Social Inequality: Stratification, Economy, and Classes

Social Inequality and Stratification

Social inequality, also called stratification, is the process through which a given society is divided into several aggregates called strata, each involving different degrees of prestige, property, and power.

Types of Stratification Systems

• Eastern Despotic Stratification: Characteristic of ancient empires with hydraulic exploitation.
• Caste Stratification: Hereditary and linked to the occupational structure of society.
• Feudal Property or Class Stratification: A comprehensive system of serfdom where a degree of freedom exists.
• Religious Stratification: Based on and linked to the economic development of capitalism; however, the political factor—the distribution of power and authority—is also very important in its constitution.

Key Interpretive Challenges

• The multidimensionality of social inequality.
• Power and Mode of Production: The major types of social stratification mentioned are not merely the result of a simple division of labor but also result from at least two other factors: power and the mode of production.

Economy and Society Interplay

The economy encompasses the set of activities through which a community meets its needs for the production and consumption of goods. It is the social science of a given economic order within the society that practices it.

From our perspective, we are more interested in the cultural and socio-psychological aspects of production, exchange, traffic, and consumption of goods than their study without considering the human context. The economy is fundamentally a process of meeting needs and consuming goods.

Economic assets are not only material objects of consumption but any value that is produced or procured through effort, then possessed. The most important classification is the distinction between private property and common property.

Defining Social Classes

A social class is an aggregate of individuals with similar or equivalent power, income, property, and occupation within the general system of inequality in society. A person's social class is determined mainly by their position in the general division of labor, as well as their resources and power within society.

Karl Marx defined social classes as communities primarily created by the mode of production. Classes are very complex phenomena; Marcel Mauss described them as social phenomena encompassing all possible social dimensions: religious, economic, ideological, etc.

Social classes are often antagonistic to one another. They are characterized by solidarity among members, being semi-organized, and semi-conscious of their unity and existence. These are characteristics of modern Western society, linked by economic and organizational ties.