Introduction

Human society at all stages of its development was characterized by inequality. Structured inequalities between different groups of people sociologists call stratification.

Social stratification is the differentiation of a given set of people (population) into classes in a hierarchical rank. Its basis and essence lies in the uneven distribution of rights and privileges, responsibilities and duties, the presence and absence of social values, power and influence among members of a particular community. Specific forms of social stratification are varied and numerous. However, all their diversity can be reduced to three main forms: economic, political and professional stratification. As a rule, they are all closely intertwined. Social stratification is a constant characteristic of any organized society.

In real life, the inequality of people plays a huge role. Inequality is a specific form of social differentiation, in which individual individuals, strata, classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy, have unequal life chances and opportunities to meet needs. Inequality is the criterion by which we can place some groups above or below others. Social structure arises from the social division of labor, and social stratification arises from the social distribution of the results of labor, i.e. social benefits.

Stratification is closely connected with the dominant system of values ​​in society. It forms a normative scale for evaluating various types of human activity, on the basis of which people are ranked according to the degree of social prestige.

Social stratification performs a dual function: it acts as a method of identifying the strata of a given society and at the same time represents its social portrait. Social stratification is distinguished by a certain stability within a particular historical stage.

1. Stratification term

Social stratification is a central theme in sociology. It describes social inequality in society, the division of social strata by income level and lifestyle, by the presence or absence of privileges. In primitive society, inequality was insignificant, so stratification was almost absent there. In complex societies, inequality is very strong, it divided people by income, level of education, power. Castes arose, then estates, and later classes. In some societies, the transition from one social stratum (stratum) to another is prohibited; there are societies where such a transition is limited, and there are societies where it is completely allowed. Freedom of social movement (mobility) determines whether a society is closed or open.

The term "stratification" comes from geology, where it refers to the vertical arrangement of the Earth's layers. Sociology has likened the structure of society to the structure of the Earth and placed the social strata (strata) also vertically. The basis is the income ladder: the poor are on the bottom rung, the wealthy are in the middle, and the rich are at the top.

Each stratum includes only those people who have approximately the same income, power, education and prestige. The inequality of distances between statuses is the main property of stratification. The social stratification of any society includes four scales - income, education, power, prestige.

Income - the amount of money received by an individual or family for a certain period of time (month, year). Income is the amount of money received in the form of wages, pensions, allowances, alimony, fees, deductions from profits. Income is measured in rubles or dollars that an individual (individual income) or family (family income) receives during a certain period of time, say one month or a year.

Incomes are most often spent on maintaining life, but if they are very high, they accumulate and turn into wealth.

Wealth - accumulated income, i.e. amount of cash or embodied money. In the second case, they are called movable (car, yacht, securities, etc.) and immovable (house, works of art, treasures) property. Usually wealth is inherited. Inheritance can be received by both working and non-working, and only working people can receive income. In addition to them, pensioners and the unemployed have income, but the poor do not. The rich may or may not work. In both cases, they are owners because they have wealth. The main wealth of the upper class is not income, but accumulated property. The salary share is small. For the middle and lower classes, income is the main source of subsistence, since the first, if there is wealth, is insignificant, and the second does not have it at all. Wealth allows you not to work, and its absence forces you to work for the sake of wages.

Wealth and income are unevenly distributed and signify economic inequality. Sociologists interpret it as an indicator that different groups of the population have unequal life chances. They buy different quantities and different qualities of food, clothing, housing, etc. People who have more money eat better, live in more comfortable homes, prefer private cars to public transportation, can afford expensive vacations, and so on. But in addition to the obvious economic advantages, the wealthy have hidden privileges. The poor have shorter lives (even if they enjoy all the benefits of medicine), less educated children (even if they go to the same public schools), and so on.

Education is measured by the number of years of study at a public or private school or university. Let's say elementary school means 4 years, junior high school 9 years, high school 11 years, college 4 years, university 5 years, graduate school 3 years, doctorate 3 years. Thus, a professor has more than 20 years of formal education behind him, and a plumber may not have even eight.

Power is measured by the number of people who are affected by the decision you make (power is the ability to impose your will or decisions on other people, regardless of their desire).

The essence of power is the ability to impose one's will against the will of others. In a complex society, power is institutionalized; protected by laws and tradition, surrounded by privileges and wide access to social benefits, allows you to make decisions that are vital for society, including laws that, as a rule, are beneficial to the upper class. In all societies, people who hold some form of power—political, economic, or religious—make up an institutionalized elite. It represents the domestic and foreign policy of the state, directing it in a direction that is beneficial to itself, which other classes are deprived of.

Three scales of stratification - income, education and power - have quite objective units of measurement: dollars. Years, people. Prestige is outside this range, as it is a subjective indicator.

Prestige is the respect that a particular profession, position, occupation enjoys in public opinion. The profession of a lawyer is more prestigious than the profession of a steelworker or a plumber. The position of president of a commercial bank is more prestigious than that of a cashier. All professions, occupations and positions that exist in a given society can be placed from top to bottom on the ladder of professional prestige. As a rule, professional prestige is determined by us intuitively, approximately.

2. Systems of social stratification

Regardless of the forms that social stratification takes, its existence is universal. Four main systems of social stratification are known: slavery, castes, clans and classes.

Slavery is an economic, social and legal form of enslavement of people, bordering on complete lack of rights and an extreme degree of inequality. An essential feature of slavery is the possession of some people by others.

Usually point to three causes of slavery. First, a debt obligation, when a person who was unable to pay his debts fell into slavery to his creditor. Secondly, the violation of laws, when the execution of a murderer or a robber was replaced by slavery, i.e. the culprit was handed over to the affected family as compensation for the grief or damage caused. Thirdly, war, raids, conquest, when one group of people conquered another and the winners used some of the captives as slaves.

conditions of slavery. Conditions of slavery and slaveholding varied significantly in different regions of the world. In some countries, slavery was a temporary condition of a person: having worked for his master for the allotted time, the slave became free and had the right to return to his homeland.

