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Caribbean Social Stratification

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Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a society’s classification of its people into rankings of socioeconomic conditions based on aspects such as religion, income, race, education, and family background. In today’s modern world, three main systems of social stratification still exist: slavery, caste system and class system. The Caribbean stratification system has been influenced by its history of Colonialism, Plantation Slavery and Indentureship. Although, most of the islands are currently politically independent, I believe the heritage of the region continues to influence our current social structure. Slavery is a system of stratification in which one person is the property of another and the slave is controlled, influenced …show more content…

The Caribbean offers a diverse race to the region; predominantly African and Indian yet many of us are still affected daily by the saying “if your brown stick around, if your white it’s alright and if your black stay to the back”. In Trinidad, people are still subjected to different qualities of treatment because of their complexion/race. Trinidad’s current society shows that light-skinned black people are still the desired population. They are most likely to attain high-status jobs and be perceived as attractive. Historically, the stereotyping of people based on skin color, facial features and hair quality were used as factors to evaluate an individual. The closer the resemblance of these features to Europeans the better the individual chances to achieve acceptance and upward mobility. During slavery, the light-skinned and mixed ancestry persons were exposed and refined to what was considered proper communication, clothing and manners via their constant interaction with the white planters. Consequently, light-skinned black people were adopted into upper class and were offered better chances than their darker counterparts and therefore established higher socioeconomic status. Presently, these conceptions are still prevalent in today’s society and are …show more content…

In a class system, an individual place in the social system is based on earned or chosen achieved statuses such as level of education, career and spouse. In Trinidad and Tobago despite there may be segregation based on race, ethnicity and religion, individuals are free to move up and down in the social rankings and set their social positions based on achievements. Trinidadians are open to choose their career paths despite what part of Trinidad they are born or who their parents are. Universities now offer flexible part time and online courses therefore individuals no longer need to bear the constraint of paying loans to achieve a degree. In today’s modern society goals and achievements are more

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In France there were several social classes called estates, and these estates were ranked from first to third. The French 1st estate that consisted of the catholic church, the 2nd estate consisted of the nobilities and the 3rd estate comprised of everyone else, the common people (Voyages pg. 496). The Haitian colony did not have estates like in France, rather the colony had the grand blancs, then the gens de couleur, the petit blancs, and on the at the bottom class were slaves. The 3rd estate and the Haitian lower classes had no decision making power in anything that happened in the country or the colony respectively.

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Michelle Alexander in the first chapter, reviews the history of racial social control in the United States. She describes the different forms and patterns of the racial caste system. The author maintains that the racial prejudice and hierarchy has been sustained as a result of the insecurities of the lower-class whites. Her main point was that "racial segregation would soon evolve into a new caste system" (p. 40). Alexander explains that even though slavery ended after the Civil War, it left a big impact on the American community.

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Stuart gave well historical accounts of how the much mixing of people from different cultural background and race conglomerate to form cultural setting currently present in the Caribbean islands. The literature from this novel can be successfully applied in learning institution teach race and ethnic relation courses to assist students in gaining a significant understanding the Barbados inhabitants history. Though the author of the book speaks of the assimilation race in a very compassionate way, she efficaciously demonstrates the how the spectrum of color originated in this Island. According to her, this societal predicament connects to colonialism; the slave trade from Africa to American as well as the oppressive injustices came with the expansion of sugar plantations to meet the booming market demand during the period. The slaves worked under a harsh environmental condition where their masters denied them fundamental rights of human being.

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If there had not been such a strong divide between negroes and whites since the beginning of the development of the colony, the issues that arose later in history may not have existed at all or at least not as been nearly as severe. For example, rebellions would likely have not occurred as often as negroes would have felt more like part of society than the outsiders that whites typically treated them as. Or if negroes had not had the extensive knowledge of rice, the economy could have easily tanked or it would have taken significantly longer to find a product that would support the economy in the way that rice did. It seems that throughout history, negroes and slaves are not given near enough credit for the parts they play in society, particularly in periods of critical development like this

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One could be called “el negro” without looking African; the term is used to refer to a person with dark skin. This term devoids Afro-Colombians and indigenous Colombians of their racial identity as the manner it is used in implies that the individual’s “darkness” is mutable. The term does not consider specific facial features that suggest ancestry. Skin color is used as a way to divide social class; darker skinned people are associated with poverty or low class. Light skinned people are viewed as rich or comparatively better off (Bethencourt).

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The Caribbean is a place where most of the countries share the history. It is a history that is deeply embedded with loss and struggle. Over the course of history, the Caribbean has been through a lot of stages from slavery, colonialism come right down to independence and post-independence. With slavery, the blacks were introduced, then we have the Europeans and of course the Indians came with the indenture ship program. Since the Caribbean has such a diverse array of cultures and ethnic groups, it is expected that these groups will leave their own impact on the society as a whole.

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Introduction In the Caribbean, each territory has a unique social stratification systems which have been developed over the past centuries. This encouraged the people of these many cultures within the region to advance their social status - or his/her ‘social well-being,’ and the status of their family through the movement of social mobility. In this paper, it is my contention that social mobility is possible in the Caribbean since it allows persons to move in the social stratification system; secondly – to briefly address the current situation of social mobility within the Caribbean region, specifically in the countries of Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana. And finally, that social mobility has shaped better opportunities in the Caribbean.

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