social stratification. Criteria for belonging to a stratum. Stratification criteria

In modern Western sociology, Marxism is opposed by the theory of social stratification.

Classification or stratification? Representatives of the theory of stratification argue that the concept of class is not applicable to the modern post-industrial society. This is due to the uncertainty of the concept of "private property": in view of the wide corporatization, as well as the exclusion of the main shareholders from the sphere of production management and their replacement by hired managers, property relations turned out to be blurred, lost their certainty. Therefore, the concept of "class" should be replaced by the concept of "stratum" or the concept of a social group, and the theory of social class structure of society should be replaced by theories of social stratification. However, classification and stratification are not mutually exclusive approaches. The concept of "class", convenient and appropriate for the macro approach, will be clearly insufficient when we try to consider the structure of interest to us in more detail. In a deep and comprehensive study of the structure of society, the mere economic dimension offered by the Marxist class approach is clearly not enough. Stratification dimension- this is a fairly fine grading of layers within the class, allowing for a deeper detailed analysis of the social structure.

Most researchers believe that social stratification- a hierarchically organized structure of social (status) inequality that exists in a certain society, in a certain historical period of time. The hierarchically organized structure of social inequality can be imagined as a division of the whole society into strata. Layered, multi-level society in this case can be compared with the geological layers of the soil. In modern sociology, there are four main criteria of social inequality:

Income It is measured in rubles or dollars that an individual or family receives during a certain period of time, say, one month or a year.

Education measured by the number of years of study in a public or private school or university.

Power is measured by the number of people who are affected by the decision you make (power is the ability to impose your will or decisions on other people, regardless of their desire).

Prestige- respect for the status that has developed in public opinion.

The criteria of social stratification listed above are the most universal for all modern societies. However, the social position of a person in society is also influenced by some other criteria that determine, first of all, his " starting opportunities. These include:

social background. The family brings the individual into social system, determining in many respects his education, profession and income. Poor parents reproduce potentially poor children, which is determined by their health, education, qualifications. Children from poor families are 3 times more likely to die due to negligence, disease, accidents and violence in the first years of life than children from wealthy families.

gender. Today in Russia there is an intensive process of feminization of poverty. Despite the fact that men and women live in families belonging to different social levels, the income, status of women and the prestige of their professions are usually lower than those of men.

Race and ethnicity. So, in the US, white people get better education and have a higher professional status than African Americans. Ethnicity also affects social status.

Religion. In American society, members of the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, as well as Jews, occupy the highest social positions. Lutherans and Baptists occupy a lower position.

Pitirim Sorokin made a significant contribution to the study of status inequality. To determine the totality of all social statuses of society, he introduced the concept social space.

In his work "Social mobility" in 1927, P. Sorokin, first of all, emphasized the impossibility of combining or even comparing such concepts as "geometric space" and "social space". According to him, a person of the lower class can physically come into contact with a noble person, but this circumstance will not in the least reduce the economic, prestige or power differences existing between them, i.e. will not reduce the existing social distance. Thus, two people between whom there are significant property, family, official or other social differences cannot be in the same social space, even if they are embracing.

According to Sorokin, social space is three-dimensional. It is described by three coordinate axes - economic status, political status, professional status. Thus, the social position (general or integral status) of each individual, which is an integral part of this social space, is described using three coordinates ( x, y, z). Note that this system coordinates describes exclusively social, not personal statuses individual.

The situation when an individual, having a high status on one of the coordinate axes, at the same time has a low status level on the other axis, is called status incompatibility.

For example, individuals with high level acquired education that provides high social status along the professional dimension of stratification, may occupy a poorly paid position and therefore have a low economic status. Most sociologists rightly believe that the presence of status incompatibility contributes to the growth of resentment among such people, and they will support radical social changes aimed at changing stratification. And vice versa in the case of the “new Russians” who aspire to get into politics: they are clearly aware that the high economic level they have achieved is unreliable without being compatible with an equally high political status. Similarly, a poor person who has received a fairly high political status of a deputy State Duma inevitably begins to use the acquired position for the corresponding "pulling up" of his economic status.

6.4. social stratification

The sociological concept of stratification (from Latin stratum - layer, layer) reflects the stratification of society, differences in the social status of its members. Social stratification - it is a system of social inequality, consisting of hierarchically arranged social strata (strata). A stratum is understood as a set of people united by common status features.

Considering social stratification as a multidimensional, hierarchically organized social space, sociologists explain its nature and causes of origin in different ways. Thus, Marxist researchers believe that the social inequality that determines the stratification system of society is based on property relations, the nature and form of ownership of the means of production. According to the supporters of the functional approach (K. Davis and W. Moore), the distribution of individuals into social strata occurs in accordance with their contribution to the achievement of the goals of society, depending on the importance of their professional activity. According to the theory of social exchange (Zh. Homans), inequality in society arises in the process of unequal exchange of the results of human activity.