General characteristics of slavery. Although slaveholding practices varied in different regions and in different eras, but regardless of whether slavery was the result of unpaid debt, punishment, military captivity or racial prejudice; whether it was permanent or temporary; hereditary or not, the slave was still the property of another person, and the system of laws secured the status of a slave. Slavery served as the main distinction between people, clearly indicating which person is free (and legally receives certain privileges) and which is a slave (without privileges).

Slavery has historically evolved. There are two forms of it:

Patriarchal slavery - the slave had all the rights of the youngest family member: he lived in the same house with the owners, participated in public life, married the free; it was forbidden to kill him;

Classical slavery - the slave lived in a separate room, did not participate in anything, did not marry and had no family, he was considered the property of the owner.

Slavery is the only form of social relations in history when one person acts as the property of another, and when the lower stratum is deprived of all rights and freedoms.

Caste - called a social group (stratum), membership in which a person owes solely to his birth.

The achieved status is not able to change the place of the individual in this system. People who are born into a low-status group will always have this status, no matter what they personally manage to achieve in life.

Societies that are characterized by this form of stratification strive for a clear preservation of the boundaries between castes, therefore endogamy is practiced here - marriages within one's own group - and there is a ban on intergroup marriages. To prevent inter-caste contact, such societies develop complex rules regarding ritual purity, according to which it is considered that communication with members of the lower castes defiles the higher caste.

A clan is a clan or a kindred group connected by economic and social ties.

The clan system is typical of agrarian societies. In such a system, each individual is associated with an extensive social network of relatives - a clan. The clan is something like a very extended family and has similar features: if the clan has a high status, the individual belonging to this clan has the same status; all funds belonging to the clan, whether meager or rich, belong equally to each member of the clan; loyalty to the clan is a lifelong obligation of each of its members.

Clans are also reminiscent of castes: belonging to a clan is determined by birth and is lifelong. However, unlike castes, marriages between different clans are quite allowed; they can even be used to create and strengthen alliances between clans, since the obligations that marriage imposes on spouses' relatives can unite members of two clans. The processes of industrialization and urbanization turn clans into more fluid groups, eventually replacing clans with social classes.

Clans especially rally in times of danger, as the following example shows.

A class is a large social group of people who do not own the means of production, occupying a certain place in the system of social division of labor and characterized by a specific way of earning income.

The systems of stratification based on slavery, castes and clans are closed. The boundaries separating people are so clear and rigid that they leave no room for people to move from one group to another, with the exception of marriages between members of different clans. The class system is much more open because it is based primarily on money or material possessions. Class is also determined at birth - an individual receives the status of his parents, but the social class of an individual during his life can change depending on what he managed (or failed) to achieve in life. In addition, there are no laws that determine the occupation or profession of an individual depending on birth or prohibit marriage with members of other social classes.

Consequently, the main characteristic of this system of social stratification is the relative flexibility of its boundaries. The class system leaves room for social mobility, i.e. to move up or down the social ladder. Having the potential to advance one's social position, or class, is one of the main driving forces that motivate people to study well and work hard. Of course, marital status, inherited by a person from birth, can also determine extremely unfavorable conditions that will not leave him a chance to rise too high in life, and provide the child with such privileges that it will be practically impossible for him to "slide down" the class ladder.

Whatever class typologies were invented by scientists and thinkers. The ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle were the first to propose their model.

Today sociology offers different typologies of classes.

More than half a century has passed since Lloyd Warner developed his concept of classes. Today it has been replenished with one more layer and in its final form it represents a seven-point scale.

The upper - upper class includes "aristocrats by blood" who emigrated to America 200 years ago and accumulated untold wealth over many generations. They are distinguished by a special way of life, high society manners, impeccable taste and behavior.

The lower - upper class consists mainly of the "new rich", who have not yet had time to create powerful tribal clans, who have seized the highest posts in industry, business, and politics. Typical representatives are a professional basketball player or a pop star who receive tens of millions, but in a family who do not have "aristocrats by blood."

The upper-middle class consists of the petty bourgeoisie and highly paid professionals, such as big lawyers, famous doctors, actors or TV commentators. The lifestyle is approaching high society, but they still cannot afford a fashionable villa in the most expensive resorts in the world or a rare collection of art rarities.

Middle - the middle class represents the most massive stratum of a developed industrial society. It includes all well-paid employees, medium-paid professionals, in a word, people of intellectual professions, including teachers, teachers, middle managers. It is the backbone of the information society and the service sector.

The lower-middle class was made up of lower employees and skilled workers, who, by the nature and content of their work, gravitate rather not to physical, but to mental labor. A distinctive feature is a decent way of life.

The upper-lower class includes medium and low-skilled workers engaged in mass production in local factories, living in relative prosperity, but in behavior significantly different from the upper and middle class. Distinctive features: low education (usually complete and incomplete secondary, secondary special), passive leisure (watching TV, playing cards or dominoes), primitive entertainment, often excessive use of alcohol and non-literary vocabulary.

The lower - the lower class are the inhabitants of basements, attics, slums and other places that are not very suitable for life. They do not have any primary education, most often they are interrupted by odd jobs or begging, they constantly feel an inferiority complex due to hopeless poverty and constant humiliation. They are usually called the "social bottom", or underclass. Most often, a number of them are recruited from chronic alcoholics, former prisoners, homeless people, etc.

The term "upper-upper class" means the upper layer of the upper class. In all two-part words, the first word denotes the stratum or layer, and the second denotes the class to which the given layer belongs. "Upper-lower class" is sometimes referred to as it is, and sometimes it is used to denote the working class.

In sociology, the criterion for attributing a person to one or another layer is not only income, but also the amount of power, the level of education and the prestige of the occupation, which presuppose a specific lifestyle and style of behavior. You can get a lot, but spend all the money or drink it away. Not only the arrival of money is important, but their expenditure, and this is already a way of life.

The working class in modern post-industrial society includes two layers: lower - middle and upper - lower. All knowledge workers, no matter how little they get, are never enrolled in the lower class.

