Social Stratification
Contents 1. Social stratification 2. Characteristics of social stratification 3. Origins of social stratification 4. Social stratification in Bangladesh 5. Religious stratification In Bangladesh 6. Caste systems among Hindus 7. Caste systems among Muslims
All societies arrange their members in terms of superiority, inferiority and equality. The vertical scale of evaluation, this placing of people in strata, or layers is called stratification. Social stratification is a natural and voluntary separation according to race, religion, social and economic status. In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. Anthony Giddens has defined social stratification as “the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards”. According to F.R. Khan, “Social stratification is the division of society into groups or categories linked with each other by the relationship of superiority and subordination.”
According to Peter Saunders, in modern Western societies, stratification depends on social and economic classes consisting of three main layers: Upper class, Middle class and Lower class. Each class is further broken into smaller classes relating to profession. Again, according to Karl Marx, in capitalist society, stratification depended on two layers: 1. Bourgeois or Capitalist class 2. Proletariat or lower class.
Characteristics of stratification:
1. It is social. 2. It is universal. 3. It is diverse in form 4. It is ancient 5. It is consequential
Origins of social stratification:
There are two main theories concerning the origin of social stratification: 1. conflict theory 2. functionalist theory
Social stratification in Bangladesh
It has its roots in the past. Society in Bangladesh in the 1980s was not rigidly stratified; rather it was open, fluid and diffused, without a cohesive
All societies arrange their members in terms of superiority, inferiority and equality. The vertical scale of evaluation, this placing of people in strata, or layers is called stratification. Social stratification is a natural and voluntary separation according to race, religion, social and economic status. In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. Anthony Giddens has defined social stratification as “the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards”. According to F.R. Khan, “Social stratification is the division of society into groups or categories linked with each other by the relationship of superiority and subordination.”
According to Peter Saunders, in modern Western societies, stratification depends on social and economic classes consisting of three main layers: Upper class, Middle class and Lower class. Each class is further broken into smaller classes relating to profession. Again, according to Karl Marx, in capitalist society, stratification depended on two layers: 1. Bourgeois or Capitalist class 2. Proletariat or lower class.
Characteristics of stratification:
1. It is social. 2. It is universal. 3. It is diverse in form 4. It is ancient 5. It is consequential
Origins of social stratification:
There are two main theories concerning the origin of social stratification: 1. conflict theory 2. functionalist theory
Social stratification in Bangladesh
It has its roots in the past. Society in Bangladesh in the 1980s was not rigidly stratified; rather it was open, fluid and diffused, without a cohesive