4 1 Topic 9: Stratification—Functionalist and Conflict Theories The word stratification is used a lot in the world of social scientists. It is a concept that rivals socialization in terms of importance; in fact, some consider it a major factor in how we learn to relate to the world. So what does it mean? It is an intimidating word, but if you break it down to it’s root you find the word ‘strata’, and strata means one in a series of layers. If you look at where this root appears in other words related to the physical world, substratum meaning the underlying layers of the earth; stratosphere meaning the layers of the atmosphere, you can see the concept of layering quite clearly. But what could this word mean in the social world? Think about it. How do we layer people within the social world? The sociological explanation of stratification refers to a system or institutional patterns which society uses to rank groups of people. A person is typically placed within the different layers or groups in accordance to their access to valued and scarce resources. Now that we have the sociological definition, lets move back to the question I asked a before—How do we layer or group or rank people in the social world? See how many ways you can list. The top four ways people are ranked in society are as follows; economic, religious, race/ethnicity and gender. Which do you think is the most important way we categorize people? Which controls most areas of your life? Typically in American society we see economic class as the most significant, but this is open for discussion. The importance of these rankings varies depending on the type of society you are born into. We for the most part have been born or live in a capitalistic class based society—So it makes sense that economic class would be the most important determinate of strata placement. Look again to the four main means of dividing or ranking people (religion, race/ethnicity, economic, gender). How many of these things can we change in our society? For the most part only two; religion and economic class. (I know with enough money the medical world can alter genders and skin tone, but no matter what procedures you have done legally your gender and race/ethnicity will remain the same.) The categories that we have no control over and things we cannot change are part of what sociologists call an ascribed status. An ascribed status is one’s position in society is determined by something an individual has no control over and cannot change; like race and gender. Whereas the categories that we have control over and can in some way change are part of what sociologists call an achieved status. An achieved status means that there are elements within a persons control that an individual can alter to alter their social ranking within the stratification system. These two types of status’s are related directly to the two types of societies(open and closed societies), and the type of soci.

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Topic 9: Stratification—Functionalist and Conflict Theories
The word stratification is used a lot in the world of social
scientists. It is a concept that rivals socialization in terms of
importance; in fact, some consider it a major factor in how we
learn to relate to the world.
So what does it mean? It is an intimidating word, but if you
break it down to it’s root you find the word ‘strata’, and strata
means one in a series of layers. If you look at where this root
appears in other words related to the physical world, substratum
meaning the underlying layers of the earth; stratosphere
meaning the layers of the atmosphere, you can see the concept
of layering quite clearly.
But what could this word mean in the social world? Think
about it. How do we layer people within the social world?
The sociological explanation of stratification refers to a system
or institutional patterns which society uses to rank groups of
people. A person is typically placed within the different layers
or groups in accordance to their access to valued and scarce
resources.
Now that we have the sociological definition, lets move back to
the question I asked a before—How do we layer or group or
rank people in the social world? See how many ways you can
list. The top four ways people are ranked in society are as
follows; economic, religious, race/ethnicity and gender.
Which do you think is the most important way we categorize

2. people? Which controls most areas of your life? Typically in
American society we see economic class as the most significant,
but this is open for discussion. The importance of these
rankings varies depending on the type of society you are born
into. We for the most part have been born or live in a
capitalistic class based society—So it makes sense that
economic class would be the most important determinate of
strata placement.
Look again to the four main means of dividing or ranking
people (religion, race/ethnicity, economic, gender). How many
of these things can we change in our society? For the most part
only two; religion and economic class. (I know with enough
money the medical world can alter genders and skin tone, but no
matter what procedures you have done legally your gender and
race/ethnicity will remain the same.)
The categories that we have no control over and things we
cannot change are part of what sociologists call an ascribed
status. An ascribed status is one’s position in society is
determined by something an individual has no control over and
cannot change; like race and gender.
Whereas the categories that we have control over and can in
some way change are part of what sociologists call an achieved
status. An achieved status means that there are elements within
a persons control that an individual can alter to alter their social
ranking within the stratification system.
These two types of status’s are related directly to the two types
of societies(open and closed societies), and the type of society
determines whether a persons position in society can be
changed.
The first societal type is the open society. An open society is
one where the boundaries between strata are more flexible. In

3. this type of society there is room for movement or mobility;
either upward or downward. So in an open society your status
is one that is achieved. A society that is based on economic
class is considered to be an open society.
The second societal type is a closed society. A closed society is
one in which the boundaries between strata are very clearly
drawn and fixed. There is absolutely no movement between the
different rankings. In a closed society a persons status is
always ascribed, because the position you are born into is the
position you die in. You have no control over your rank in the
social world. It is solely based on the family, race, gender,
economic class you are born into, and it will never change as
long as you remain within that society. Examples of a closed
society are; feudal systems (any system with royalty was once
or still is in some ways feudal), a caste system and any society
that still allows slavery.
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION:
There are two main macro sociological theories the look at the
phenomena of stratification; Functionalist and Conflict.
FUNCTIONALIST THEORY:
The functionalist theorist will always ask the question what
purpose or function does something serve? So they ask what
purpose does stratification(ranking/categorizing people) server?
How does ranking people into different layers of groups help
society keep going?
The answer they come to is that society has many different jobs
that must be filled. All societies have needed different jobs to
be done so the society could survive and continue to prosper.
This is why there are many different groupings of people.