The middle class is always distinguished from the working class. But the working class is distinguished from the lower class, which may include the unemployed, the unemployed, the homeless, the poor, and so on. As a rule, highly skilled workers are included not in the working class, but in the middle, but in its lowest stratum, which is filled mainly by low-skilled mental workers - employees.

Another variant is possible: workers are not included in the middle class, but constitute two layers in the general working class. Specialists are included in the next layer of the middle class, because the very concept of "specialist" implies at least a college education. The upper stratum of the middle class is filled mainly by "professionals".

3. Stratification profile

and profile stratification.

Thanks to the four scales of stratification, a sociologist is able to create such analytical models and tools that can be used to explain not only an individual status portrait, but also a collective one, that is, the dynamics and structure of society as a whole. For this, two concepts are proposed that are similar in appearance. But they differ in their internal content, namely the stratification profile and the stratification profile.

Thanks to the stratification profile, it is possible to more deeply consider the problem of status incompatibility. Status incompatibility is a contradiction in the status set of one person, or a contradiction in the status characteristics of one status set of one person. Now we have the right to connect the category of stratification to the explanation of this phenomenon and express status incompatibility in stratification characteristics. If some concepts showed a specific status, for example, a professor and a policeman, go beyond the boundaries of their (middle) class, then status incompatibility can also be interpreted as stratification incompatibility.

Stratification incompatibility causes a feeling of social discomfort, which can turn into frustration, frustration - into dissatisfaction with one's place in society.

The fewer cases of status and stratification incompatibility in a society, the more stable it is.

So, the stratification profile is a graphic expression of the position of individual statuses on four scales of stratification.

It is necessary to distinguish another concept from the stratification profile - the stratification profile. Otherwise, it is called the profile of economic inequality.

The stratification profile is a graphical expression of the percentage of the shares of the upper, middle and lower classes in the country's population.

Conclusion

According to the evolutionary theory of stratification, as culture becomes more complex and develops, a situation occurs in which no individual can master all aspects of social activity, there is a division of labor and specialization of activity. Some activities turn out to be more important, requiring long-term preparation and appropriate remuneration, while others are less important and therefore more massive, easily replaceable.

The concepts of stratification, in contrast to the Marxist idea of ​​classes and the construction of a classless society, do not postulate social equality, on the contrary, they consider inequality as a natural state of society, so the strata not only differ in their criteria, but are also placed in a rigid system of subordination of some layers to others, privileged the position of the higher and the subordinate position of the lower. In a dosed form, even the idea of ​​some social contradictions is allowed, which are neutralized by the possibilities of social mobility of the vertical type, i.e. it is assumed that individual talented people can move from the lower strata to the higher strata, as well as vice versa, when inactive people who occupy places in the upper strata of society due to the social status of their parents can go bankrupt and end up in the lowest strata of the social structure.

Thus, the concepts of the social stratum, stratification and social mobility, supplementing the concepts of class and class structure of society, concretize the general idea of ​​the structure of society and help to detail the analysis of social processes within certain economic and socio-political formations.

That is why the study of stratification is one of the most important areas of social anthropology. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, three main objectives of such research can be distinguished: “The first objective is to establish the extent to which class or status systems dominate at the level of society, establishing modes of social action. The second task is to analyze class and status structures and factors that determine the process of formation of classes and status.Lastly, social stratification documents the inequality of conditions, opportunities and incomes, as well as the ways in which groups maintain class or status boundaries.In other words, it raises the question of social closure (clousure) and studies the strategies by which some groups maintain their privileges while others seek to gain access to them.

List of used literature

Avdokushin E.F. International Economic Relations: Textbook - M.: Economist, 2004 - 366 p.

Bulatova A.S. World Economy: Textbook - M.: Economist, 2004 - 366 p.

Lomakin V.K. World economy: Textbook for universities. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional – M.: UNITI-DANA, 2001. – 735 p.

Moiseev S.R. International monetary and credit relations: Textbook. - M.: Publishing house "Business and Service", 2003. - 576 p.

Radjabova Z.K. World Economy: Textbook. 2nd ed., Revised. and additional - M.: INFRA-M, 2002. - 320s.

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(from Lat. stratum - layer + facere - to do) is called the differentiation of people in society depending on access to power, profession, income and some other socially significant features. The concept of "stratification" was proposed by a sociologist (1889-1968), who borrowed it from the natural sciences, where it, in particular, denotes the distribution of geological layers.

Rice. 1. The main types of social stratification (differentiation)

The distribution of social groups and people by strata (layers) makes it possible to single out relatively stable elements of the structure of society (Fig. 1) in terms of access to power (politics), professional functions performed and income received (economy). Three main types of stratification are presented in history - castes, estates and classes (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Main historical types of social stratification

castes(from Portuguese casta - clan, generation, origin) - closed social groups connected by a common origin and legal status. Caste membership is determined solely by birth, and marriages between members of different castes are forbidden. The most famous is the caste system of India (Table 1), originally based on the division of the population into four varnas (in Sanskrit this word means “kind, genus, color”). According to legend, varnas were formed from different parts of the body of the primordial man, who was sacrificed.

Table 1. Caste system in ancient India

Estates - social groups whose rights and obligations, enshrined in law and tradition, are inherited. Below are the main estates characteristic of Europe in the 18th-19th centuries:

• the nobility is a privileged class from among the large landowners and officials who have served themselves. An indicator of nobility is usually a title: prince, duke, count, marquis, viscount, baron, etc.;
• clergy - ministers of worship and the church, with the exception of priests. In Orthodoxy, black clergy (monastic) and white (non-monastic) are distinguished;
• merchant class - the trading class, which included the owners of private enterprises;
• peasantry - the class of farmers engaged in agricultural labor as the main profession;
• philistinism - the urban class, consisting of artisans, small merchants and lower employees.

In some countries, a military estate was distinguished (for example, chivalry). In the Russian Empire, the Cossacks were sometimes referred to as a special estate. Unlike the caste system, marriages between members of different classes are permissible. It is possible (although difficult) to move from one class to another (for example, the purchase of the nobility by a merchant).

