Social Stratification

Social stratification is a sociological concept that classifies people into groups based on their socio-economic conditions. In every country and society on the planet social stratification takes place. Whether it be the caste system of India or the class system we use here in the United States. The idea of the “American Dream” ties into social stratification, the idea is that no matter what class anyone is born into they could potentially climb to the class above their own. However, many people including Tupac argue that this in fact is not the case.

Both the Tupac and 1957 Social Class video both talk about the roll socio-economic status have on people’s situations. The 1957 video shows the very distinct socio-economic locations. The Tupac video talks about the idea that although it may be possible to move up the social ladder, that there are other issues in particular, race; which make it nearly impossible. This starts to show how the American Dream is a nice idea but doesn’t really work for most Americans.

Tupac talks a lot about race, but changing social location or rather inability to change is really more about socio-economic location. Generally people of similar economic status live in a community together. The argument is often made that because of this people who live in poorer communities are not given the same quality of education, healthcare, and other community services. This then makes it more difficult to improve social location.

In today’s economic environment education has become more and more critical for success and a key to climbing the social ladder. However, as the need for advanced degrees becomes more and more important the ability for members of the lower social classes becomes increasingly difficult. Again this shows that the idea of the American Dream is a fallacy for many Americans.

The idea of the American Dream is that anyone, no matter social status can move up to another class with hard work. Although this may be possible for some people for the majority it is not a reality, whether it be because of race or socio-economic status. Being poor makes this movement increasingly difficult if not impossible. This example shows how social stratification applies to American society.