Social Stratification Discussion 2 - Essay Example

Sociology Discussion 2: Social Stratification Q Briefly, how are deviance and/or culture is tied to social stratification? A society’s culture is defined by their social habits, their religion, the language they speak, music and cuisine among other aspects. In United States, the culture is mainly under the influence of different people, who make up the country. In the world, the cultures of nations that are least developed are likely to hold them back when it comes to climbing the economical ladder.

A society’s way of life may perpetuate a culture of poverty. The whole society never emerges as better off than others and it continues for many generations to be at the lowest hierarchical position. In a stratified society, there is an unequal distribution of the benefits or funds. Therefore, a group of people held back by its culture always remains at the bottom in a stratified society.The cultural groups that are at the bottom of the hierarchy develop a culture of deviance. The culture of deviance in a society gets created for purposes of cohesion.

In a stratified society, there would be no cohesion without the existence of opposing roles. Such opposing roles develop when a society determines a person’s status and this is where inequality begins particularly in civilized societies. A society that has most of its member’s status determined as criminals and prisoners, who are used as human guinea pigs for testing new cosmetics and new vaccines is likely to feel the effects of stratification more than a cultural group that has its members’ status as that of politicians, business tycoons, astronauts and engineers.Q. 2.

What issues does Johnson point out with taking “the path of least resistance?”In Allan Johnson’s article on privilege, power and difference, he asserts that privilege is an attribute of the social system and not as the society believes it to be individuals. Some of the issues he mentions include oppression which he argues have many faces. This is inclusive of violence, exclusion, unequal access and rejection. According to Johnson it is only the subordinate groups in the society who work for change because they are the group that experiences a lot of oppression and injustice (Kimmel & Sykley, 2014).

The greedy behavior of the privileged presents itself as a path of resistance which Johnson believes also contributes to a system of oppression for the society not only those who are not advantaged (Kimmel & Sykley, 2014).ReferenceKimmel, M., & Sykley, J. (2014). Privilege: A reader. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.