Middle East Technical University

stratification

proletariat

SOC - 109

embourgeoisement

Sociology Department

Week 12

SOC 109

Class
Slavery

access

Caste
dangerous

Chapter XI
Estate
Social ranking

Middle-

Stratification and Social Class

gender

Under-

class
inequalities

Marginaliation
genteel poverty

downwardly
lateral

intra

generational

inter
class

status

WEBER

surplus value

Social strata
upwardly

Vertical

conflict

The death of class?

White-collar

mobility

24 December2015

Geographical

Instructor

party

blue-collar

market situation

Dr. Besim Can ZIRH

Text Book: Anthony Giddens, Sociology (6th Edition) 2009.

work situation

SOC - 109

Stratification and Social Class

Opening Scene

Gulam Noon was born in India in 1936. His family

owned a sweet shop in Bombay: 'Royal Sweets'.
He established Noon Products in 1987 in London.
Motivation: All the pre-packaged Indian ready meals available
from the supermarkets were insipid and frankly unacceptable.
In 2005: now more than 100 different Noon dishes, produced in
three plants, operated by 1,100 employees. Between 250,000 and
300,000 meals are made every day.
In the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 he
was placed in 888th position with an
estimated fortune of 65 million.

Left: Vice-Chancellor Nigel Thrift.

Centre: Sir Gulam Noon,.
Right: Nigel Sykes, Warwick Business School.

SOC - 109

Stratification and Social Class

Yarglanmadm. Sorguya alndm. Polis tabii.
Gzalt... Ama ok ksa bir sre. Belki bir gn. O
zaman anladm yani. Ya susacaksn. Ya iddete
karacaksn. Ya da geip gideceksin. nden bir
tanesi... te biz geip gitmeyi setik. Sene 1994...

Hamdi Ulukaya
born in Erzincan in 1972,
studied political sciences at Ankara
University during the early 1990s,
left for political reasons, to the US in 1994
established his first cheese
business in 2002 in New York,
Chobani, the best-selling yogurt
brand in the U.S., has given Ulukaya
a net worth of $1.1 billion,
according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index (2012).

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109
Sociological Questions

What do you think about Noon and Ulukaya?

What social factors will
influence your
economic position in
society?

Are your chances any

different if you are a
woman?

How does the

globalization of the
economy affect your
life chances?

Why do economic
inequalities exist in
contemporary societies?

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.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Systems of Stratification
Sociologists use the concept of social stratification to describe inequalities
that exist between individuals and groups within human societies.
Which strata are
you from?

assets or property (economic), but also gender, age, religious

affiliation or military rank (cultural, social and symbolic capitals).
Individuals and groups enjoy
differential (unequal) access to
rewards based on their position
within the stratification scheme.

It is useful to think of stratification as rather like the

geological layering of rock in the earth's surface.
Societies can be seen as consisting of 'strata' in a hierarchy: the
more favored at the top and the less privileged nearer the bottom.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Systems of Stratification
All socially stratified systems share
three basic characteristics:

The rankings apply to social categories of

people who share a common characteristic
without necessarily interacting or
identifying with one another.

People's life experiences and opportunities depend

heavily on how their social category is ranked.

The ranks of different social categories tend to

change very slowly over time.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Systems of Stratification
Stratified societies have changed
throughout human history.

King of Gourma & his wives (Burkina Faso - 1910)

In the earliest human societies, which were

based on hunting and gathering, there was
very little social stratification - mainly because
there was very little by way of wealth or other
resources to be divided up.

Historically, four basic systems of stratification can be

distinguished: slavery, caste, estates and class.

Upper-Class
Upper-Middle Class

Today, industrial and postindustrial societies are extremely

complex; their stratification is
more likely to resemble a teardrop.
Sir Tasker Watkins, the Deputy Chief
Justice of England (the UK - 1940s)

Middle Class
Lower Class

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109
1. Slavery
Slavery is an extreme form of inequality, in which certain
people are owned as property by others.
The legal conditions of slave-ownership have varied
considerably among different societies.
Slavery is simply not economically efficient.
Today, slavery is illegal in every country of the world, but it
still exists in some places.
From enslaved brick-makers in Pakistan to sex slaves in
Thailand and domestic slaves in relatively wealthy countries
like the UK and France.

