| A | B |
|---|
| eglitarian societies | no individual or group has more access to resources, power, or prestige than any other |
| rank societies | there are formal differences in prestige, but no important restrictions on access to basic resources |
| stratified society | has formal, permanent social and economic inequality |
| social stratification | differences based on power, wealth, and prestige |
| status | a person's position on the social system |
| ascribed statuses | social positions to which one is born (kinship, caste, race, etc) (closed system) |
| acheived statuses | social posititons a person chooses or acheives on his or her own (open system) |
| wealth | accumulation of material resources or access to the means of producing these resources |
| authority | legitimate power based on consent of members of the society |
| class system | form of social stratification - different strata are not sharply separated from one another but from a continuum - social mobility is possible |
| life chances | a person's opportunity to fulfill or fail to fulfill his or her potential - linked to position in the social stratification |
| social mobility | movement of one class to another (up or down) |
| open class system | USA - persons class depends on achieved status and there is good opportunity for upward mobility |
| caste system | social position is based on birth - no social mobility - can only marry within your caste - caste boundaries are strictly maintained |
| varna | Indian class categories (there are 4, and then the 5 and lowest group is the untouchables) |
| jajmani | relationship in Indian caste system between a client and a patron of different castes |
| race | based on perceived physical differences |
| ethnicity | based on perceived cultural differences |
| functionalist theory | one theory of social stratification - inequality and the promise of rewards for effort so motivate people (most able people are drawn to the most demanding positions) |
| conflict theory | one theory of social stratification - natural condition of society is change and conflict, not order and stability, so stratification results from struggle for goods and services (Marxist view - against any inequality) |
