Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online

Extract

Societies all over the world are socially stratified but they vary in the ways in which inequality is structured. To categorize different forms of stratification systems sociologists most frequently examine the way resources such as wealth, power, and prestige are acquired in society. In some societies, such valued resources are acquired on the basis of achievement or merit. In others, these resources are accorded to individuals on the basis of ascribed, not achieved, characteristics. One is born into them or inherits them, regardless of individual abilities or skills. A person's position is unalterable during his or her lifetime. The idea of ascribed and achieved status is used to contrast caste systems with class systems. In class systems one's opportunities in life, at least in theory, are determined by one's actions, allowing a degree of individual mobility that is not possible in caste systems. In caste systems a person's social position is determined by birth, and social intercourse outside one's caste is prohibited.Caste systems are to be found among the Hindus in India. Examples of caste-like systems, where groups are ranked and closed, and where one's position is fixed for life, can also be found in other non-Hindu societies such as Japan, during the Tokugawa period, and South Africa, during the era of apartheid.The term “caste” itself is often used to denote large-scale ... log in or subscribe to read full text