Page 12 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 1: Understanding Social Stratification

power vary from naked violence to canvassing for votes with money, social influence, the force of Notes
speech, suggestion, clumsy hoax, etc.
Critique
After discussing various conceptualizations of social stratification, a critique of these becomes
essential here. However, a somewhat detailed discussion will be taken up in the chapter on
“Theories of Social Stratification”. Ralph Dahrendorf provides a distinct explanation of social
stratification. According to Dahrendorf, social stratification is an immediate result of the control of
social behaviour by positive and negative sanctions. Sanctions always create “a rank order of
distributive status”. Stratification lies in certain features of all human societies which are necessary
to them. A society has an authority structure to sustain its system of norms and sanctions. It has
a system of “institutionized power”. Thus, stratification originates from “closely related trinity of
norm, sanction and power”. The authority relations are always relations of superordination and
subordination.

How is ‘Class Situation’ determined ?

As a critique of the Parsonian, Marxian and Weberian conceptualizations of stratification,
Dahrendorf’s views on stratification are quite refreshing and logically sound formulation. He
observes : “A theory of class based on the division of society into owners and non-owners of
means of production loses its analytical value as soon as its legal ownership and factual control
are separated.” The differential distribution of positions of authority in societies and their
institutional orders create social classes and their conflicts. Control over the means of production
is, therefore, a special case of authority. Classes are an element of social structure, determined by
authority and its distribution. As such, classes are social conflict groups determined by exercise or
non-exercise of authority within any imperatively coordinated association.
A critique of the concept of social stratification is also found in Stanislaw Ossowski’s concept of
class. According to Ossowski, the classes constitute a system of most comprehensive groups in the
social structure. The class division concerns with social status connected with a system of privileges
and discriminations not determined by biological criteria, and the membership of individuals in
a social class is relatively permanent. What Ossowski has suggested is considerably different from
the Marxian and the Weberian conceptualizations. It is closer to what is said by Tumin and
Parsons. Ossowski suggests a scheme of “gradation” to understand social structure. Gradation
denotes both subjectively evaluated and objectively measured rank. He classifies gradation into
simple and synthetic categories. Gradation is based on objective criteria, such as income, wealth
and property, which are bases of class divisions, and it becomes synthetic when two or more
incommensurable criteria are involved.
Another critique of the conventional concept of stratification is found in the view that classes are
subjective categories and strata are objective units. A social class is a group by way of its thinking
for its position and interests, and a common outlook. Richard Centers considers “class” as a
“subjective component”, and “stratum” is determined by objective dimensions, such as occupation,
income, power, standard of living, education, function, intelligence, etc. Class is subjective in
character, being dependent upon class consciousness (i.e., a feeling of group membership). A
man’s class is a part of his ego. Such a view of class seems to be quite unconvincing, however, it
provides a psychological explanation of class and stratification.
Close to the Dahrendorf’s view on social stratification, is the view held by Gerhard Lenski. Contrary
to the views presented by Tumin and Parsons, Lenski puts emphasis on causes of social stratification
rather than its consequences. His focus is on power and privilege rather than prestige. He equates

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 7