Social stratification is defined as “A social system of inequality that takes into account the differences among individual members of the society and ranks individuals, thus creating a social hierarchy” (Ballantine, 2007). Every society has stratification embedded into its structure, no matter how equal they are (Ballantine, 2007). Stratification can be seen in higher rank, class, wage, leadership ability, strength, race and an array of other things. It could be seen has a positive and a negative thing. In the American society, the stratification system falls under the category of the class system. This is one of the most free systems there are, however, there have been several shortcomings in this area. Women and different races have seemed …show more content…
Social mobility is the ability for an individual to move up or down in the system (Ballantine, 2007). In slavery, there are two distinct groups that do not mix. Slaves do not have any opportunity to change their class or rank unless released or set free. They are sorted very distinctly: masters and slaves. In the caste system, it is limited because they are bound into their class by religion and heredity. However, recently the system has slowly loosened due to urbanization and the influx of jobs that put people in separate classes on the same level. The evidence of assortment into their four classes is still highly evident but it continues to decrease because of the urbanization in India. Finally, the class system, as demonstrated by the United States, allows for people to increase and decrease their social rank due to income and allows them to what they want to do. There are no restriction and it allows people to be free. This means people can associate with whoever they want and are not assorted in any specific way. However, it can be seen in what type of houses people live in. Rich people live in rich houses in rich neighborhoods and poor people live with other poor people, but this does not have to be true all the time because it is an open