Ancient Greece
Their position was more akin to that of
servants, were literate and could work as
government administrators

07.12.2009

Colonial America

11.09.2011

Sometimes slaves were deprived of almost

all rights by law

SOC - 109

Stratification and Social Class

2. Caste
A caste system is a social system in which one's social position is
given for a lifetime, are therefore believed to be unchangeable.
Everyone's social status is based on personal
characteristics, parental religion or parental caste.

Caste societies can be seen as a special type of class

society, in which class position is ascribed at birth.
Jews were frequently treated as a separate caste,
forced to live in restricted neighborhoods

In caste systems, intimate contact with members of other

castes is strongly discouraged: strongly endogamic.

VIDEO

24.01.2012

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Systems of Stratification

3. Estate

Estates were part of European feudalism, but also existed in many

other traditional civilizations.
In Europe, the highest
estate was composed
of the aristocracy and
gentry.

The clergy formed

another estate, having
lower status but
possessing various
distinctive privileges.

A certain degree of intermarriage and mobility

was tolerated between the estates.
Estates were closely bound up with the
manorial community, they formed a local,
rather than a national, system of stratification.

Those in what came

to be called the 'third
estate' were the
commoner

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109
3. Class

Systems of Stratification

Class systems differ in many respects from slavery, castes or estates.

We can define a class as a large-scale grouping of people who share common economic
resources, which strongly influence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead.

2
3

Class systems are fluid. Unlike the other types of strata,

classes are not established by legal or religious provisions.
Class positions are in some part achieved. An
individual's class is not simply given at birth.
Class is economically based. Classes depend on
economic differences between groups of individuals
Class systems are large-scale and impersonal, and operate
mainly through large -scale, impersonal associations.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109
Theorizing Class: Will caste give way to class?

There is some evidence that globalization may hasten the end of legally
sanctioned caste systems throughout the world.
Modern industrial production requires that people move about freely, work
at whatever jobs they are suited or able to do, and change jobs frequently
according to economic conditions.
The rigid restrictions found in caste systems
interfere with this necessary freedom.
Wage slavery or starvation? Thats
not a choice. Its a TREAT!

Migration, global awareness of the notion

rights, social and interactions beyond
national borders.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Theorizing Class: Karl Marx's theory of class conflict

Industrialization transformed societies, arguably, for the better.
But it also led to protests and revolutionary movements.
BUT

Why have workers protested even

as societies became more wealthy?

Industrial capitalism was founded in an exploitative

system of class relations that led to the oppression of
the majority of working people.
For Marx, a social class is a group of people who
stand in a common relationship to
the means of production.
The relationship between classes is an exploitative one

The proletarius, a citizen of the lowest class.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Theorizing Class: Karl Marx's theory of class conflict

In feudal societies, exploitation often took the form of

the direct transfer of produce from the peasantry to
the aristocracy.
Production

Estate

LAND

Third Estate

In modern capitalist societies, the source of exploitation is less obvious and

based on surplus value.
Profit

Market

Production

Capital

Means of Production
Money

Surplus Value

Wage

Labour
Labour

The Capital earns more than how much is invested.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Max Weber: class, status and Party

Weber's approach to stratification was built on the analysis
developed by Marx, but he modified and elaborated on it.

Three overlapping elements (Class, Status, Party) of stratification produce

an enormous number of possible positions within society, rather than the
more rigid bipolar model proposed.
Weber argued that an individual's market position strongly influences his or
her overall life chances.
According to Weber, class divisions
derive not only from control or lack of
control of the means of production, but
from economic differences that have
nothing directly to do with property.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Max Weber: class, status and Party

Marx

What determines your

STATUS?

Weber

is determined by the class division

can change independently of class
based on control of the means of
divisions and multidimensional.
production.
Social and cultural aspects: life-styles.
Purely economic.
For instance, Genteel Poverty.

Ah Gzel stanbul (1966), Hamet briktarolu

Little Lord Fauntleroy is the first children's novel written by English
playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett. (1888).

SOC - 109

Weber also argues that party formation is

an important aspect of power, and can
influence stratification independently of
class and status.

Stratification and Social Class

Max Weber: class, status and Party

Party defines a group of individuals who

work together because they have
common backgrounds, aims or interests.

Parties may appeal to concerns cutting

across class differences; for example,
parties may be based on religious
affiliation or nationalist ideals.

