution of scarce resources of society - money, power, education, and prestige - between different strata or strata of the population. On the inequality scale, the rich will be at the top and the poor at the bottom.
If wealth is a sign of the upper class, then income - the flow of cash receipts for a certain calendar period, say, for a month or a year - characterizes all sectors of society. Income is any amount of money received in the form of salaries, pensions, annuities, benefits, alimony, royalties, etc. Even the charity of beggars, obtained by begging and expressed in monetary terms, is a kind of income.
For this reason, the following population groups can be distinguished: (Figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 - Units of measurement of economic inequality by population groups
From Figure 1.1 it follows that the population is divided into 4 groups:
1. Rich
2. Middle class
The fact is that along with a broad understanding of income, there is a narrow one. In a statistical sense, income is the amount of money that people earn due to belonging to a certain profession (type of occupation) or due to the legalized disposal of property. However, beggars, even if they regularly earn a living by begging, do not provide any valuable service to society. And statistics take into account only those sources of income that are associated with the provision of valuable, socially significant services or with the production of goods. Beggars are included in the so-called underclass, i.e. literally not a class, or a layer below all classes. Thus, beggars drop out of the official income pyramid.
The essence of social inequality lies in the unequal access of various categories of the population to socially significant benefits, scarce resources, liquid values. The essence of economic inequality lies in the fact that a narrow segment of society owns most of the national wealth. The majority's income can be distributed in different ways. For example, in the United States, the income level of the majority suggests that there is a large middle class, while in Russia the income level of the majority of the population is often below the subsistence level. Accordingly, the income pyramid, their distribution between population groups, in other words, inequality, can be depicted in the first case as a rhombus, and in the second as a cone. As a result, we get a stratification profile, or inequality profile.
The essence of social inequality
A variety of relationships, roles, positions lead to differences between people in each particular society. The problem boils down to somehow ordering these relationships between categories of people that differ in many aspects.
What is inequality? In its most general form, inequality means that people live in conditions in which they have unequal access to limited resources of material and spiritual consumption. To describe the system of inequality between groups of people in sociology, the concept of "social stratification" is widely used.
When considering the problem of social inequality, it is quite justified to proceed from the theory of socio - economic heterogeneity of labor. Performing qualitatively unequal types of labor, satisfying social needs to varying degrees, people sometimes find themselves employed in economically heterogeneous labor, for such types of labor have different assessments of their social utility.
The essence of social inequality, as we have already said, lies in the unequal access of various categories of the population to socially significant benefits, scarce resources, and liquid values. The essence of economic inequality lies in the fact that a minority of the population always owns most of the national wealth. In other words, the smallest part of society receives the highest incomes, and the majority of the population receives the middle and lowest incomes. The latter can be distributed in different ways. In the United States, the smallest (as well as the highest) incomes are received by a minority of the population, while the average - by the majority. In Russia today, the majority receives the lowest income, the average income is a relatively large group, and the highest is the minority of the population.
It is the socio-economic heterogeneity of labor that is not only a consequence, but also the reason for the appropriation by some people of power, property, prestige and the absence of all these advantages in the social hierarchy of others. Each of the groups develops its own values and norms and relies on them. If representatives of such groups are placed on a hierarchical basis, then these groups are social strata.
In social stratification, there is a tendency for the inheritance of positions. The operation of the principle of inheritance of positions leads to the fact that not all capable and educated individuals have an equal chance of occupying positions of power, high principles and well-paid positions. There are two selection mechanisms at work here: unequal access to truly high-quality education and unequal opportunities for gaining positions by equally trained individuals.
Social stratification has a traditional character: the inequality of the position of different groups of people persists throughout the history of civilization. Even in primitive societies, age and gender, combined with physical strength, were an important criterion for stratification.
Imagine a situation when there are numerous social strata in society, the social distance between which is small, the level of mobility is high, the lower strata make up a minority of members of society, rapid technological growth constantly raises the “bar” of meaningful work in the lower tiers of production positions, social protection of the weak, among other things, guarantees the strong and advanced calmness and realization of potencies. It is difficult to deny what society is, such inter-layer interaction is rather an ideal model in its own way than an everyday reality.
Most modern societies are far from this model. They are characterized by a concentration of power and resources among a numerically small elite. The concentration of such status attributes as power, property and education among the elite hinders social interaction between the elite and other strata, leads to an excessive social distance between it and the majority. This means that the middle class is small and the top is deprived of connection with the rest of the groups. Obviously, such a social order fosters destructive conflicts.
Some of the examples we have given are a reflection of the inequality that exists in society. Social inequality characterizes the position in relation to each other of various people and their associations. Inequality existed in society at different stages of its development, but for each period there were also certain features and characteristics inherent in this particular era. People in society, as we know from history, were not equal in their position, there has always been a division into rich and poor, respected and despised, successful and unsuccessful.
The estate structure was more typical for the ancient and medieval society, which are usually called traditional. An estate is a group of people with certain rights and responsibilities that are inherited. Some of the estates had privileges - special rights that elevated these people and allowed them to live at the expense of others. So, in the Russian Empire, the nobility was the privileged class. And, on the contrary, the overwhelming majority of people in the country were deprived of even basic human rights. Serfs were the property of landowners, they could be sold and bought, and even parents separately from their children.
With the beginning of the industrial revolution, the structure of society changed, classes appeared instead of estates. Class division is carried out, first of all, according to the place of people in the economic system, in relation to property, according to the amount of income they receive. Belonging to a class is not inherited, the transition from one class to another is not regulated in any way, much depends on the person himself. In the 19th century, the main classes in the leading countries of the world were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (wage workers). It was then that the theory of K. Marx and F. Engels about the class division of society appeared. They believed that classes are always opposed to each other, are in a state of struggle, and this struggle between them is the driving force of history. At first, the opposing classes were slaves and slave owners, then the feudal lords and dependent peasants, and finally the workers and the bourgeoisie.
Modern social science interprets the concept of a class in a slightly different way. An important sign of class is considered to be a certain way of life, determined by the profession and the level of income. In the structure of society today, it is customary to distinguish three main classes:
The highest, which includes bankers, employers who own and control production, top managers who perform leading management functions;
Medium - white-collar workers and skilled workers, merchants with a certain income level;
The lowest - workers without special education, service personnel.
A special group also includes people working on the land - farmers, peasants. Of course, such a division is extremely arbitrary, and the real distribution of people into social groups is much more complicated.
In every society in different historical periods there were people who did not belong to the established groups and strata. They occupied, as it were, a borderline, intermediate position. Such a state in science is called marginal, and these people themselves are called marginal.
Marginal people are people who, for various reasons, have dropped out of their usual social environment and are unable to join new groups. For example, with the beginning of the industrial revolution in European countries and in Russia, some of the peasants were forced to move to cities, look for work there, and adapt to their new life. But not every peasant likes urban conditions, the rhythm of city life. The settlers feel like strangers in this new environment. In spirit and mind, they are still peasants living in a small village, with their own way of life.
Another example can be cited. Some representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, radically inclined and negatively related to the autocracy, the state and social order of the Russian Empire, renounced their belonging to the ruling strata in society and announced their transition to the position of an oppressed people. They proclaimed themselves to be the spokesmen for the interests of peasants and workers. The position of such people can also be called marginal.
Over time, the marginalized can form a new stable group of people. In the modern world, where the framework of social groups is very mobile and people can move from one to another, the emergence of marginal groups is an important source of change and development of the social structure.