Classes(from lat. classis - category) - large groups of people, differing in their attitude to property. The German philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883), who proposed a historical classification of classes, pointed out that an important criterion for distinguishing classes is the position of their members - oppressed or oppressed:

• in a slave-owning society, such were slaves and slave-owners;
• in feudal society, feudal lords and dependent peasants;
• in capitalist society, the capitalists (the bourgeoisie) and the workers (the proletariat);
• there will be no classes in a communist society.

In modern sociology, one often speaks of classes in the most general sense - as collections of people with similar life chances, mediated by income, prestige and power:

• upper class: divided into upper upper class (rich people from "old families") and lower upper class (recently rich people);
• middle class: divided into upper middle (professionals) and
• lower middle (skilled workers and employees); The lower class is divided into an upper lower class (unskilled workers) and a lower lower class (lumpen and marginals).

The lower lower class are groups of the population that, for various reasons, do not fit into the structure of society. In fact, their representatives are excluded from the social class structure, so they are also called declassed elements.

The declassed elements include lumpen - vagabonds, beggars, beggars, as well as outcasts - those who have lost their social characteristics and have not acquired a new system of norms and values ​​in return, for example, former factory workers who lost their jobs due to the economic crisis, or peasants, driven off the land during industrialization.

Strata - groups of people with similar characteristics in a social space. This is the most universal and broadest concept, which makes it possible to single out any fractional elements in the structure of society according to a set of various socially significant criteria. For example, strata such as elite specialists, professional entrepreneurs, government officials, office workers, skilled workers, unskilled workers, etc. are distinguished. Classes, estates and castes can be considered varieties of strata.

Social stratification reflects presence in society. It shows that strata exist in different conditions and people have different opportunities to meet their needs. Inequality is the source of stratification in society. Thus, inequality reflects differences in the access of representatives of each layer to social benefits, and stratification is a sociological characteristic of the structure of society as a set of layers.

1. Concept andmain criteriasocial stratification

Stratification- this is a hierarchically organized structure of social inequality that exists in a certain society, in a certain historical period of time. Moreover, social inequality is reproduced in fairly stable forms as a reflection of the political, economic, cultural and normative structure of society.

social stratification- this is a description of social inequality in society, its division into social strata according to income, the presence or absence of privileges, lifestyle Frolov S.S. Sociology. Textbook for high schools. - M.: science. 1994. S. 154. .

The basis of stratification in sociology is inequality, i.e. uneven distribution of rights and privileges, responsibilities and duties, power and influence. K. Marx and M. Weber were the first to try to explain the nature of social stratification.

K. Marx believed that in capitalist societies the cause of social stratification is the division into those who own and manage the most important means of production - the class of capitalist oppressors, or the bourgeoisie, and those who can only sell their labor - the oppressed working class, or proletariat. According to Marx, these two groups and their diverging interests are the basis of the stratification. Thus, for Marx, social stratification existed in only one dimension.

Believing that Marx oversimplified the picture of stratification, Weber argued that there are other dividing lines in society that do not depend on class or economic position, and proposed a multidimensional approach to stratification, highlighting three dimensions: class (economic position), status ( prestige) and party (power). Each of these dimensions is a separate aspect of social gradation. However, for the most part, these three dimensions are interconnected; they feed and support each other, but still may not match

The functionalist theory of stratification was formulated in 1945 by K. Davis and W. Moore. Stratification exists because of its universality and necessity; society cannot do without stratification. Social order and integration require a certain degree of stratification. The stratification system makes it possible to fill in all the statuses that form the social structure, it develops incentives for the individual to fulfill the duties associated with their position.

The distribution of material wealth, power functions and social prestige (inequality) depends on the functional significance of the position (status) of the individual. In any society there are positions that require specific abilities and training. Society must have certain benefits that are used as incentives for people to take positions and fulfill their respective roles. As well as certain ways of uneven distribution of these benefits, depending on the positions held. Functionally important positions should be rewarded accordingly. Inequality plays the role of an emotional stimulus. Benefits are built into the social system, so stratification is a structural feature of all societies. Universal equality would deprive people of the incentive to advance, the desire to make every effort to fulfill their duties. If incentives are not enough and statuses are not filled, the society breaks up. This theory has a number of shortcomings (does not take into account the influence of culture, traditions, family, etc.), but is one of the most developed.

One of the creators of the modern theory of stratification is P.A.Sorokin. He introduces the concept of "social space" as the totality of all social statuses of a given society, filled with social connections and relationships. The way of organizing this space is stratification. Social space is three-dimensional: each of its dimensions corresponds to one of the three main forms (criteria) of stratification. Social space is described by three axes: economic, political and professional status. Accordingly, the position of an individual or group is described in this space using three coordinates.

A set of individuals with similar social coordinates form a stratum. The basis of stratification is the uneven distribution of rights and privileges, responsibilities and obligations, power and influence.

A great contribution to the solution of practical and theoretical problems of stratification of Russian society was made by T.I. Zaslavskaya. In her opinion, the social structure of society is the people themselves, organized into various kinds of groups (layers, strata) and performing in the system of economic relations all those social roles that the economy gives rise to, which it requires. It is these people and their groups that carry out a certain social policy, organize the development of the country, and make decisions. Thus, in turn, the social and economic status of these groups, their interests, the nature of their activity and relationships with each other affect the development of the economy Glotov M.B. Modern concepts of social stratification / / Social problems, 2008. No. 5. P. 14. .

Thus, the following criteria of social stratification can be distinguished:

1. Economic situation. The economic dimension of stratification is determined by wealth and income. Wealth is what people own. Income is simply understood as the amount of money people receive.

2. Prestige- authority, influence, respect in society, the degree of which corresponds to a certain social status. Prestige is an intangible phenomenon, something implied. However, in everyday life, a person usually seeks to give tangibility to prestige - he assigns titles, observes rituals of respect, issues honorary degrees, demonstrates his "ability to live." These actions and objects serve as symbols of prestige to which we assign social significance.

