4. A Brief literature Review of a Course

I chose to review on Sociology literature based on two separate books on a topic called Social Stratification.  The first book by Macionis, J and Plummer, K., 2007, called 'Sociology: A Global Introduction' defined a "Social stratification as a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy and that one group has access to a disproportionate amount of money, power and prestige and stratification can be used as a lens to focus on social inequality". The sociologists use the terms social division and social stratification to refer to patterns of inequality in society.
The examples of Social Stratification in society are:

• Caste system of social stratification based on Ascription (birth)
• Slavery System from of social stratification based on the ownership of others
• The class system of social stratification based on individual achievement

The second books by Haralmbos, M., Holborn, M. and Heald, R., 2008, called 'Sociology themes and perspectives' defined a social stratification to the presence of distinct social groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of factors such as prestige and wealth. The five social pyramids describe how societies work.
This pyramid structure focused on how people were ranked by their economic positions, their power and their prestige. The way society work with social class is based on wealth and power, not on inherited position. The open system based on individual achievement, where people have control over position and between upper and lower class in society there can lead to inequalities and discrimination against each other.
This moved to focus on stratification systems focused on other social divisions such as:

• Gender stratification
• Ethnic stratification
• Age stratification
• Health and disability

The principles of social stratification based on a characteristic of all societies, the persist over generations and it is universal but is variable, i.e.  Differs between cultures and it based on different social values and stratification involves inequality and belief and it based on occupation, race, and gender.

 Reference

Haralmbos, M., Holborn, M. and Heald, R. (2008). Sociology themes and perspectives (7^th Eds). UK: Harper Collins.

Macionis, J and Plummer, K., (2007). Sociology: A Global Introduction (4th edition). Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

This photo was taking on this website: http://charliebigfeet.blogspot.ie/2011/06/middle-class-take-over-white-house-for.html  (Accessed 20/11/2012).