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Social Structures and Stratification

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Social Stratification, according to Haralambos (2008), social stratification is a form of social inequality and its relevant to the individual social groups that are rated against each other, depending on factors such as their power or wealth etc. In addition, Browne (2011) says that social stratification is the separation of society into a ranking of differing groups. Social Class: This is when the Registrar-General Classification establishes people in relation to their employment. It is based on the idea that the more important and high your career is, the more important and high you are based on that career: Goldthorpe (1980) According to Haralambos (2013), this estimated social stratification by how knowledgeable you are when it comes to skills and also how important the skills you possess are; this is called ‘market situation’. Savage et al (2013), this measured how associated you are within a society, how you are connected within culture and also how financially wealthy you are. Social Mobility According to Browne (2011), this is the development of certain individuals between classes in a society. If this is included in a particular society then that society is seen as an ‘open system’. Social Closure This is the adverse of ‘Social Mobility’, it is the constraint of development between the different social classes and it averts anyone that is not from that particular social class from getting in. Changes in Class Structures The upper class has been more and more arranged by ‘managerial revolution’ etc. These factors in some cases may force the upper class higher into the elite region, yet it can force them down, still prevailing as the upper class. In the middle class, the rising of the ‘service’ class is still continuing. According to Lawson (2005), the growing of the new working class makes some individuals in the working class more relevant than others. Embourgeoisement According to Haralambos (2013), this is the development of manual workers starting to climb into the middle class, therefore they begin to embrace habits learnt form the middle class, thus, starting to practice these habits in their behavior. Is class still relevant? According to Haralambos (2004), in some cases, social class is relevant to some people, even though it is slowly becoming a thing of the past. People argue that they use the class title they came through to separate themselves from other people that have different levels of wealth and power compared to them. Also, there is the argument that people achieve things more quickly or more effectively due to their social class background. However, the flip side to that is that people may not achieve the things they lust due their social class background. New right has long established concepts, e.g. an individual having the right to defend for himself. According to Haralambos & Holburn (2009), this theory has the idea that a capitalist system in a society can resolve its own problems and that government involvement within a society is the prime reason there are things like unemployment and gender discrimination in employment, leading to the thought that a non-governmental influenced society can revolve these issues by itself. In addition, it affirms that the state shouldn’t be using its assets in order to aspire people financially, as people wouldn’t go and look for a job for example as they are already receiving a weekly income, e.g. Job Seekers Allowance. Therefore, this is seen as being biased to the rest of society due to it using hard earned money from individuals who are actually motivated (Haralabos

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