Dr Ilsa Evans

ilsa@ilsaevans.com

ANALYSE THE IMPACTS OF SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS ON CLIENTS

IN COMMUNITY WORK & SERVICES

The study of inequalities in society is one of the most important areas of sociology, because our material resources determine a great deal about our lives. Sociology therefore explores such questions as:Why do economic inequalities exist?How unequal are modern societies?What social factors will influence your economic

position in society?Are ‘rags to riches’ narratives equally accessible for all?Are your chances impacted by gender and/or race?How does globalisation affect your life chances?

Stratification and classGiddens, A. 2006. Sociology. 5th Edition. Polity

Press, Cambridge.

“Sociologists speak of social stratification to describe inequalities that exist between individuals and

groups within human societies. Often we think of stratification in terms of

assets or property, but it can also occur because of other attributes, such as gender, age, religious affiliation or military rank” (Giddens, 2006: 295)

Systems of stratification

Individuals and groups enjoy differential (unequal) access to rewards based on their position within the stratification scheme. This stratification itself can be defined as ‘structured inequalities’. There are three categories that contribute to social positions:

WealthStatusPower

All socially stratified systems share three characteristics:

The rankings apply to social categories of people who share common characteristics without necessarily interacting or identifying with each other (for example, woman may be ranked differently than men, or wealthy different from poor)

The life experiences and opportunities of people depend heavily on how their social category is ranked (for example, being male or female, black or white, upper class or working class makes a big difference in terms of your life chances)

The ranks of different social categories tend to change very slowly over time

In the earliest human societies, based on hunting and gathering, there was very little social stratification – mainly because there were few resources to be divided up.

The development of agriculture produced considerably more wealth and thus a great increase in stratification. It came to resemble a pyramid – with a large number of people at the bottom and a successively smaller number of people as you move towards the top.

The Kuznets Curve

Today, industrial and post-industrial societies are extremely complex; their stratification is more likely to resemble a teardrop, with a large number of people in the middle and lower-middle, slightly smaller group at the bottom and – once again – fewer people as you move towards the top.

Four basic systems of stratification can be distinguished:SlaveryCasteEstatesClass

Slavery

Caste

Impacting occupation, marriage, socialising, moral duties, and social mobility.

Part of European feudalism, but also existed in many other traditional civilisations. Certain amount of mobility was tolerated.

Estates

Class – based on birth and ability. Social mobility possible.

Class systems differ in many respects from the other three categories. Class can be defined as a large-scale grouping of people who share common economic resources, which strongly influence their lifestyle. Ownership of wealth, along with occupation, are the chief bases of class differences. Classes differ from earlier forms of stratification in four main respects:They are more fluid (not established by legal or

religious provisions)They can be achieved (social mobility is more common)Class is economically based (material resources – not

race etc)Class systems are large scale and impersonal (ie. a

major basis of class difference is in inequalities of pay/working conditions)

Ist class 2nd Class 3rd class0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Saved from the Titanic

saved

http://www.frockandrollonline.com/blog/a-thought-for-the-day14/

Global stratificationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDR6Z5DWubY