Question

Social stratification ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. What are the ranking categories in India, South Africa, United Kingdom, Japan, The former Soviety Union, and China? (pages 276-283 in 15th edition or pages 244-251 in 16th edition)

Answer 1

Ranking categories of the above countries are as below:

India : Caste systems are still found in small villages. Caste determines the type of work people perform and many marry within the same social ranking. However, caste system is pretty much outlawed in bigger cities

South Africa : It's a country that used to have a caste system. In the days of apartheid, from 1950 to 1990, a small group of white Afrikaners ruled the country. Black people constituted more than three-quarters of the nation’s population and thus greatly outnumbered Afrikaners, but they had the worst jobs, could not vote, and lived in poor, segregated neighbourhoods. Today there is still some caste system found

United Kingdom : In the middle ages, UK was divided into three estates: hereditary nobility, clergy and commoners. Today's class system mixes caste and meritocracy, producing a highly stratified society with some mobility.

Japan : In the middle ages had a rigid caste system which was divided into several castes : Nobility, Samurai/Warriors, Commoners, Burakumin or outcasts. An imperial family ruled over nobles and commoners. Today's class system still places great importance on family background and traditional gender roles.

Former Soviet Union: Although it is claimed to be classless, it was socially stratified based on unequal job categories: apparatchiks or high government officials, Soviet intelligentsia, manual workers & rural peasantry. Since its collapse structural social mobility have turned downward and gap between the rich and the poor has increased.

China : For centuries China had estate systems. Most of the China’s population lived as peasants in abject conditions and frequently engaged in peasant uprisings. Today the country has is an emerging class system which is a mix of old political hierarchy and new business hierarchy