To determine belonging to a particular social stratum sociologists offer a variety of parameters and criteria. One of the creators of the stratification theory, P. Sorokin (2.7), distinguished three types of stratification: 1) economic (according to the criteria of income and wealth); 2) political (according to the criteria of influence and power); 3) professional (according to the criteria of mastery, professional skills, successful performance of social roles).

In turn, the founder of structural functionalism T. Parsons (2.8) identified three groups of signs of social stratification:

Qualitative characteristics of members of society that they possess from birth (origin, family ties, gender and age characteristics, personal qualities, congenital features etc.);

Role characteristics determined by the set of roles that an individual performs in society (education, profession, position, qualifications, various types of labor activity etc.);

Characteristics associated with the possession of material and spiritual values ​​(wealth, property, works of art, social privileges, the ability to influence other people, etc.).

IN modern sociology, as a rule, the following main criteria for social stratification are distinguished:

income - the amount of cash receipts for a certain period (month, year);

wealth - accumulated income, i.e., the amount of cash or embodied money (in the second case, they act in the form of movable or immovable property);

power - the ability and ability to exercise one's will, to determine and control the activities of people using various means (authority, law, violence, etc.). Power is measured by the number of people affected by the decision;

education - a set of knowledge, skills and abilities acquired in the learning process. The level of education is measured by the number of years of education (for example, in Soviet school was taken: primary education- 4 years, incomplete secondary education - 8 years, complete secondary education - 10 years);

prestige - public assessment of the significance, attractiveness of a particular profession, position, a certain type of occupation. Professional prestige acts as a subjective indicator of people's attitude to a particular type of activity.

Income, power, education and prestige determine the total socio-economic status, which is a generalized indicator of position in social stratification. Some sociologists offer other criteria for identifying strata in society. Thus, the American sociologist B. Barber stratified according to six indicators: 1) prestige, profession, power and might; 2) income or wealth; 3) education or knowledge; 4) religious or ritual purity; 5) the situation of relatives; 6) ethnicity. The French sociologist A. Touraine, on the contrary, believes that at present the ranking of social positions is carried out not in relation to property, prestige, power, ethnicity, but in terms of access to information: the dominant position is occupied by the one who owns the largest amount of knowledge and information.

In modern sociology, there are many models of social stratification. Sociologists mainly distinguish three main classes: the highest, the middle and the lowest. At the same time, the share of the upper class is approximately 5–7%, the middle class is 60–80%, and the lower class is 13–35%.

The upper class includes those who occupy the highest positions in terms of wealth, power, prestige, and education. These are influential politicians and public figures, military elite, big businessmen, bankers, managers of leading firms, prominent representatives of the scientific and creative intelligentsia.

The middle class includes medium and small entrepreneurs, managers, civil servants, military personnel, financial workers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, representatives of the scientific and humanitarian intelligentsia, engineering and technical workers, highly skilled workers, farmers and some other categories.

According to most sociologists, middle class represents a kind of social core of society, thanks to which it maintains stability and stability. As the famous English philosopher and historian A. Toynbee emphasized, modern Western civilization is first of all a civilization of the middle class: Western society became modern after it managed to create a numerous and competent middle class.

The lower class is made up of people with low incomes and mainly engaged in unskilled labor (loaders, cleaners, auxiliary workers, etc.), as well as various declassed elements (chronic unemployed, homeless, vagrants, beggars, etc.).

In a number of cases, sociologists make a certain division within each class. Thus, the American sociologist W. L. Warner, in his famous study of Yankee City, identified six classes:

? top - top class(representatives of influential and wealthy dynasties with significant resources of power, wealth and prestige);

? lower - upper class(“new rich”, who do not have a noble origin and did not have time to create powerful tribal clans);

? upper-middle class(lawyers, entrepreneurs, managers, scientists, doctors, engineers, journalists, cultural and art figures);

? lower-middle class(clerks, secretaries, employees and other categories that are commonly called "white collars");

? upper-lower class(workers employed primarily physical labor);

? lower - lower class(chronic unemployed, homeless, vagrants and other declassed elements).

There are other schemes of social stratification. Thus, some sociologists believe that the working class constitutes independent group which occupies an intermediate position between the middle and lower classes. Others include highly skilled workers in the middle class, but in its lower stratum. Still others suggest distinguishing two strata in the working class: upper and lower, and three strata in the middle class: upper, middle, and lower. The variations vary, but they all boil down to this: non-basic classes arise by adding strata or layers that lie within one of the three main classes - rich, wealthy, and poor.

Thus, social stratification reflects the inequality between people, which manifests itself in their social life and acquires the character of a hierarchical ranking. various kinds activities. The objective need for such a ranking is related to the need to motivate people to perform their social roles more effectively.

