Social Stratification And Conflict Theory

According to Brym and Lie (2012), social capital consists of the networks and connections individuals have with others that are of value, as they enable individuals to have more opportunities depending on the amount of possessed diverse networks (p.121). This paper will provide an example of how I was able to use social capital to my advantage in terms of employment, and how this is example is connected to the concept of stratification and conflict theory. Then I will end off with explaining how the sociological imagination allows me to better understand the competitiveness of the job market. An example of how I used social capital to my advantage to gain employment, would be when I was at my cousins wedding two years ago. It was nearing …show more content…
Others who even possess human capital for the position unlike myself, which shows how social capital can benefit more than human capital at times.
Using conflict theory and the concept of stratification, which holds that society is organized into hierarchical layers or strata (Brym and Lie 2012: 118). The example can be analyzed as in order for individuals to have mobility upwards or downwards the strata’s of society, certain conditions must be met.
First, there must be an achieved system, where there is fluid mobility into all ranks of the hierarchy. Rather than an ascribed system, where an individual is born into a caste or hierarchy with no chance of mobility (Innocente 2015). Luckily the system prevalent in Canada is an ascribed system and mobility is quite fluid, allowing for individuals like myself to access all positions in the …show more content…
Where the wealthiest owners of means of production, or bourgeoisie, are at the top and the poorest physical labourers, or proletariat, at the bottom (Innocente 2015). These two social classes are at constant strife and conflict, as the rich wish to stay in power and the poor wish to gain more power by means of wealth.
However, gaining wealth is quite difficult as it is an aspiration of the majority of the current capitalistic society and there is an extreme lack of legitimate opportunities to obtain it. This is due to the conflict between the two classes over wealth to gain power and affluence, dating to the Industrial Revolution. Where the wealthy bourgeoisies used their political affluence to force the creation of favourable conditions for themselves to become richer. Such conditions being low wages and poor working conditions for the proletariats, causing them to become poorer (Brym and Lie 2012: