Outline and assess sociological explanations of social class stratification (40)
Social stratification is any given society's categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, social status, occupation, and power. Stratification is the relative social position of a person in a given social group.
Functionalists such as Durkheim believe that class stratification exists because it is functional and beneficial towards social order and noted that societies are often characterized by a specialized occupational division of labour. According to Durkheim, members within a society are happy and comfortable within their position within the division of labour because there is a common agreement about how society should be organized which is referred to as value consensus. This also means that people accept social stratification as they see that different occupations should be graded in terms of their value to society and therefore those who have jobs which provide the most reward to society should in turn receive the most reward within a society. Durkheim also saw stratification as a benefit to society because it sets a limit to people’s aspirations and therefore people do not become overly ambitious and therefore disappointed when they are unable to reach specific goals. Instead, as the stratification system is regarded as equal and fair, people are contented with their position is society.
However, Durkheim noted that there were some flaws within his argument as he saw that if people are unable to compete for jobs or specific roles within a job then moral consensus and solidarity could potentially break down. Also, he saw that moral order could be disturbed by shifts in a society. For example, economic recession could lead to a rapid and sudden rise in unemployment and deflation in wages or a dictatorship could lead to