Stratification

Abstract

In virtually all societies some people are regarded as more important than others; more worthy of respect or more useful than others either within the society as a whole or in certain situations. This position relative to that of other people in the group is called ‘status’ and may be based on many factors such as wealth, heredity, possessions, sex, education, skin colour, job, ‘social worth’ or age. This ‘prestige’ may also depend on particular abilities regarded as of high worth within the group so that some young people will deliberately spend many hours becoming expert in pop-music so as to earn high status with their peers.