Open & Close Class System

Open
System
It has few impediments of
social mobility.
• Social Positions are
awarded on the
basis of…
• >merit
•

>qualifications
• >rank
• Status depends on
individual effort
and intelligence.
(achieved status)
•
 Example:

• The class system –

people are ranked
according to
possession of
economic
resources, political
power, social honor
or prestige.
 • People having approximately equal
income, education and
occupational prestige belong to the
same class or strata.
• But, it doesn’t mean that an open
society is an equal society.
•
• It simply
provides
people with
equal chance
to succeed
or equal
opportunity
to achieve
different
standards of
living based
on their
talents,
skills and
contributions
• The open class
system
provides for all
forms of social
mobility. A
person may go
up or down the
social ladder,
or may move
horizontally ,
within his or
her own social
strata based
on his
• The system is
based on
ascribed
status, that
is, Closed
determined
by… or
•

•
>Birth
>Family
Caste
•
origin
>Race System
• >Creed
• >Color
• >Sex
• > And other
ascribed
characteris
tics
• Members in the close societies are
locked in their parents’ social
position.
• Individuals’ opportunities are limited
accordingly.
•
• Legal and religious sanctions are
applied to those who attempt to
cross them.
• It allows for horizontal social
mobility, that is, movement within
their particular stratum.
•
 Examples:
Caste System &
South African Apartheid
•

System
• meaning separateness
in Afrikaans
• was a system of legal
racial segregation
enforced by the
National Party
government in South
Africa between 1948
and 1994.
• Racial segregation in
South Africa began in
colonial times, but
apartheid as an
• New legislation classified inhabitants
into racial groups (black, white,
colored, and Indian), and residential
areas were segregated by means of
forced removals.
• Apartheid
sparked
significant
internal
resistance. A
series of
popular
uprisings and
protests were
met with the
banning of
opposition
and
imprisoning of
anti-apartheid
leaders. As
unrest spread
and became
more violent,
state
organizations