Social Stratification - Essay Example

Social Stratification While sitting in the nearby park, I saw a well clad American walk past me looking for a bench to sit and probably relax; he appeared more like a student to me, who belonged to the middle class family of USA. I have been thinking about the assigned task for too long now, he seemed like a blessing in disguise to me. Therefore, I offered him the bench where I was sitting, This seemed like a good opportunity to strike a conversation with him. The purpose behind conducting his interview was to evaluate his socio economic status in his society by using social sciences survey method (Adle and Clark). He mumbled his gratification with a smile and keeping his paraphernalia on the bench sat next to me. I was now sure that he is indeed a student but just to be sure I asked him if he was an American to which his answer was positive; thus I started a conversation by saying “America is a land of people who are determined and well prioritized…their historic background is an inspiration to those who believe in bringing about revolutions. Which part of America are you from?” To which he replied “Indeed. Americans are people who brought revolution not only during the times of British Colonies in America but also to a lot other places around the world and in different fields. I live in New York the cosmopolitan city.” I revealed my identity to him as well. He seemed to be a person with intellect and I felt that he could give me an extensive view about his country. Thus, to start up with my interview I asked him some indirect questions. “Yes I am a student too. I assume that you are a well read person. You know quite a lot about America’s historic origins very few people have that kind of taste in reading. Are you fond of reading books?. I asked. “yes and I owe that to my father. He is a teacher by profession. It is my dad’s habit that I have adopted. Thanks to his choice of readings that developed my interest and taste of the hobby. Don’t you like reading books? ” he replied. Mentally I made notice of the class he belonged to. America is country that is divided in six classes. The one my interviewee belonged to was a middle class of America. The America stratification system points out clearly that the white collar workers, like teachers, lawyers and other professionals belong to the middle class in the stratified structure. This increased my interest in the conversation more and instinctively I knew that he is a person with his own opinions, therefore, I thought of taking an approach that was more of a reversed psychology. Thus, I immediately asked him what kind of books he read to which he replied that he was mostly interested in books about politics and society. “Then you might also be interested in the social stratification. Where people are divided into classes? I feel it’s just a way to spread class discrimination. It helps the government to keep a control on the population. It is just another way to draw lines of inequality, in order to divide the population and rule. This system, I feel contributes to the unrest and crime in the country as well. For example a poor person might steal for food and other basic necessities. This class stratification in my opinion also adds to the frustration among people that in turn causes unrest.” To this he frowned and shifted in his place partly because of the fact that I had shortened everything in a story that seemed only well enough till it was closely scrutinized. However, with a calm composure he replied. “Off course not people do tend to move up and down the structure of stratification but the percentage of migrations along the structure is very insignificant. Those who do migrate from one class to another they become an aura of inspiration. Like you might have heard about Opera Winfrey? She belonged to the working poor. However, today, she belongs to the New Money class. Therefore, gaining power can only help in moving up the stratification in America. I belong to a middle class family myself, and I believe that this class system of social stratification drives individuals to move up the stratification system or we can say is a motivational factor to work hard. Social stratification by no means is a reason for social unrest. You think that people who belong to the upper class are at peace? They have their own worries to deal with. Same goes for the other classes. Social unrest and crime has nothing to do with the social stratification it is more confined to psychological structure of the people who become criminals” His argument sounded strong enough to me. He wasn’t wrong in saying that it is the psychological frame work that makes you a criminal. But what kept popping in my mind during the conversation was what causes the psychological frame work here? “Opera Winfrey is person from the entire population of America. Celebrities may be good examples to serve but they are not representative of the entire population. There are other classes that exist, the poverty level is not taken care off well I mean $18,000 a year is the amount they get how much could they possibly buy from that amount? Don’t you think that it’s government’s way of controlling the masses. I mean they decide for the locals more like a 1% of population is controlling the wealth for the other 99%? Tell me this have encountered the elections recently?” To which he replied with most of his knowledge. “Well no I haven’t encountered the elections recently. Elections are still around the corner. That indeed is true that the poor can’t buy enough from the amount they receive and the welfare needs to be improvised in many ways. Undoubtly, the class stratification has become the means to discriminate today and previously as well. But things are indeed given to us in many forms. Sometimes these policies are for the use of government and their benefits alone, and sometimes it’s in the good interest of the citizens; since we can’t change the policy out right, what we can do is draw a positive perspective and mould the policy for our benefits. We are discriminated on the bases of classes at times but what we can do is set goals high enough to move up the class.” This made me realize that my interviewee perhaps thought that moving up the stratified class system was straightforward and every individual had a chance. What I dint express to him was that that everybody doesn’t get a chance to move up the class system, very few reach the level where their goal setting technique works for them. Works Cited Adle, E and R. Clark. An Invitation to Social Research: How It's Done. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Read More