EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
Social stratification is claimed to contribute to the maintenance of social order and stability in society. Critically assess. (UPSC CSE Mains 2022 - Sociology, Paper 1)
- Social stratification explains how societies categorize people based on wealth, income, race, education, and power. Pitirim A. Sorokin defined social stratification as below. Its basis and very essence consist in an unequal distribution of rights and privileges, duties and responsibilities, social values and privations, social power and influences among the members of a society."
- Functionalist theory assumes that the various structures and processes in society exist because they serve important functions for society’s stability and continuity. In line with this view, functionalist theorists in sociology assume that stratification exists because it also serves important functions for society.
- Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore published the Davis-Moore thesis, which argued that the greater the functional importance of a social role, the greater must be the reward. The theory posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different work. Certain tasks in society are more valuable than others (for example, doctors or lawyers). Qualified people who fill those positions are rewarded more than others.
- The Davis-Moore thesis states that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society. Davis and Moore note that modern societies have hundreds of occupational positions of varying importance. Certain jobs—say, washing windows or answering a telephone—are fairly easy and can be performed by almost anyone. Other jobs—such as designing new generations of computers or transplanting human organs—are difficult and demand the scarce talents of people with extensive and expensive training.
- Therefore, Davis and Moore explain, the greater the functional importance of a position, the more rewards a society attaches to it. This strategy promotes productivity and efficiency because rewarding important work with income, prestige, power, and leisure encourages people to do these jobs and to work better, longer, and harder. In short, unequal rewards (which is what social stratification is) benefit society as a whole.
- Davis and Moore claim that any society could be egalitarian, but only to the extent that people are willing to let anyone perform any job. Equality would also demand that someone who carries out a job poorly be rewarded the same as someone who performs it well. Such a system would offer little incentive for people to try their best, thereby reducing the society’s productive efficiency.
- The Davis-Moore thesis suggests the reason stratification exists; it does not state what rewards a society should give to any occupational position or how unequal the rewards should be. It merely points out that positions a society considers more important must offer enough rewards to draw talented people away from less important work.
- Although the Davis-Moore thesis is an important contribution to understanding social stratification, it has provoked criticism. Melvin Tumin (1953) wondered, first, how we assess the importance of a particular occupation. Perhaps the high rewards our society gives to physicians result partly from deliberate efforts by the medical profession to limit the supply of physicians and thereby increase the demand for their services.
- In Functionalist models of societies such as those outlined by Talcott Parsons all of the social institutions which make up a given society are assumed to contribute to the overall efficiency and stability of that society in various ways and to contribute positively to the welfare of its members. Because all of the subsystems and institutions of any given society are seen as functional and beneficial for societies and all of their members Functionalists argue that an overall social consensus emerges in support of existing subsystems and institutions and that this consensus is continually reinforced via the socialisation process which is assumed to transmit shared norms and values which will themselves contribute to social stability.
- Social-conflict analysis argues that rather than benefiting society as a whole, social stratification benefits some people and disadvantages others. This analysis draws heavily on the ideas of Karl Marx, with contributions from Max Weber.
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