The story of the sinking titanic illustrates the consequences of social inequality as evidence by those who survived the disaster and those who did not. Social inequality, the unequal distribution of valued resources, is found in every society. Social statification refers to a system by which a society ranls categories of people in a hierarchy. Four fundamental principals explain why social stratification exist: social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a function of individual differences, social stratification persists over generations, social stratification is universal but variable, 4 social stratification involves not just inequality, but also beliefs. Stratification describes the different "layers" that exist in society. While some argue that it is possible for a society to run without such a structure, most known communities are separated by some sort of class division.Social stratification as defined above is the ranking of members of society in a way that some of its members are regarded as superior and others as inferior. This theory is certainly debated in present time and was debated as far back as 1776 when Karl Marx presented his theory in his “Manifesto of the Communist Party”. ” Karl Marx believed that social standing or rank was based solely on class position. For example, an owner of a business was regarded far above a worker in that same business. Class position would also influence the amount of political power one had as well as the prestige that one enjoyed. Weber, however, argued that there were three parts to social stratification: class, status and power. He stated that class was relative to how much money a person had and how much property that person owned. Status was split into two categories, “honor and respect”, and style of life, which included mannerisms, the foods and clothes one used, the manner in which a person spoke, and the neighborhood in ...
