Social Stratification in the United States

Social Stratification

1. Define and explain social stratification in your own words.

Social stratification is defined as the categorization of people within the society based on their income, social status, wealth, and power. Individuals who have the greatest power, wealth or income are considered to be at the highest level of the strata.

2. What is social stratification based on in most societies? How does this differ from income?

In most societies, social stratification is based on the wealth that people have. Wealth here refers to resources such as assets and other forms of capital such as land. Wealth is different from income since income does not guarantee that one has wealth although when one has a lot of wealth they are more likely to have higher incomes.