4. The next question to pose to a functionalist would be why are
the different rankings of people apparently unequal due to the
fact that some are more valued and receive more than others?
A functionalist would answer this question by saying that like
the human body where all organs are needed to keep the body
running—all jobs are needed to keep the society going. But like
the human body where some organs are more important than
others; some jobs in the social world are more important for the
survival of society. And society must make sure these
important jobs are filled and maintained by the best and the
brightest.
The only way to attract and keep these bright people to the more
important jobs is to attract them to the jobs with a series of
rewards, and these rewards must be related to the degree of the
importance of the job. The attractive rewards for the important
jobs are what motivates talented people to take on the more
demanding, high profile occupations in a society.
There must be a reward system built in to all societies to that
guarantees that the division of jobs or labor in a society is
maintained. So all societies carry within them a source of
inequality, because different levels of rewards serve as
motivators for people within the society to take on the various
jobs.
According to a functionalist there are three main types of
rewards. The first is economic (food and shelter). The second
is the entertainment factor a job holds; such as free time or
sheer enjoyment of work. The third is the status or prestige a
job holds; that is the respect you receive from other as it relates
to your work.
So in brief, a functionalist sees stratification and inequality as
an inherent part of all social systems, because there will always

5. be different jobs to be filled. And some jobs will always be
more vital to the survival of the society than others; so to get
talented people to fill these jobs there must be different levels
of rewards to attract them to the more demanding tasks.
CONFLICT THEORY:
The conflict theorist will look at the phenomena of stratification
and ask the question: Who benefits from the current social
ranking within a society? And the obvious answer to that would
be those at the top of the social hierarchy are the ones who
benefit from the current stratification and reward system.
A conflict person maintains that the problem within a
capitalistic society is a very fixed and rigid stratification
system. They would say the idea that an economic class based
system is an open society is only an illusion; a dramatic lie used
to perpetuate the existing unjust and unequal division of labor
and division of rewards.
Remember a conflict person thinks that societies; all the
structures, beliefs and rules are created by those in power so
they can maintain their wealth and power. The idea of a free
market, and the ability to work for who you please, etc. gives us
an illusion of power or control over our destinies. It also gives
the illusion of having many different economic classes and
different areas of power.
But for Karl Marx, the founder of the conflict perspective.
There are only really two main divisions of class in a
capitalistic society and they are those with power/wealth and
those without.
The first class is the dominant class—the bourgeoisie as Marx
calls them, or the capitalist class. These are the people who
own the tools and materials for their work, or the means of

6. production. So they own the land, the factories, the technology,
the patents or the copyrights.
The second class is the oppressed class—the proletariat as Marx
calls them, or the workers. These are people who do not own
the means of production, and must support themselves by
selling their labor to those who own the means of production.
If you look at these two definitions of class, which class do you
belong to? Well the answer to that for most of us would be the
oppressed class. Marx would say that we are fooling ourselves
if we don’t accept where we really our in the stratification
system, and he says that one of the reasons we don’t really
understand our real place in the system is due to the existence
of a middle class.
The middle class, or as Marx called them the petit bourgeoisie
were a class that he saw would disappear, and he looked at them
in a very limited way. The middle class were basically what
Marx saw as small business owners who saved their capital and
ran their own businesses using their family as the primary
source of labor.
Marx said that this class would be driven out of existence by the
capitalists. That eventually the greed of the dominant class
would push the small business owners out of existence, and this
can be seen in many cases today---mom and pop coffee shops,
pharmacies, grocery stores seem to being forced out by bigger
companies.
Marx believed that when the middle class vanished so to would
the capitalist society. Because with the middle class gone there
would be a great disparity between rich and poor, and this
increased and apparent inequality would spark a revolution that
would bring down the economic system replacing it with a
communistic system. The word communism means a classless

7. society in which all are equal, and receive equal rewards for
their work.
Contemporary conflict theorist see Marx’s focus on economic
rewards as a somewhat limited way of viewing stratification
systems, and while they still acknowledge the economic factor
as being the most important they add Weber’s ideas of prestige
and power. Power is the ability to direct your will over
someone else’s, and prestige is the social honor associated with
a lifestyle.