Definition
Social stratification (see Grusky 2001, 2014; Hout and DiPrete 2006; Sørensen 1986) refers to the systematic ranking of people or groups of people that characterizes all known societies. This ranking is associated with an unequal distribution of resources (social inequalities) and access to life chances. Systems of social stratification require some form of legitimation to be stable.
Description
Human history has known varieties of stratification systems associated with different degrees of social inequalities and poverty. Kerbo (2003) provides a history of the development of social stratification in human societies and states that although there is no “complete agreement on the most useful typology or method of comparing types of social stratification systems that have existed throughout history, (…) five general types are most commonly described: primitive communal, slavery, caste, estate or feudal, and class systems” (p. 50). He compares these stratification systems...
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Budowski, M., Tillmann, R. (2021). Social Stratification. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_2787-2
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