Social Stratification
Stratification within the US can be found in public schools. Some schools produce quality graduates with more opportunities in the job market, whereas some schools produce graduates with only a few skills and few job opportunities. The provision of quality education is dependent on the budget of each school (Kerbo, 2017). Those schools with financial stability can afford new materials, better teachers, and superior technologies, while poor schools struggle to achieve basic supplies.
It is very true that the UN and the USA should address the issue of slavery in the modern world. According to International Labour Organization (2016), around 40 million individuals in the world are victims of slavery. Modern slavery has used an umbrella to cover practices such as forced marriage, forced labor, human trafficking, and debt bondage. This slavery exploits people in the sense that an individual cannot leave or refuse due to violence, threats, deception, abuse of power, and coercion. UN has posited a theme focused on ending slavery which was the legacy of racism (United Nations, 2021). This initiative reflects movements in the world to put injustices and slavery to an end which were conducted through the slave trade.
According to functionalism theory, stratification is inevitable and necessary. Conflict theory states that stratification occurs due to discrimination, lack of opportunity, and prejudice against people of care, women, and the poor. Powerful and wealthy peoples’ interests are promoted while workers are exploited. Symbolic interaction theory states that stratification is learned through interactions, group membership, and socialization (Posselt & Grodsky, 2017). Conflict theory makes sense the most because it lists the discrepancies that lead to social stratification.
Socio-economic status is defined as the social classes or standings of a group or an individual. It is usually categorized on an ordinal scale which gives the rankings of people. Proposed classification systems include simple division with occupation, closely related to education and income generation (Posselt & Grodsky, 2017). The complex strategies are based on individuals’ specific details, such as dwelling, rented or owned, and the rate value of that place of residence.
Socio-economic status is essential in determining individuals’ chances because individuals’ status plays a vital role in accessing resources, privileges, control, and power (Posselt & Grodsky, 2017). According to American Psychological Association (2017), socio-economic status affects the functioning of human beings which includes mental and physical health.
Economic inequality refers to the unequal distribution of opportunities, wealth, and income between different individuals within a given society. It is a concern in the world whereby people languish in poverty with little chance of raising their economic status. To be born in a low-income family is not a recipe for poverty since education can enhance someone’s skills to help them come out of poverty and decrease economic inequality (Diffenbaugh & Burke, 2019).
It is easy to understand that economic inequality exists in this country through the Gini coefficient. Gini coefficient is used to measure inequality in society instead of comparing diverse income groups of individuals. According to Gini, if all income is given to one person and the rest get nothing, it is cored 1, and if revenue is shared evenly, the Gini score is 0 (World Bank, 2018). According to the World Bank (2018), the US Gini score is 0.41, which shows that it is an unequal society.
I will tell him that many factors make people poor, it is not that they are lazy. The factors determining if an individual will be poor comprise gender, age, education, race, ethnicity, and family structure. Besides, the government gives minimal programs and training that can help poor people to gain the necessary skills required to do jobs (Posselt & Grodsky, 2017). The jobs that the poor get are low-wage jobs that prevent them from succeeding.
In the middle ground video, rich vs poor, I feel that money is power. When an individual has money, it give them energy which amplifies who they are as a person. The significant question during the discussion according to me includes money is never enough and should not be used as motivation. This video is related to gender stratification in the sense that the rich have money which amplifies their power and access to many resources.
Inequalities of Gender
Gender fluidity is defined as a change of gender identity or gender expression of an individual over time. The change could be either identity or expression or vice versa or both changes; this includes transgender, men, and women. The new concept that I have learned in this clip is that people are defined according to their behaviors and attraction. People who have an attraction to people of the same sex are referred to as homosexuals.
The gender stereotype that influences my life is that women are inferior to men. In my community, women have just used sex toys, and they can be raped and expected to say nothing about it. The second stereotype is that boys are considered to be more intelligent than girls (Piasna & Drahokoupil, 2017). I realized this stereotype when my opinion concerning home affairs could not be considered, but my brother’s contribution was needed in every matter. The community considers women as having insufficient knowledge to rationalize and make a concrete argument.
Gender roles are the conceptualization of expected behaviors based on sex. According to tradition, men are perceived to be masculine, hence, they display various attributes such as power, aggression, strength, and competitiveness (Piasna & Drahokoupil, 2017). The video on slide 24 stood out the most, in my opinion. This video can perpetuate gender roles in society because men are supposed to be masculine and perform those roles associated with masculinity. At the same time, women are portrayed as feminine and are believed to perform feminine roles. In this video, men are breadwinners while women rear children at home.
Gender stratification is defined as social rankings whereby men are considered to be in high-rank status than women, and in other terms, it is referred to as gender inequality. Gender is a social construction representing principles, asymmetry, hierarchy, and unequal distribution of power, privilege, and wealth between men and women (Bills, 2016). I can find stratification at home whereby my inputs concerning home matters were considered compared to my sister’s opinions.
In this video, the response that stands out is that boys should be raised together because there are so many similarities between them while growing up. All children need to be brought up in a supportive and loving family but with the balance of the characteristics expressed by boys and girls. I have raised my brothers at home from my own experience, but my parent paid attention to the different characteristics that each of us exhibited.
References
American Psychological Association. (2017). Education and socioeconomic status factsheet. Web.
Bills, D. B. (2016). Gender Inequality and Gender Stratification. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 1-2. Web.
Diffenbaugh, N. S., & Burke, M. (2019). Global warming has increased global economic inequality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(20), 9808-9813. Web.
International Labor Organization. (2016). Forced labor, modern slavery and human trafficking. International Labour Organization. Web.
Kerbo, H. (2017). Social stratification. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-4. Web.
Piasna, A., & Drahokoupil, J. (2017). Gender inequalities in the new world of work. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(3), 313-332. Web.
Posselt, J. R., & Grodsky, E. (2017). Graduate education and social stratification. Annual review of sociology,3, 353-378. Web.
United Nations. (2021). International Day for the abolition of slavery. Web.
World Bank. (2018). GINI index (World Bank estimate) – United States. World Bank Open Data | Data. Web.