Lesson 3

• Social classes categorize individuals or group of people based on different factors such as power, wealth, and prestige
• Social stratification is the layering of social classes from higher to lower classes
• Social stratification may evolve into social groups together with statuses and their corresponding roles in the society
• Upper class are those elite families, stockholders or investors in huge, well-known companies, who are the most productive and successful
• Middle class are mostly professionals (lawyers, doctors, managers, owners of small businesses, executives, etc.) that can meet their needs and wants without worrying about their finances because of their job and salary
• Lower class are the skilled and unskilled artisan, farm employees, underemployed, and indigent families who lack revenue or income and educational training or background. Without proper education, some of them are jobless or have difficulty finding a job. They also lack support network that could lift them up
• Stratification is universal but variable- it shows up in every society, but the divisions and other factors vary
• Stratification is not a matter of individual differences
• Stratification persists across generations- it serves to categorize and rank members of society across generations
• Stratification is a social belief- our cultural beliefs tell us how to categorize people, and these are the things that make stratification systems work, and it also informs what it means to deserve wealth, success, or power
• Forms of Stratification

  1. Close System
  2. Open System
• Close System- (India's Caste System) It is a social system of decreasing importance that still holds in parts of a rural India, and has a strong legacy across the country. It is divided in four divisions or "Varnas"

  • Brahmin- priests and academics in native language
  • Khsatriya- rulers, warriors, administrators
  • Vaishya- merchants and landowners
  • Shudra- commoners, peasants, servants
• Endogamy is the term for marriage within your own caste category.
• Caste system determines who could you interact with, wherein contact between lower/higher class is restricted.
• Caste system is based on strong cultural and religious beliefs that living within your own category is a moral and spiritual duty
• The Gods are at the top of hierarchy because caste system is governed by religious beliefs of Hinduism
• Open System- (Class System)It is based on ascribed statis and personal achievement or achieved status, which allows social mobility
• Social mobility is the process of changes in the position within the social hierarchy
• Meritocracy is a system where social mobility is based on personal merit and individual talents

  Ex: Every Filipino’s dream is that anyone, no matter how poor, can “pull himself/herself up” and become upwardly class mobile through hard work and perseverance.
• Social Stratification in Social Perspectives

  1. Functionalism
  2. Conflict Theory
  3. Symbolic Interactionism
• Functionalism perspective states that every social class has its purpose and role to play as a part of the society
• Conflict theory states that social stratification leads to creation of inequality between the rich and the poor, or the powerful versus the powerless
• Interactionism views social stratification on a micro level, where individuals affect other whom they have interacted because of their social class status.
• In most societies, people can only interact to those with the same social class status
• The Philippine Pre-Colonial Social Stratification

  1. Maginoo
  2. Timawa
  3. Maharlika
  4. Alipin
• The Maginoo are the ruling, educated, royal, and privileged class. Datu's (head of barangay) come from this class.
• The majority of the barangay community are the Timawa. They are free, but expected to support the Datu and pay their taxes
• The Maharlika are well-respected if not revered by the barangay. They are not expected to pay taxes, but instead, they would provide protection to the barangay and also responsible for providing and preparing the weapons using their own money
• The Alipin had the least rights. They are the servants of the higher classes (master). They do chores at the homes of their masters, and they also aid the Timawa with their duties at work