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Social Stratification

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The United States is predicated on a class system and extensive significance is placed on its being a meritocracy. As a result, it can be challenging for an individual to conceptualize or recognize the role that social barriers play in personal mobility.

Explain the role that stratification has played in your life.
Examine how different your life would be if you lived in a caste-system instead of a class-system.
Evaluate the role of racial, ethnic, or gender stratification in your day-to-day life.

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Solution Summary

Social Stratification is investigated using references as well as personal data.

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Social Stratification:

Stratification refers to the classification of data into sub-categories and categories on the basis of one or more chosen criteria. Social stratification involves formation of a social hierarchy from highest to lowest by ranking some groups or individuals as more deserving than others (Webfinance, 2011).

The role of stratification:

Stratification helps one identify his or her own talent since an individual cannot gauge his own fate or understand his own experience without locating the life chances of all the individuals of his or her social layer. It also enables one to work hard, since people who perform well are rewarded, and leads to motivation in the place of work. Stratification has enabled me to receive prestige and honor from others (Kornblum, 2008).

Living in a caste-system instead of a class-system:

A caste system is where an individual cannot change his or her own social stratum, whereas a class system is where one person can move up and down the social ladder as much as he or she wants. A caste system determines social status achieved by birth. Living in a caste system would mean that I would be socializing with people within my own caste only and also indulge in the social ideology and the religious ...

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