3. Power determines which people or groups will be able to translate their preferences into the reality of social life. Power is the ability of individuals and social groups to impose their will on others and to mobilize available resources to achieve a goal.

4. social status- this is that relative rank, with all the rights, duties and life styles that follow from it, which the individual occupies in the social hierarchy. The status can be assigned to individuals at birth, regardless of the qualities of the individual, as well as on the basis of gender, age, family relationships, origin, or it can be achieved in a competitive struggle, which requires special personal qualities and own efforts Volkov Yu.G., Mostovaya I.V. . Sociology:

2. Ttypes of social stratification

Regardless of the forms that social stratification takes, its existence is universal. There are four main systems of social stratification:

-slavery;

- castes;

- estates;

- classes.

The first three systems characterize closed societies, and the last type - open ones. The closed society is determined by the prohibition of social movement from the lower stratum to the higher one. In an open society, there are no official restrictions on transition.

2.1 Slavery

Slavery is a type of stratification, which is characterized by the economic, legal and social form of enslavement of people, which borders on extreme social inequality and complete lack of rights. On the path of formation, slavery made evolutionary development.

Both the ancient Romans and the ancient Africans had slaves. In ancient Greece, slaves were engaged in physical labor, thanks to which free citizens had the opportunity to express themselves in politics and the arts. The least typical slavery was for nomadic peoples, especially hunters and gatherers, and it was most widespread in agrarian societies Ritzer J. Modern sociological theories. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. S. 688 ..

Conditions of slavery and slaveholding varied significantly in different regions of the world. In some countries, slavery was a temporary condition of a person: having worked for his master for the allotted time, the slave became free and had the right to return to his homeland. Thus, the Israelites freed their slaves in the year of Jubilee, every 50 years. Slaves in ancient Rome generally had the ability to buy their freedom; in order to collect the amount necessary for the ransom, they entered into a deal with their master and sold their services to other people (this is exactly what some educated Greeks who fell into slavery to the Romans did). However, in many cases, slavery was for life; in particular, criminals sentenced to life work were turned into slaves and worked on Roman galleys as rowers until their death.

Not everywhere the status of a slave was inherited. In ancient Mexico, the children of slaves were always free people. But in most countries, the children of slaves automatically also became slaves, although in some cases the child of a slave who served all his life in a rich family was adopted by this family, he received the surname of his masters and could become one of the heirs along with the rest of the children of the masters.

Usually point to three causes of slavery. First, a debt obligation, when a person who was unable to pay his debts fell into slavery to his creditor. Secondly, the violation of laws, when the execution of a murderer or a robber was replaced by slavery, i.e. the culprit was handed over to the affected family as compensation for the grief or damage caused. Thirdly, war, raids, conquest, when one group of people conquered another and the winners used some of the captives as slaves

Thus, slavery was the result of a military defeat, a crime, or an unpaid debt, and not a sign of some inherent natural quality of some people.

Although slaveholding practices varied in different regions and in different eras, but regardless of whether slavery was the result of unpaid debt, punishment, military captivity or racial prejudice; whether it was permanent or temporary; hereditary or not, the slave was still the property of another person, and the system of laws secured the status of a slave. Slavery served as the main distinction between people, clearly indicating which person is free (and according to the law receives certain privileges), and which one is a slave (without privileges) Volkov Yu.G., Mostovaya I.V. Sociology: Textbook for universities / Ed. prof. IN AND. Dobrenkov. - M.: Gardariki, 1998. S. 161. .

There are two forms of slavery: classical and patriarchal.

In the patriarchal form, the slave has all the rights of a younger member of the family, in the classical form, the slave has no rights and is considered the property of the owner (a talking tool).

At the maturity type, slavery becomes slaveholding. When slavery is mentioned as a historical type of stratification, they mean its highest stage - slavery. This form of social relations is the only one in history when a person belonging to the lower stratum is the property of someone who is higher in rank.

2. 2 castes

The caste system is not as old as the slave system. Slavery was observed in almost all countries, and it is advisable to talk about castes only in India and partly in Africa. India is a classic caste society. In the first centuries of the new era, it replaced the slave society.

Caste is a social group (stratum), to which a person is allowed to belong solely depending on his birth. Textbook / ed. V.N. Lavrinenko. - M.: UNITI - DANA, 2002. S. 211. .

The basis of the caste system is prescribed status. The achieved status is not able to change the place of the individual in this system. People who are born into a low-status group will always have this status, no matter what they personally manage to achieve in life.

Societies that are characterized by this form of stratification strive for a clear preservation of the boundaries between castes, therefore endogamy is practiced here - marriages within one's own group - and there is a ban on intergroup marriages. To prevent inter-caste contact, such societies develop complex rules regarding ritual purity, according to which it is considered that communication with members of the lower castes defiles the higher caste.

It is impossible to transfer to another caste during life, only a newly born person will be able to be in another caste. The caste position is fixed by the religion of the Hindus. Religious ideas are such that a person is given to live more than one life. Getting into one or another caste depends on how a person behaves in a previous life.

The most striking example of a caste society is India. In India, there are four main castes, descended, according to legend, from various parts of the god Brahma:

a) brahmins - priests;

b) kshatriyas - warriors;

c) vaishyas - merchants;

d) Shudras - peasants, artisans, workers.

The four main Indian castes, or Varnas, are subdivided into thousands of specialized sub-castes (jatis), with representatives of each caste and each jati practicing some particular craft.

A special position is occupied by the so-called untouchables, who do not belong to any caste and occupy a lower position. Their touch with a member of a higher caste makes that person "impure". In some cases, even the shadow of an untouchable is considered unclean, so in the early morning and at noon, when the figures cast the longest shadows, members of the untouchable caste are even forbidden to enter some villages. Those who are "dirty" from touching an outcast must perform rites of cleansing, or ablution, to restore purity.

Although in 1949 the government of India announced the abolition of the caste system, the strength of age-old traditions cannot be overcome so easily, and the caste system continues to be a part of daily life in India. For example, the rituals that a person goes through at his birth, marriage, death, are dictated by caste laws.

