Socioeconomic Stratification

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ABSTRACT. This article focuses on the analysis of some of the main concepts of social stratification, such as class and status. The paper then examines the particularities of social stratification in the US, including factors leading to the stratification of society (e.g. wealth, income, education, occupation) and the three types of social classes in this country: upper class, middle class and lower class. In comparison, social stratification in Romania is influenced by historic circumstances (e.g. ex-communist elite members identified in the upper class). There are three social classes in Romania, too, but the upper and middle class are still coagulating, while the lower class is well established.JEL Codes: A14; Z13Keywords: social stratification; class; status; US; Romania1. IntroductionThe analysis of social inequality is one of the most important concerns of sociologists, economists, scholars and many others. Inequalities have always existed and will continue to exist in human societies. Even in the most primitive communities, where wealth and property are minimal, there is inequality among individuals, men and women, young and old, and the list can go on. How certain groups in a society have became richer or more powerful than others, how unequal modem societies are, what chance someone coming from a less privileged background would have to reach the top of the economic hierarchy and for what reasons poverty still exists in developed countries - are questions that sociologists are attempting to answer in order to clarify the ways in which societies were stratified and the processes through which status was achieved.In order to draw attention to the unequal positions occupied by individuals in society, sociologists speak of social stratification - structural inequalities between different groups of people. Societies are composed of several layers in a hierarchy, the most privileged on top and the less privileged at the bottom.2. StratificationThere are four major types of stratification systems: slavery, caste, estates and class (Giddens, 2010: 263-309). Slavery is an extreme form of inequality in which some individuals are actually owned by others. Caste is associated with the cultures of the Indian subcontinent. The term caste is not of Indian origin; it comes from the Portuguese word casta, meaning race or purebred. The caste system is highly complex and structurally varies so much from one area to another, that it is not basically a single system, but a diversity of insufficiently linked beliefs and practices. Estates were part of European feudalism and consist of social strata with different obligations and rights, some of these differences established by law (the nobility, the clergy and the commoners).Class differs in many respects from slavery, caste or estates. It can be defined as a large-scale group of people who share common economic resources which strongly influence their lifestyle (Giddens, 2010:267). Unlike other stratification systems, class membership is not based on a position specified by law or by custom. Class systems are more fluid than other types of stratification, and the boundaries between classes are not clearly defined. Class membership is at least partially acquired. Classes depend on economic differences between groups of individuals (inequalities in the possession and control of material resources). Class systems mainly operate through large-scale impersonal links (e.g. unequal working conditions).Specialists in various domains consider that society is made up of a certain number of classes. According to Giddens (2010), in a society we distinguish the upper class, the old middle class, the upper middle class, the lower middle class, the upper working class, the lower working class and the underclass.The Goldthorpe class scheme is more intricate: 1) higher-grade professionals, administrators, and officials; managers in large industrial establishments; large proprietors; 2) lower-grade professionals, administrators, and officials, higher-grade technicians; managers in small industrial establishments; supervisors of non-manual employees; 3a) routine non-manual employees, higher grade (administration and commerce); 3b) routine non-manual employees, lower grade (sales and services); 4a) small proprietors, artisans, etc. …