Social Stratification In America

Social stratification in America, the hierarchical ranking that society assigns based off of rights and prerequisites of different positions, has caused economic inequality to sky rocket. By 2004, America’s top 1 percent of earners obtained 16 percent of the country’s total income, double their 8 percent share twenty years prior. By such a hefty economic boost for the nation’s top earners, it begs to question what the other 99 percent of earners should obtain, and how their net economic loss to the top 1 percent is justified under a stratified country. As it turns out, the top 1 percent of earners are now taking home 40 percent of the nation 's wealth, leaving far behind the other 99 percent of workers. Inequality has expanded to an all time …show more content…
Wealth, prestige and power are deeply intertwined with stratification: each are necessary for people to move up in social class. But before onstrated by the four basic principles of stratification. Those principles included first, that social stratification is a trait of society and does not represent individuals, showing how . Second, social stratification persists by generation. Third, social stratification is everywhere, but changes based on location. Fourth, social stratification is a product of inequality and involves individual beliefs of how stratified a system should …show more content…
By some accounts, all the the presented sociologists are correct. Stratification is necessary and generally, people fit the positions they fill as Davis and Moore suggest. Nonetheless, Tumin demonstrates how inequality keeps people locked in their social class and Lareau demonstrates exactly that by explaining different parenting techniques. Society continues to give more wealth, prestige and power to the nation’s top earners and in so doing, is fostering a spike in