Another example of a society in which the caste system existed is South Africa. The country's population was divided into four racial groups: Europeans (whites), Africans (blacks), coloreds (mixed race) and Asians. Belonging to a particular group determined where this or that person has the right to live, study, work; where a person has the right to swim or watch a movie - whites and non-whites were forbidden to be together in public places. After decades of international trade sanctions, sports boycotts and the like. The Afrikaners were forced to abolish their caste system.

2.3 Estates

An estate is a social group where custom and legal laws are fixed, which are inherited by duties and rights.

Estates were part of European feudalism, but also existed in many other traditional societies. The feudal estates include strata with various duties and rights; some of these differences are established by the law Grigoriev S.I. Fundamentals of modern sociology: Textbook. - M.: Jurist, 2009. S. 181. .

Europe at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries was a classic example of a class society. In Europe, estates included the aristocracy and the nobility. The clergy constituted a different estate, having a lower status, but with various privileges. The so-called "third estate" included servants, free peasants, merchants and artists. In contrast to castes, inter-class marriages and individual mobility were perceived with tolerance.

The basis for the distribution of estates was land ownership. In each estate, rights and obligations were fixed by legal law and reinforced by the sacred bonds of religious doctrine. Inheritance determined membership in the estate. As for social barriers, they were very tough in the class.

In each estate, a large number of ranks, professions, levels and ranks were observed. So, only nobles could engage in public service. The aristocracy was considered a military estate (chivalry).

The estate, which was in the highest hierarchical position, had a higher status.

A characteristic feature of the estates is the presence of social symbols and signs: titles, uniforms, orders, titles. Classes and castes did not have state distinctive signs, although they were distinguished by clothing, jewelry, norms and rules of conduct, and a ritual of conversion.

In a feudal society, the state assigned distinctive symbols to the main class - the nobility. It was they who were given titles, uniforms, etc. Titles- legally established verbal designations of the official and estate-generic position of their owners, briefly defining the legal status. in Russia in the 19th century. there were such titles as “general”, “state councilor”, “chamberlain”, “count”, “adjutant wing”, “secretary of state”, “excellency” and “lordship”.

uniforms- official uniform, corresponding to the titles and visually expressing them.

Orders- material insignia, honorary awards that complemented titles and uniforms. The rank of order (cavalier of the order) was a special case of the uniform, and the actual badge of the order was a common addition to any uniform.

The core of the system of titles, orders and uniforms was the rank - the rank of each civil servant (military, civilian or courtier). On January 24, 1722, Peter I introduced a new system of titles in Russia, the legal basis of which was the Table of Ranks. The report card provided for three main types of service: military, civilian and court. Each was divided into 14 ranks, or classes.

The civil service was built on the principle that an employee had to go through the entire hierarchy from bottom to top, starting with the length of service of the lowest class rank. The class denoted the rank of the position, which was called the class rank. The name "official" was assigned to its owner.

Only the nobility was allowed to public service - local and service. Noble status was usually formalized in the form of genealogy, family coat of arms, portraits of ancestors, legends, titles and orders. The total number of the nobility and class officials (including family members) was equal in the middle of the 19th century. 1 million Kravchenko A.I. Sociology. General course. Allowance for universities. - M.: Logos, 2002. S. 411. .

2.4 Classes

Finally, another stratification system is the class system. The class approach is often opposed to the stratification approach, although in fact class division is only a special case of social stratification.

Belonging to a social stratum in slave-owning, caste and estate-feudal societies was fixed by official legal or religious norms. In pre-revolutionary Russia, every person knew what class he was in. What is called people were attributed to one or another social stratum.

In a class society, things are different. The state does not deal with the issues of social consolidation of its citizens. The only controller is the public opinion of people, which is guided by customs, established practices, income, lifestyle and standards of behavior. Therefore, it is very difficult to accurately and unambiguously determine the number of classes in a particular country, the number of strata or layers into which they are divided, and the belonging of people to strata is very difficult.

Class - this is a large social group that differs from others in terms of access to social wealth (distribution of goods in society), power, social prestige, and has the same socio-economic status. The term “class” was introduced into scientific circulation at the beginning of the 19th century, replacing such terms as “rank” and “order”, which were used to describe the main hierarchical groups in society Marshak A.L. Sociology: Textbook. - M.: UNITI - DANA, 2002. S. 89. .

The origins of social class theory can be found in the writings of political philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, who discussed issues of social inequality and stratification, as well as French and English thinkers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who put forward the idea that that non-political social elements - the economic system and the family - largely determine the form of political life in society. This idea was developed by the French social thinker Henri Saint-Simon, who argued that the state form of government corresponds to the nature of the economic production system.

The first typology of classes was proposed by the USA in the 40s. 20th century American sociologist L. Warner. The upper-upper class included the so-called old families. They consisted of the most successful businessmen and those who were called professionals. They lived in privileged parts of the city.

The lower-upper class in terms of material well-being was not inferior to the upper-upper class, but did not include the old tribal families.

The upper-middle class consisted of owners and professionals who had less material wealth than those from the two upper classes, but they actively participated in the public life of the city and lived in fairly comfortable areas.

The lower-middle class consisted of lower employees and skilled workers. The upper-lower class included low-skilled workers employed in local factories and living in relative prosperity.

The lower-lower class consisted of those who are commonly called the "social bottom". These are the inhabitants of basements, attics, slums and other places unsuitable for life. They constantly feel an inferiority complex due to hopeless poverty and constant humiliation.

In all two-part words, the first word denotes a stratum, or layer, and the second - the class to which this layer belongs.

Currently, sociologists adhere to a unified view of the characteristics of the main social classes in modern societies and usually distinguish three classes: the highest, the lowest and the middle.

Higher the class in modern industrial societies consists predominantly of representatives of influential and wealthy dynasties. For example, in the United States, more than 30% of all national wealth is concentrated in the hands of the top 1% of the owners. The possession of such significant property provides members of this class with a solid position that does not depend on competition, the fall in the price of securities, etc. They have the opportunity to influence economic policy and political decisions, which often helps to preserve and increase family wealth.

