Social stratification
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Feudalism was the transmission of authority from an overlord to an underlord, from the latter to a retainer, and thence down to the lowest rung of the social ladder, beneath which was the serf, between whom and his master the one judge was God."--Historia Amoris A History of Love Ancient and Modern (1906) by Edgar Saltus |
Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.
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In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. While these hierarchies are not universal to all societies, they are the norm among state-level cultures (as distinguished from hunter-gatherers or other social arrangements).
According to Peter Saunders, in modern Western societies, stratification depends on social and economic classes comprising three main layers: upper class, middle class, and lower class. Each class is further subdivided into smaller classes related to occupation. The term stratification derives from the geological concept of strata, or rock layers created by natural processes.
See also
- Age stratification
- Caste system
- Capitalism
- Class stratification
- Action theory
- Communism
- Egalitarianism
- Elite theory
- Elitism
- Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
- Marxism
- Microinequity
- Pentagonal Revisionism
- Religious Stratification
- Right-wing politics
- Sexual field
- Split labor market theory
- Social and Economic Stratification in Appalachia
- Social class
- Social hierarchy
- Social inequality
- Socioeconomic status
- Structure and agency
- The Power Elite
- Theodor Geiger
- Wisconsin model