Social stratification is fixed and supported by various social institutions, is constantly reproduced and modernized, which is important condition normal functioning and development of any society.

a) Citizens and the state

b) Owners and the state

c) Different population groups

d) Between people and nature

3. Social structure modern society inherent:

a) static

b) Mobility

c) Class struggle

d) Social homogeneity

4. Element of the social structure of society:

a) mortgage bank

b) Production cooperative

c) Socio-professional community

d) Industry Ministry

5. A concept that is not related to the social sphere:

a) State

b) Ethnos

c) lumpen

d) Class
6. A relatively stable set of people, characterized by more or less the same features, conditions and way of life, consciousness, social norms and values:

a) Social structure

b) Social environment

in) social community

D) Social institution

7. Social stratification is:

a) The totality of norms and traditions of interaction between people in informal communication processes

b) Various organizational forms of joint production activities of people

c) Industry infrastructure of organized interest groups and pressure groups

d) The hierarchy of social stratification and inequality inherent in a given society

8. A group of people is called a stratum:

a) Employed in the system of material production

b) United by a socially significant feature

c) profess one religion or another

d) Adhering to radical left views

9. The criterion of social differentiation due to the social division of labor:

a) class

b) Professional

c) Demographic

d) Territorial
10. The main class-forming feature, according to Marxism:

a) The relationship of people to the means of production

b) Access and scope of power

c) Availability and nature of education

d) Manner and way of life
11. A factor that is not included in public reproduction of inequality:

a) Professionalism and competence

b) Scope and access to power

c) money and wealth

d) Beauty and personal charm

12. Not an objective criterion of status:

a) Income

b) Education

c) Power

d) Self-identification

13. The middle class includes:

a) The highest officials in the state

b) Small and medium entrepreneurs

c) Unskilled workers

14. Groups of people who do not fit into existing in this society social structures and traditions, and are pushed, as it were, to their "roadside", to the "periphery" are defined as:

a) Informals

b) Punks

c) homeless people

d) Outcasts

15. Declassed layers in society :

a) laborers

b) Criminal elements

c) Migrants

d) pensioners

16. Youth - community:

a) Professional

b) Confessional

c) Demographic

d) Corporate

17. Domestic dollar billionaires form a class mini-stratum, for the essential characteristics of which the ancient Greek term is applicable:

a) Plutocracy

b) Ochlocracy

c) Meritocracy

d) Oligarchy

18. A social community in which the position and behavior of its individual members is regulated by regulatory documents:

a) Small group

b) large group

c) Formal group

d) Informal group

19. Expansion of the proportion of the urban population and the spread of urban lifestyle:

a) Industrialization

b) Urbanization

c) Population explosion

d) Modernization

20. Changes in the social behavior of an individual or social group directly related with the concept :

a) Social stratification

b) Social mobility

c) Social stability

d) Social differentiation

21. Individual and group movements, reflecting the dynamics of the stratification of any society, appear as:

a) emigration

B) labor migration

C) Territorial movements associated with a change of residence

d) Social movements from one stratum to another
22. It is a manifestation of upward horizontal social mobility:

BUT) seasonal migration related to harvest

b) A skilled worker took the position of foreman

c) An engineer from one firm is assigned as an engineer from another

d) The applicant became a student

23. It is a manifestation of upward vertical social mobility:

A) moving from villages to town

b) Assignment of the next military rank

c) demotion

d) A girl from a simple family married a millionaire

24. The process of organic inclusion of a person, most often immigrants, in language environment, lifestyle, culture of the new society, including the acquisition by this person of the citizenship of the host country (as a result of marriage, for example):

a) Legalization

b) Integration

c) Adaptation

d) Naturalization

25. Tribes, nationalities, nations are communities:

a) Confessional

b) Social

c) Ethnic

d) Racial

26. Sign inherent in the concept of "nation":

a) One religion for all

b) Own army

c) Territorial and linguistic community

d) Sovereign statehood

26. A community of people speaking the same language with a particular nation, but having some features in everyday life, traditions, customs:

a) nationality

b) Faith group

c) Ethnographic group

d) Tribe

27. How do the concepts of "ethnos" and "nationality" relate to each other:

a) They are not related to each other in any way.