The middle class includes hired workers - middle and top-level officials, engineers, teachers, middle managers, as well as owners of small shops, enterprises, farms.

At its highest level - wealthy professionals or managers of large companies - the middle class merges with the upper class, and at its lowest level - those engaged in routine and low-paid types of work in trade, distribution and transport - the middle class merges with the lower class.

The working class in industrial societies traditionally includes wage laborers in the extractive and manufacturing sectors of the economy, as well as those in low-paid, low-skilled, ununionized jobs in the service and retail industries. There is a division of workers into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled, which naturally affects the level of wages. In general, the working class is characterized by the absence of property and dependence on the upper classes for their livelihood - wages. Associated with these conditions are relatively low living standards, limited access to higher education, and exclusion from important decision-making areas.

In the second half of the XX century. in industrialized countries, there has been a general shift in the economy from the manufacturing sector to the service sector, which has led to a reduction in the number of workers. In the United States, Great Britain, and other countries, the decline in the mining and manufacturing industries has led to the emergence of a permanent "core" of the unemployed, who found themselves sidelined from the main economic stream. This new stratum of permanently unemployed or underemployed workers has been defined by some sociologists as lower and class.

Conclusion

social stratification slavery inequality

Thus, having studied the concept of social stratification and considering its historical forms, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. Turning to the social structure of society, it is important not only to analyze the diversity of social groups and their classification, but also their "location" in the social space, and the location is unequal. The latter is done with the help of the theory of social stratification. It should be noted that social stratification is the same social structure of society in which social groups are located in a certain hierarchy, which represents social inequality.

2. Social stratification is the same as social stratification according to a certain criterion. Such main criteria in modern sociology are the amount of income, access to power, status, level of education. These criteria express the relationship of inequality between people. None of the criteria can be absolutized, they must be used in a complex, in combination, moreover, the value of individual criteria can rise and fall along with the social changes experienced by society.

3. In sociology, 4 historical types of social stratification are distinguished: slavery, castes, estates and classes.

Historically, the first system of social stratification is slavery. Slavery- this is an economic, social and legal form of enslavement of people, bordering on complete lack of rights and an extreme degree of inequality. When one speaks of slavery as a historical type of stratification, one means its highest stage.

Like slavery, the caste system characterizes a closed society and rigid stratification. castes- these are hereditary groups of people occupying a certain place in the social hierarchy, associated with traditional occupations and limited in communicating with each other.

Estates are a form of stratification that precedes classes.

Estates is a social group that has rights and obligations enshrined in custom or law and inherited. The estate system, which includes several strata, is characterized by a hierarchy, expressed in the inequality of their position and privileges.

The main characteristic of such a system of social stratification as a class is the relative flexibility of its boundaries. Class can be defined as a large social group of people who own or do not own the means of production, occupying their place in the division of labor in society and characterized by a certain way of earning income.

4. Of the above historical types of social stratification, slavery, caste and estate systems are classified as closed societies, that is, those in which the transition from one stratum to another is practically prohibited. The assigned status characterizes a rigidly fixed system of stratification.

Different social groups occupy different positions in society. This position is determined by unequal rights and privileges, responsibilities and duties, property and income, attitudes towards power and influence among members of their community.

Social differentiation (from lat. differentia - difference) is the division of society into various social groups that occupy different positions in it.

Inequality is the uneven distribution of society's scarce resources - money, power, education and prestige - between different strata and strata of the population.

Social inequality is an internal characteristic of any social group and society as a whole, otherwise their existence as a system would be impossible. The factor of inequality determines the development and dynamics of a social group.

In the early stages of social development, such individual characteristics as gender, age, and kinship are socially significant. The objective inequality that really exists here is interpreted as the natural order of things, that is, as the absence of social inequality.

In a traditional society based on the division of labor, a class structure is emerging: peasants, artisans, nobility. However, in this society, objective inequality is recognized as a manifestation of the Divine order, and not as social inequality.

In modern society, objective inequality is already recognized as a manifestation of social inequality, that is, it is interpreted from the point of view of equality.

The difference between groups according to the principle of inequality is expressed in the formation of social strata.

A stratum (from Latin stratum - layer, flooring) in sociology is understood as a real, empirically fixed community, social stratum, a group of people united by some common social attribute (property, professional, level of education, power, prestige, etc.). The reason for inequality is the heterogeneity of labor, which results in the appropriation of power and property by some people, the uneven distribution of rewards and incentives. The concentration of power, property and other resources in the elite contributes to the emergence of social conflicts.

Inequality can be represented as a scale, on one pole of which there will be those who own the largest (rich), and on the other - the smallest (poor) amount of goods. Money is a universal measure of inequality in modern society. To describe the inequality of different social groups, there is the concept of "social stratification"x.

Social stratification (from Latin stratum - layer, flooring and facege - to do) is a system that includes many social formations, whose representatives differ from each other in an unequal amount of power and material wealth, rights and obligations, privileges and prestige.

The term "stratification" came to sociology from geology, where it refers to the vertical arrangement of the Earth's layers.

According to the theory of stratification, modern society is layered, multi-level, outwardly resembling geological layers. The following stratification criteria are distinguished: income; power; education; prestige.

Stratification has two essential characteristics that distinguish it from a simple bundle:

1. The upper strata are in a more privileged position (with respect to the possession of resources or opportunities to receive rewards) in relation to the lower strata.

2. The upper layers are much smaller than the lower ones in terms of the number of members of society included in them.

Social stratification in various theoretical systems is understood differently. There are three classical strands of stratification theories:

1. Marxism - the main type of stratification - class (from Latin classis - group, category) stratification, which is based on economic factors, primarily property relations. A person's attitude to property determines his position in society and his place on the stratification scale.

2. Functionalism - social stratification associated with the professional division of labor. Unequal remuneration is a necessary mechanism by which society ensures that the most important places in society are filled by the most qualified people.

This concept was introduced into scientific circulation by the Russian-American sociologist and culturologist P. A. Sorokin (1889-1968).

