Class Based Stratification

Meaning of Class Based Stratification

Class is a form of social stratification where society is divide into separate classes. Class is divided an per education, wealth, power, and prestige. It is universal but variable. The division of class differs from place to place. There are basically the four types of class; Upper Class, Middle Class, Lower Class and Under Lower Class.

Characteristics of Class Based Stratification

• Based on occupation, wealth, education, and age.

• Hierarchy of status group.

• Feeling of superiority and inferiority.

• Class consciousness.

• Social restrictions

Function of Class Based Stratification

• Induce people to work hard.

• Increase efficiency of people.

• Introduces competition in society.

• Ensures circulation of elites

Implication of Class Based Stratification

• Encourages hard work.
  • Class is dynamic process. It depends upon the hard work of people. No people on this earth wants to be at low class. Thus, people always aims to be at high-class position and they work hard to maintain their class or achieve the high class. Here, we can take the example of Bill Gates. He was from the middle class family but his aims and hard work lead him to the position he is in now. ‘The richest person of the world’.

• Provides motivation to acquire a position.
  • Change in class is a continuous process. But once a person gets a position in high class they never wants to go back in a low or middle class again so it motivates people to acquire a high position for always. For example, we can find many high-class people in this world who invents new things and introduce it to the world and it is because class keeps them motivated to acquire even higher position.

• High competition.
  • Class based stratification brings high competition in a society. People compete with each other for the better class status in a productive/constructive way. In case to achieve the better class, constructive competition always brings positive change in the society because people will do better, work hard and create new things in the society, which brings positive change in society and develops the society.

• New creativity and invention
  • As we know that successful or well renowned people are called high-class people. In the process of constructive competition, high-class people always wants to be extra and more creative than others which leads to new creativity and invention of new things in the world. People who introduced this world with new technology and ideas can be taken as the example of high-class people. They invented new things and introduced it with the world by utilizing their creativity and has been able to maintain their class till date.