b) Are concepts of the same semantic series, i.e. synonyms

c) Ethnicity is a kind of nationality

d) Nationality - a kind of ethnic group
28. Belonging of any person or group to one of the ethnic communities of people:

a) nationality

b) Nationality

c) Citizenship

d) Racial identification

29. Cossacks in Russia are:

a) Nation

b) Nationality

c) Ethnic group

d) Ethnographic group

30. Physical destruction a large number people belonging to a certain national-ethnic community, representatives of another nationality:

a) Genocide

b) Interethnic conflict

c) The struggle for national liberation

d) Civil war

31. The family is:

a) social community

b) Social institution

c) Social stratum

d) social stratum

32. Under reproductive function family means:

a) The continuation of the human race

b) Production of material goods

c) Wealth accumulation

G) Leisure organization

33. Of the following, corresponds to a family of a democratic (partner) type:

a) Restriction of the functions of a woman by conducting household and childcare

b) Unquestioning obedience of the younger to the elders

c) Voluntary distribution of responsibilities

d) The dominant position of the father of the family

34. It is not allowed (without any exceptions) marriage:

a) Between persons under the age of marriage

b) Persons from which only one person has achieved marriageable age

c) Incomplete brothers and sisters who have a common father or mother

d) cousins

35. Which of the following concepts is the antonym of the concept of "conflict"?

a) Confrontation

b) Consensus

c) Controversy

d) Peacefulness

36. A definition that is associated with such phenomena as a dispute, skirmish, quarrel:

a) contradiction

b) Collision

c) disagreement

d) Compromise

37. Participant conflict situation having a point of view, views, beliefs, arguments that differ from the main, original or in comparison with yours:

a) conformist

b) Competitor

c) Opponent

d) Counterpart

38. Responsive style in conflict, built on changing one's position, restructuring behavior, smoothing out contradictions, etc., is called:

a) fixture

b) compromise

c) evasion

d) Care

39. Rules established in society, patterns of expected behavior of people:

a) Social statuses

b) Social norms

c) Social positions

d) Social ranks

40. K social norms relate:

a) Administrative regulations

b) Religious commandments (“Thou shalt not kill, do not steal”, etc.)

c) Housing regulations

d) Sanitary and hygienic standards

41. Optimal state of social relations:

a) Social tension

b) Social mobility

c) Social stability

d) Social stagnation

43. The main social "customer" and guarantor of democracy is:

a) Political elite

b) Middle class

c) Bureaucracy

d) Declassed element

44. Which of the following characterizes a conservative social policy?

a) Active state intervention in processes of regulation of social spheres (education, health care, social security, etc.)

b) Development and implementation of large-scale public social projects and programs

C) Setting that every worker should provide for himself, his family and his old age himself

d) Consumer demand management, dynamic revenue policy
45. The concept of "stratum" is borrowed by sociologists from:

a) Geology

b) Anthropology

c) Biology

d) Informatics

b) Complete the sentences:
1. In contrast to the professional criterion of social differentiation, in based on public division of labor, the basis of the class criterion is ___________________________________________________________________________________________
2. The concept of "social displacement" as a synonym corresponds to the concept of ______________________________________________________________________________
3. If the status is received from birth, it is called ascriptive (assigned), if acquired as a result of human activity - _________________________________________________

4. "Two classes and one layer." This "three-term" formula of social differentiation is typical for a very specific period Russian history, namely_______________________________

5. An extremely aggressive form of nationalism, which is characterized by disregard for the interests of other nations, incitement to violence against them, incitement of national enmity and hatred - this is __________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Ensuring compliance between the deeds of people and the retribution for them from society (reward or punishment) means the implementation of the principle _______________________________
7. Form of marriage, in within which a man has one wife, and a woman - one husband, is defined by the concept of __________________________________________________________________

8. If under the slave system the main classes are slaves and slave owners, under feudalism - feudal lords and dependent peasants, then under capitalism - ________________________________

9. Social control is a special mechanism for maintaining public order and includes two main elements: norms and __________________________________________
10. If miners, teachers, doctors are professional communities, then castes, estates, classes _____________________________________________________________________________

c) Write in the concepts corresponding to the definitions below:

e) Conclude:
1. The American writer Theodore Dreiser, in his Frank Cowperwood trilogy, described life path hero from a boy - a seller of soap to a magnate-multimillionaire. What type of social mobility is this biography an example of?

2. “Even when everyone is equal, some are still more equal than others.” About what feature of social stratification inherent in any society, in question in this aphoristic remark of the English writer and publicist J. Orwell?

Answer_______________________________________________________
3. P.A. Kropotkin, speaking about the causes of social revolutions in Russia, notes: “Poverty is not a vice in itself. Poverty is a vice only in comparison with wealth. Hence there are two ways: to destroy poverty, to destroy wealth. The West, as you know, went the first way - took and destroyed poverty. And what path did Russia take after October 1917?

Answer____________________________________________________________

4. Describing situations of social mobility, P. Sorokin gave the following comparison: “In the first case, the “fall” reminds us of a person who fell from a ship, in the second - immersion in the water of the ship itself with all passengers on board. What type of social mobility, what are its two forms, and what direction of social movement are reflected in the above comparison?

Answer____________________________________________________________