3. The theory based on the views of M. Weber - the basis of any stratification is the distribution of power and authority, which are not directly determined by property relations. The most important relatively independent hierarchical structures are economic, socio-cultural, and political. Accordingly, the social groups that stand out in these structures are class, status, party.

Types of stratification systems:

1) Physical-genetic - based on the ranking of people according to natural characteristics: gender, age, the presence of certain physical qualities - strength, dexterity, beauty, etc.

2) Etatocratic (from French etat - state) - differentiation between groups is carried out according to their position in the power-state hierarchies (political, military, administrative and economic), according to the possibilities of mobilizing and distributing resources, as well as according to the privileges that these groups have depending on their rank in the power structures.

3) Socio-professional - groups are divided according to the content and working conditions; ranking here is carried out with the help of certificates (diplomas, grades, licenses, patents, etc.), which fix the level of qualification and ability to perform certain types of activities (rank grid in the public sector of industry, the system of certificates and diplomas of education received, the system for assigning scientific degrees and titles, etc.).

4) Cultural-symbolic - arises from differences in access to socially significant information, unequal opportunities to select, store and interpret it [pre-industrial societies are characterized by theocratic (from gr. theos - god and kratos - power) manipulation of information, for industrial - partocratic (from lat. pars (partis) - part, group and gr. kratos - power), for post-industrial - technocratic (from gr. techno - skill, craft and kratos - power).

5) Cultural and normative - differentiation is built on differences in respect and prestige that arise as a result of comparing existing norms and lifestyles inherent in certain social groups (attitude towards physical and mental labor, consumer standards, tastes, ways of communication, professional terminology, local dialect, etc.).

6) Socio-territorial - is formed due to the unequal distribution of resources between regions, differences in access to jobs, housing, quality goods and services, educational and cultural institutions, etc.

In reality, these stratification systems are closely intertwined and complement each other. For example, the socio-professional hierarchy in the form of an officially fixed division of labor not only performs important independent functions for maintaining the life of society, but also has a significant impact on the structure of any stratification system.

In modern sociology, the most common are two main approaches to the analysis of the social structure of society: stratification and class, which are based on the concepts of "stratum" and "class".

The stratum is distinguished by:
income level;
the main features of the lifestyle;
inclusion in power structures;
property relations;
social prestige;
self-assessment of one's position in society.

The class is distinguished by:
place in the system of social production;
relation to the means of production;
roles in the social organization of labor;
methods and amounts of wealth.

The main difference between the stratification and class approaches is that within the framework of the latter, economic factors are dominant, all other criteria are their derivatives. The stratification approach proceeds from taking into account not only economic, but also political, actually social, as well as socio-psychological factors. This implies that there is not always a rigid connection between them: a high position in one position can be combined with a low position in another.

Stratification and class approaches to the analysis of the social structure of society

Stratification approach:

1) Accounting, first of all, for the value of one or another attribute (income, education, access to power).

2) The basis for the allocation of strata is a set of features, among which access to wealth plays an important role.

3) Taking into account not only the factor of conflict, but also solidarity, complementarity of various social strata.

Class approach in the Marxist sense:

1) Aligning groups on a scale of inequality, depending on the presence or absence of a leading feature.

2) The basis for the allocation of classes is the possession of private property, which makes it possible to appropriate profits.

3) The division of society into conflict groups.

Social stratification performs two functions - it is a method of identifying the social strata of a given society and gives an idea of ​​the social portrait of a given society.

Social stratification is distinguished by a certain stability within a particular historical stage.

Social stratification is the division of society into groups depending on the profession, income, access to power. It, like many other social phenomena, has several varieties. Let us consider in more detail each of the types of social stratification.

Two kinds of social stratification

There are various classifications, but the most popular is the division of stratification into political and professional. Economic stratification can also be added here.

Political stratification

This type of stratification of society divides people into those who participate in political life, can influence it, and those who are deprived of such an opportunity or are limited.

Features of political stratification

• exists in all countries;
• constantly changing and developing (Since social groups often change their position, acquire or, conversely, lose the ability to influence politics).

groups of people

The political stratification of society is expressed in the existence next layers :

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• political leaders;
• elite (Party leaders, representatives of higher authorities, top military leadership);
• state bureaucracy;
• population of the country.

Occupational stratification

This is the differentiation (separation) of professional groups of people into layers. Most often, the main feature that allows them to be distinguished is the level of qualification of workers.

The existence of this type of stratification is explained by the fact that a person's profession, his main activity in society, require him to form certain skills, acquire knowledge. So there is a special social group of people with similar social roles, style of behavior, psychological characteristics.

The difference between professional groups and the peculiarities of people's business qualities can be very different. For example, the work of an accountant does not involve constant interaction and live communication with other people, while the work of a journalist requires regular contact with other people.

In other words, involvement in one business makes people similar to each other, which allows them to be combined into a large group.

Let's single out groups of people , using the criteria of professional stratification:

• elite (Representatives of the authorities and other people with the largest incomes);
• upper layer (Large businessmen, owners of large enterprises);
• middle layer (Small entrepreneurs, skilled workers, officers);
• main or base layer (Specialists, their assistants, workers);
• bottom layer (Unskilled workers, unemployed).

Economic stratification

It is based on differences in income, standard of living, economic status of people. That is, the division of people into groups occurs depending on which of the rungs of the income ladder they are:

• upper (Rich people with the largest incomes);
• average (Prosperous groups of the population);
• lower (Poor).

This stratification can be applied in different ways: among all people receiving any income, among economically active people producing goods and providing services, among classes.

Progressive and regressive stratification

These types of stratification are also used in characterizing the social structure. Their essence lies in the fact that with the development of society, the social composition changes, new groups of the population appear, and some former layers either disappear or adapt to new conditions. Thus, during the period of the beginning of industrialization and modernization in Russia (the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries), manufacturers, workers, intellectuals, scientists become the progressive part of the population, while the conservative part of the population - the nobles, landowners - turn out to be a regressive part and disappear as a class.

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