Social stratification

In, social stratification is the arrangement of es, s and strata within a. While these hierarchies are not universal to all societies, they are the norm among state-level cultures (as distinguished from s or other social arrangements).

Critical overview
Social stratification is regarded quite differently by the principal perspectives of sociology. Proponents of suggest that since social stratification exists in most state societies, a hierarchy must therefore be beneficial in helping to stabilize their existence. , an American sociologist, indicated that stability and social order is achieved by a. Functionalists indicate that stratification exists solely to satisfy the necessary for functional proficiency in any society. consider the inaccessibility of resources and lack of in many stratified societies. They conclude, often working from the theories of, that stratification means that people are not likely to advance socioeconomically, while the  may continue to  the proletariat generation after generation. Marx identified that the social classes are stratified based on their connection to the and thus the ruling class, bourgeoisie, and working class, proletariats, maintain their social positions by maintaining their relationship with the means of production. This maintenance of status quo is achieved by various methods of social control employed by the bourgeoisie within many aspects of social life, eg.ideologies of submission promoted through the institution of religion. However, some conflict theorists, mainly and followers of his Weberian perspective, also critique Marx's view and point out that social stratification is not purely based on economic inequalities but is equally shaped by status and power differentials. Weber's analysis indicated the presence of four social classes which he refers to as the propertied upper class, the property-less white-collar workers, the petty bourgeoisie, and the working class. Another important factor to note is found in the work of who stated that, "The advancement [of] technology has changed the structure of mobility completely"

Non-stratified societies
have confirmed that social stratification is not universal as once thought. Non-stratified societies exist which have little or no concept of social hierarchy, political or economic status, class, or even permanent leadership. Also known as (or "headless") societies, the best examples of egalitarian cultures all have  economies, although not all hunter-gatherers can be considered egalitarian.

Kinship-orientation
Anthropologists identify egalitarian cultures as "-oriented," because they value social harmony more than wealth or status. These are contrasted with Economically-oriented cultures (including s) in which status is prized, and stratification, competition, and conflict are common. Kinship-oriented cultures actively work to prevent from developing which could lead to conflict and instability. They do this typically through a process of.

A good example is given by 's account of the, who practice "insulting the meat." Whenever a hunter makes a kill, he is ceaselessly teased and ridiculed (in a friendly, joking fashion) to prevent him from becoming too proud or egotistical. The meat itself is then distributed evenly among the entire social group, rather than kept by the hunter. The level of teasing is proportional to the size of the kill--Lee found this out the hard way when he purchased an entire cow as a gift for the group he was living with, and was teased for weeks afterward about it (since obtaining that much meat could be interpreted as showing off).

Another example is the of Northwest  (and perhaps elsewhere in ), who have arranged their entire society, spirituality, and economy around a kind of  called . In this arrangement, every person is expected to give everything of any consumable resource they have to any other person who needs or lacks it at the time. This has the benefit of largely eliminating social problems like theft and relative poverty. However, misunderstandings obviously arise when attempting to reconcile Aboriginal renunciative economics with the competition/scarcity-oriented introduced to Australia by Anglo-European colonists.

Marx's inspiration
According to, 's accounts of the egalitarian natives of  formed part of 's inspiration for. See Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State (ISBN 0-87348-261-1). But Marx's frame of reference was the highly stratified, economically-oriented society of industrial Europe. So, even though Marx was concerned with equality, his philosophy emphasizes materialism, economics, and politics. Many people argue that these are less important issues in an society, where relative material and political equality result naturally from well-maintained, mostly non-competitive social relationships (kinship).

The basic differences in attitude between Kinship-oriented and Economically-oriented societies may, in part, explain some of the difficulties met when implementing socialist ideals in an already stratified culture.

Weber's inspiration
Weber built on Marx's ideas, arriving at the and the concept of.