Wealth
Prestige

Power

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Erik Olin Wright's theory of class

Erik Olin Wright has developed an influential theory of class which combines
aspects of both Marx's and Weber's approaches.
There are three dimensions of control over economic
resources in modern capitalist production
control over investments or money capital.
control over the physical means of production.
control over labor power.

WhiteCollar

Working
Class

able to influence some

have control over none

contradictory class location

Capitalist
Class

have control over all

SOC - 109

Milliyet

Stratification and Social Class

Erik Olin Wright's theory of class
YES

White-collar and professional employees have to

contract their labor power to employers in order to
make a living in the same way as manual workers do.

BUT

The relationship to
authority.

At the same time they have a greater

degree of control over the work setting
than most people in blue-collar jobs.

The possession of skills

or expertise.

contradictory class location

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109
Sociological Importance

Measuring class

The relationship between class position and other dimensions of social

life, such as voting patterns, educational attainment and physical health.
BUT
How to measure class which has no clear-cut borders?

Operationalization: transforming abstract concepts into measurable variables.

For instance, to map the class structure of society.

What do you think?

Made in Chelsea

What kinds of things can be indicators of class?

SOC - 109

Stratification and Social Class

Most class schemes are based on the occupational
structure.
Measuring
class
Descriptive Schemes: reflect the shape of the occupational and class
structure in society without addressing the relations between social classes.
Explanatory Schemes: are more theoretically informed
and concern the relations between classes in society .

BUT

There are difficult to apply to the economically inactive groups.

Class schemes based on occupational distinctions are also unable to

reflect the importance of property-ownership and wealth to social class.
Moreover,

rapid economic transformations occurring in industrial societies

have made the measurement of class even more problematic.
New categories of occupations are emerging and mobility and change that
are provoked by such social transformations.

What was the Question ?

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Goldthorpe's Class Scheme

Qs

What is the connection between the jobs we do - our occupations

- and our social class position?
Is class simply the same thing as occupation?

Operationalization
The Goldthorpe class scheme was designed not as a hierarchy but
as a representation of the 'relational' nature of the contemporary
class structure.
Explanation
Two main factors, market situation and work situation, determine
the class position.
The market situation concerns the
level of pay job security and prospects
for advancement.

The work situation focuses on

questions of control, power and
authority within the occupation.

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Goldthorpe's class Scheme

Goldthorpe's comparative research encompassed a project on social
mobility known as the CASMIN project (Comparative Analysis of Social
Mobility in Industrial Societies).
I

Professional, administrative and managerial employees higher grade.

II
IIIa

Professional, administrative and managerial employees, lower grade;

technicians, higher grade.
Routine non-manual employees, higher grade.

IV

Small employers and self-employed workers.

Supervisors of manual workers; technicians, lower grade.

VI

Skilled manual workers.

IIIb

Routine non-manual workers, lower grade.

VII

Semi- and unskilled manual workers.

Service Class

Intermediate Class

Working Class

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

The Death of Class

Jan Pakulski and Malcolm Waters argue that class is no longer the
key to understanding contemporary societies.
What does the death of class mean to you?.
AND WHY?
status conventionalism: Inequalities are the result of differences in status
(prestige) and in the lifestyle and consumption patterns.
an increase in consumer power, an 'ascriptively
disprivileged underclass' - is their inability to engage in
'status consumption.'
property-ownership is now less restricted.
The processes of globalization: a new international
division of labor.

1996

Stratification and Social Class

SOC - 109

Some further issues

Distribution of wealth

The growing middle-class.

The embourgeoisement thesis

Gender-Class

Underclass.
Dangerous Class.

Embourgeoisement by Terry Castle (2011)

SOC - 109

Stratification and Social Class

Mobiliti(es)
We have to consider not only the differences
between economic positions or occupations, but also
what happens to the individuals who occupy them.

Generational (Time) Dimension

Upwardly

Vertical Mobility

The term social mobility

refers to the movement of
individuals and groups
between different sodaeconomic positions.

Downwardly
Lateral Mobility

SOC - 109

Middle East Technical University

Sociology Department

SOC 100

Chapter XI

Stratification and Social Class

Thank you for your attention

24 December 2015
Instructor

Dr. Besim Can ZIRH

Text Book: Anthony Giddens, Sociology (6th Edition) 2009.

Week 6.1