Social Stratification (redirected from Theory of stratification)

Social Stratification 

one of the branches and basic concepts of bourgeois sociology, signifying a system of aspects and criteria of social differentiation and inequality; often used synonymously with social structure.

Theories of social stratification arose in opposition to the Marxist-Leninist theory of classes and class struggle. Bourgeois sociologists ignore the place of social groups in the system of social production and, most important, do not recognize property relations as the chief aspect of the society’s division into classes. They define classes, social strata, and groups according to certain variables (“dimensions”), for example, education, psychology, standard of living, employment, and income. In this case, social strata are defined according to the prevalence of one dimension (single-dimension stratification) or of several dimensions (multidimensional stratification).

Most bourgeois theories of social stratification deny that capitalist society is split into antagonistic classes—the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Instead, they posit that society is divided into upper, middle, and lower classes and into strata, the number of which, as a rule, is set arbitrarily (between two and six). Theories of social stratification are closely associated with bourgeois concepts of social mobility. According to these concepts, inequality is inevitable in any society and people are more or less free to move from stratum to stratum according to their personal abilities and efforts; social stability is thus ensured and class struggle is unnecessary. Although the study of social stratification tends to be apologetic in regard to bourgeois class differences, it provides important facts about the many social differences in capitalist countries.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s a number of American bourgeois sociologists, including S. M. Miller, B. Barber, and H. Gans, criticized many theories of social stratification that fail to reveal the substantial social differences and conflicts in the USA. Works on poverty in capitalist society and other topics have become widespread.

Marxism-Leninism, while viewing the class division of society as a central issue, attaches great importance to the study of the entire complex system of social differentiation, including differentiation within classes and between different social groups.

REFERENCES

Lenin, V. I. “Ekonomicheskoe soderzhanie narodnichestva i kritika ego v knige g. Struve.” In Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 1.
Sotsiologiia segodnia: Problemy i perspektivy. Translated from English. Moscow, 1965.
Class, Status, and Power: Social Stratification in Comparative Perspective, 2nd ed. New York, 1966.
Gans, H. J. More Equality. New York, 1973.

V. S. SEMENOV