Social Stratification Influences My Life

How Social Stratification Influences My Life

Factors like income, education, and overall wealth and power, as well as skill and race influence how a society categorizes its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers, referred to as Social stratification. Systems of stratification are either closed or open. Closed systems allow for little change in one’s social standing, where open systems allow interaction and movement between layers. An example of a closed system is a caste system, as one does not have a choice, as their social standing gets based on ascribed status or what they are born into. At one point America became like a caste system due to sociological factors making those who were poor even poorer, and a practically non existing chance for minorities to overcome unfortunate circumstances. Class systems are open, as their social position is focused on their …show more content…
A person’s sex refers to the categorization of people based on their biological criteria. Where gender refers to the cultural symbolic meanings and actions attached to sex. Components change over time and are constructed differently among cultures, but they all include gender ideals, gender identity and gender stratification. Gender ideals are a culture’s beliefs in how men and women should present themselves, behave, think, and overall how they should be. Someone’s gender identity is based upon our identity tied to those ideals. Gender stratification is a grouping of people based on terms of wealth, power and prestige based on gender differences. Often times society will provide negative sanctions towards those who do not conform with their ideals. Some people still have older gender ideals, and view men as more capable to do certain things. For many years my mother worked harder than anyone else in the company she worked for, and yet the guy who messed around on his computer during work still made more than she