This document discusses social stratification and class conflict. It defines social stratification as a system that ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. There are three major perspectives on why social stratification exists: structural functionalism, social conflict theory, and interactionism. Structural functionalists argue it benefits society, while conflict theorists believe it advantages some over others. The document also examines the relationship between popular culture and social class from sociological perspectives.

1. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
& CLASS CONFLICT
&POPULAR CULTURE
SOC 211

2. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
O Refers to a system by which a society ranks
categories of people in a hierarchy.
O Is based on 4 major principles:
1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not
simply a reflection of individual differences.
2. Social stratification persists over
generations.
3. Social stratification is universal but variable.
(It happens everywhere but it takes different
forms across different societies.)
4. Social stratification involves not just
inequality but beliefs as well.

3. Why does social
stratification exist?
O To analyze this question, there are 3
major perspectives.

4. Structural Functionalism
O Structural functionalists argue that social
inequality plays a vital role in the smooth
operation of a society. ( more talented
people get more reward)
O They claim that the most difficult jobs in
any society are the most necessary and
require the highest rewards and
compensation to sufficiently motivate
individuals to fill them.

5. O Some structural functionalist sociologists
claim that any society can be equal, but
only to the extent that people are willing to
let anyone perform any job.
O This would also require that even those
who do their jobs poorly are rewarded
equally.
O In that case:
What would be the incentive for people to do their
best if everyone was rewarded equally?

6. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORY
O Social conflict theorists disagree that
social stratification is functional for a
society. Instead, they argue that social
stratification benefits some people at the
expense of others.
O Two famous sociology theorists Karl Marx
and Max Weber are the primary
contributors to this perspective.

7. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORISTS
KARL MARX
German philosopher
Sociologist
Economist
Revolutionary Socialist

8. O Karl Marx based his theory on the idea that
society has 2 classes of people:
the buorgeoisie and the proleteriat
O The buorgeoisie are the owners of the means
of production, such as factories and other
businesses and the proleteriat are the
workers.
O Marx believed that oppression and misery
would eventually drive the working class to
come together and overthrow capitalism. The
result would be a socialist utopia, where such
extreme class differences would disappear.
O Despite Marx’s prediction, capitalism is still
thriving.

9. SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORISTS
MAX WEBER
German sociologist
Economical Politician

10. O Max Weber agreed with Karl Marx that
social stratification causes social
conflict.
O Unlike Marx, he portrays social
stratification as a multidimensional
ranking rather than a hierarchy of two
clearly defined classes.
O Social class for Weber, included power
and prestige in addition to property or
wealth.

11. Today, sociologists use the term
‘socioeconomic status’ to refer to this
ranking based on various dimensions of
social inequality.

12. INTERACTIONISM
O Interactionists suggests that we tend to
interact with people who are very much like
ourselves.
O Interactionists would also be interested in the
reasons why we spend money the way we do.
What we wear, the gadgets we use and what
we drive say something about our financial
status and socio-economic class.
O Conspicuous consumption is a term that
sociologists use to describe that we buy and
use products because of the statement they
make about our social position.

13. IN GENERAL
O Structural functionalists argue that
social stratification is beneficial for society,
while a conflict theorist would argue
that, rather than benefiting society as a
whole, stratification provides some people
with advantages over others. Finally, a
symbolic interactionist would analyze
how social stratification helps us see
patterns of social inequality in our
everyday lives.

14. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O The relationship between
culture and social class had
been studied by sociologists ,
starting by the years 1960s.
O French sociologist Pierre
Bourdieu is one of the most
famous sociologists that
worked on social class and
culture relationship.

15. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O Pierre Bourdieu shows at great length and
detail how the knowledge and use of
cultural artifacts and the body, and the
taste which people develop for culture,
constitute multiply sublimated transformations
of a single relation of dominant to dominated
class, moderating the struggles between
classes and class fractions in modern
capitalist society, and so, teaching people to
tailor their expectations and their own view of
themselves to their place in a hierarchy of
political power and their share in the social
product.

16. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O ‘Cultural Capital’ concept – by Bourdieu
–
Demonstrates how and individual is defined
by his or her embodied, objectified and
institutionalized assets in addition to their
economic wealth and social class.
O These assets, as they are shared and
valued by our peer groups and the world
at large, influence the success of our
interactions with others, and also what we
are able to achieve.

17. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O Popular Culture X High Culture
O High culture is the culture of an upper
class such as an aristocracy or an
intelligentsia who have high level of
education.
O It can also be defined as a repository of a
broad cultural knowledge, a way of
transcending the class system.
O It is contrasted with popular culture.

18. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O In America and other heterogeneous
societies, the struggles between diverse
populations and interest groups over the
allocation of resources and power are not
limited to strictly economic and political
issues but extend to cultural ones.
O These struggles have now become known
as ‘culture wars’, a term that describes a
variety of conflicts between liberals and
conservatives.

19. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O The advocates of high culture attack
popular culture as a mass culture that has
harmful effects on both individuals
consuming it and on society as a whole.
O People from different socio-economic
groups, have different tastes of life.
O Most of the sociological studies of culture
and class undertaken during the past 20
years, indicate how much cultural choices
are still affected by class.

20. POPULAR CULTURE & SOCIAL CLASS
O While class stratification explain a part of
why people choose the culture they do,
we can not underestimate other factors
which are influential as class.
O Age, gender, race and unlimited
options through media and internet,
also effect cultural choices.
O Different choices from high culture and
popular culture is possible for same
person.