The Relationship Between Race, Class, Gender, And Sexuality

Stratification, a concept applicable to race, class, gender, and sexuality refers to the study of why some groups in society are at a disadvantage in relation to other groups. Many prominent figures in the past, one of them being Jean-Jacques Rousseau, have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Rousseau appealed to biology and human instincts to explain social outcomes, and because of this, he acknowledged that inequality of some sort will always exist. His theory has been both supported and challenged. John Millar of Scotland and Thomas Robert Malthus of England saw inequality as necessary. They believed that if rewards such as monetary compensation were given for hard work, then society as a whole would be more productive. Stratification is not always as straightforward as these theories, though.Today, sociologists recognize that stratification exists on many levels for a multitude of reasons. As previously mentioned, inequality is especially prevalent on the levels of race, class, gender, and sexuality. …show more content…
If one is born into a minority group, a low social class, or both, they are automatically at a disadvantage to those who were born into a non-minority family with a higher social standing. Similarly, females and homosexuals are also at a disadvantage. Society values minorities, the poor, women, and homosexuals less that it values others. Therefore, these individuals are often paid low wages in jobs with low prestige for no reason other than their social standing. With their limited wages, these members of society are sometimes not able to move upward into society, and so the cycle continues, and stratification