- Slavery.
Tile most extreme of legalized social inequality for individuals or groups is slavery. 'he distinguishing feature of this oppressive system of stratitication is that enslaved :individuals are owned by other people. These human beings are treated as property, just as if they are equivalent to household pets or appliances. Slavery has been practised in different forms. In ancient Greece, the main source of slaves consisted of captives of war and piracy. Though the slave status could be inherited, it was not permanent. A person's status might be changed depending on the outcome of the military conflict between kingdoms. On the other hand, in United States amid Latin America, racial and legal barriers were established to prevent the freeing of slaves. In other words, in whatever form it existed, it had required extensive use of coercion in order to maintain the privileges of slave owners.
- Caste
Caste is the cornerstone of social stratification in India. It is a hereditary system of rank, usually religiously recognised, that tend to be fixed and immobile. In other words, caste is a closed system, which denies social mobility. Connubiality and commensality are the cardinal principles of inter-caste relations based on the ascription of caste stalbus and rank by birth. According to Bailey (1957), caste is a closed organic syste,m of stratification. However, another sociologist, Lewis (1958) observes that caste is an integrating and cohesive factor in the village community as it encompasses kinship ties and political and economic relationships.
According to lais Dumont, a French sociologist, Caste stands for inequality in both theory arid practice, hut this inequality is not a binary opposite of equality. In his well known study ''Homo Hierarchicus", he assigns an important place to hierarchy which forms an important aspect of the structuralist paradigm. Ideology refers to the ideas and norms derived form the Hindu civilization of which the caste system is an important manifestation. "Hierarchy" is the dominant principle of this normative structure which is contained in the dialectical relationship between the principles of purity and pollution in the ritual and the behavioral domains of the system. The ideology of the caste system in Dumont's model of stratification helped in the comparative analysis of the social structure.
Again the role of ideology in the studies of social stratification in India can also be reflected j n Yogendra Singh's book "Social Stratification and Change in India". Singh explains by using the concept of 'Counter - Brahmanical ideology' of the caste system in India. The social consciousness of the educated classes among the deprived communities, tribes and scheduled castes questions the Hindu caste system based on the idea of ' purity and pollution. Thus, the clash was between two ideologies in the Indian social structure - the Brahmanical model of caste and a casteless society of groups and communities based on occupational specialization.
However, I with the process of modernization and social change, the issues involving social stratification in India have now crossed the boundaries of caste and class has also become an important analytical tool to understand the complex issue of social stratification in India. Social stratification in India is taking many new concepts into its fold like professions, elite, categories of weaker sections of society, women, children, tribes and scheduled castes. These structural entities and the new domains Concepts and Perspectives of inequality requires novel orientations and analysis in order to understand
the shift found in the sociology of social stratification in India.
- Social Class.
A class system is a social ranking primarily based on the economic position in which I achieved characteristics can influence mobility. Education is an important contributory factor in achieving such a class position.
In contrast to slavery and caste systems, the boundaries between classes are less precisely defined, and there is much greater movement from one stratum or level of society to another. Yet class systems maintain stable stratification hierarchies and patterns of class divisions. Consequently, like other systems of stratification, class systems are marked by unequal distribution of wealth and power.
Income inequality is the main characteristic of a class system. For instance, Daniel Rossides (1997), an American Sociologist, has conceptualized the class system of the United States using a five class model - the upper class, the upper middle class, the lower middle class, the worlung class and the lower class. The lines separating social classes in this model are not so sharp as the divisions in the caste system
According to Karl Marx, relations of production are at the base of social stratification. E.g. Employer v employee, master vs servant, rich vs poor, etc. These factors determine political and non-political institutions and even ideologies in a society. Power relations differ from one society to another and have changed over time.
Titany answered the question on August 10, 2021 at 08:10