Social Stratification

Social stratification refers to the structured inequalities that exist between groups in society in their access to material rewards (like wealth and income) and symbolic rewards (like prestige and respect). Sociologists sometimes compare it to the geological layering of rock: society can be pictured as made up of 'strata' arranged in a hierarchy, with the more favoured groups near the top and the less privileged nearer the bottom. This matters to sociology because inequality of power and advantage touches almost every aspect of a person's life — chances of good health, a long life, personal security, educational success, satisfying work and political influence are all distributed unequally, and in patterned, systematic ways rather than at random. …