SOC401 Final Term Preparation 2025 by Natasha Study Zone

THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION LESSON 21

•  Theories of stratification try to explain the existing inequality of wealth in and between different cultures.
•  Functionalists emphasize the integrative nature of stratification, which results in stability and social order.
•  Conflict theorists assume that the natural tendency of all societies is toward change and conflict.
•  Conflict theorists believe that stratification exists because the upper classes strive to maintain their superior position at the expense of the lower classes.
•  Conflict theorists do not view stratification systems as enviable or desirable.
•  Conflict theory is influenced by the wirings of Karl Marx.
•  Social Inequality a state of being where certain segments of society are more well off than others .

Q)1: Functionalists

adopt a conservative position and maintain that social inequality exists because it is necessary for the functioning of society. Functionalists emphasize the integrative nature of stratification, which results in stability and social order. Functionalists argue that differential awards are necessary if societies are to recruit the best trained and most highly skilled people for highly valued positions. They maintain that highly skilled people need to be given greater rewards to act as an inventive for them to acquire the required skills. For example, a brain surgeon needs to spend enormous amounts of time and energy to develop his skills and help society and society must in turn reward him more than it does other people who do not have to make a similar investment in obtaining a skill.

Q02. Conflict Theorists

Conflict theorists assume that the natural tendency of all societies is toward change and conflict. Conflict theorists believe that stratification exists because the upper classes strive to maintain their superior position at the expense of the lower classes. Conflict theorists do not view stratification systems as enviable or desirable. Lack of social mobility leads to exploitation, crime, revitalization, reform and even to revolution. Conflict theory is influenced by the wirings of Karl Marx.

Q)3: Functionalists versus Conflict Theorists

Integrative aspects of stratification are beneficial for society but the exploitation of underclasses does cause tensions and conflict. Neither theory can alone explain the existing use and dysfunctional aspects of stratification.

•  The two principal ways that cultures change are internally through the processes of invention and innovation and externally through the process of diffusion.
•  Anthropologists examine the backgrounds and psychological factors that influence innovative personalities.
•  Diffusion is a two-way process (reciprocity) – both cultures change as a result of diffusion .
•  Donor a country or even an individual entity which is at the giving end of a relationship

Q)1: How Cultures Change ?

The two principal ways that cultures change are internally through the processes of invention and innovation and externally through the process of diffusion. It is generally recognized that the majority of cultural features (things, ideas, and behavior patterns) found in any society got there by diffusion rather than invention.

Q):2 Diffusion

Diffusion is a two-way process (reciprocity) – both cultures change as a result of diffusion

•  Acculturation is a specialized form of cultural diffusion that is a result of sustained contact between two cultures.
•  diffusion involves a single or complex of traits, acculturation involves widespread cultural reorganization over a shorter period of time.
•  culture are interrelated.
•  societies can maintain their cultural boundaries through the exclusive use of language, food, and clothing.
•  Cultural boundaries include relative values, customs, language and eating tastes.

Acculturation

Acculturation is a specialized form of cultural diffusion that is a result of sustained contact between two cultures, one of which is subordinate to another.

Cultural relativity

the realization that cultural traits fit in logically within their own cultural environments and that since circumstances around the world differ, cultures are also different

Coercion

An act of force rather than that based on the need or desire of a particular individual or society

•  Globalization is a broad-based term which is used to describe the intensification of the flow of money, goods, and information across the world, taking place since the 1980s.
•  globalization is responsible for an accelerated pace of change in world cultures.
•  Globalization has resulted in diffusion of technology but also compounded existing inequalities.
•  There are human and environmental costs associated with globalization.
•  globalization has also increased the gap between the rich and the poor.

Globalization

Globalization is a broad-based term which is used to describe the intensification of the flow of money, goods, and information across the world, which is seen to be taking place since the 1980s. Globalization has made the study of culture change more complex due to its varied effects on various cultural processes including that of change. Intensification of the flow of money, goods, and information across the world.

Urbanization

The process of people moving from rural areas into the cities. This phenomenon is taking place in both developed and developing countries and cultural anthropologists are very interested in studying why and how urbanization takes place and the cultural changes it brings .