Research Paper: Sociological Perspectives of Social Stratification and Social Class

INTRODUCTION

Stratification and social class classify members of a group and assign them to a hierarchy based on variables such as gender, race, financial position, age, and other considerations. Social stratification and social class can be looked at from three sociological perspectives, structural functionalism, social conflict, and symbolic interactionists.  The most common theoretical approach used by sociologists is structural functionalism. Structural functionalism was founded by Emile Durkheim and looks at the aspects of a topic and sees how they all piece together to form a firm structure. An example of structural functionalism would be a grocery store with employees who stock shelves and check out customers to provide customers with the supplies and services they need while also fulfilling their job to keep a successful business running. Social conflict focuses on social life and the social inequality of society. This theory was developed by Karl Max and was idealized in the mid-nineteenth century in Europe. An example of this theory would be racism. Symbolic Interactionist focuses on people's personalities and social interactions (Ferris & Stein ). Individual symbolic cultural influences human interaction as it gets passed from person to person. This theory was developed by George Mead and was very popular in the 1900s. An example of this theory would be a frowning face meaning sad. 

STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

Emile Durkheim established structural functionalism, which examines the various parts of an issue as well as how they integrate to build a comprehensive framework. A structural-functionalist perspective looks at social order and what is seen as “important” and what is not. Stratification and social class from this perspective mainly talk about the roles and occupations that humans perform to keep society functioning. The goal of stratification through structural functionalism is to encourage persons into everyday societal duties to maintain a system running properly (Davis & Moore, 2). Some roles within society are more “interesting” or “entertaining” than others making them overshadow other roles that may be just as important (Tumin, 2). Looking through this perspective, why are some roles seen as more important than others just because it is more exciting or popular?

SOCIAL CONFLICT

The focus of social conflict is on social life and social inequality. Karl Max devised this theory, which was popularized throughout Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. Karl Max began developing this theoretical perspective when radical transformations were happening. He noticed that the feudal system divided what is seen now as the “rich” and the “poor”. This system started to arise to a greater extent of importance. This system began to categorize humans into social classes (Ferris & Stein, 183). Eventually, economic partnerships began to take precedence over all other types of interactions. If this feudal system had not gained a high amount of importance, would there have been a “social class”? or if so, would it be as important as it is today?

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST

Symbolic Interactionist focuses on people's personalities and social interactions. This theory was developed by George Mead and was very popular in the 1900s. Social stratification and social class through an interactionist perspective are based on social judgment. Someone's social class can be interpreted based on appearance and language. The way that people talk can be influenced by their social class (Ferris & Stein, 184). All of these aspects can lead to someone’s assumptions about another social class. Is this a good perspective to look from? Many things can be coincidental and lead to wrong conclusions making certain judgments inaccurate.

CRITICAL THINKING

The best theoretical perspective to look at stratification and social class would be structural functionalism. Structural functionalism shows how these structures are important to society and how every role plays a part in maintaining stability. Even though structural-functionalism promotes social inequality in a way, it is still the best way to view these structures. Conflict theory mostly benefits the rich and does nothing for people of the “lower class”.  This theory likes to keep lower-class people there to keep them working and make the rich richer. Symbolic interactionist assumes people's social class through encounters that they have. Appearance and language play a part in the assumptions that are made. This theory is the most inaccurate because, as stated before, many things can be coincidental and lead to wrong conclusions making certain judgments inaccurate.