Social Stratification and Social Mobility
Stratification and mobility
Social stratification is the ranking of people into unequal layers with unequal access to scarce resources. The exam expects the dimensions and types. Caste is closed, ascriptive and endogamous; class is relatively open and based on economic position; estate is legal and hereditary; slavery is the extreme form. Weber distinguished class (economic), status (social honour) and party (power). Functionalism, associated with Davis and Moore, argues stratification motivates talent; conflict theory, following Marx, stresses domination and exploitation.
Mobility
Social mobility is movement between positions. Vertical mobility is up or down; horizontal mobility is a change without rank change. Intragenerational mobility occurs within a lifetime; intergenerational mobility compares generations. Open societies permit more mobility; closed societies restrict it. Education, occupation, migration and marriage can facilitate mobility; discrimination and poverty constrain it.
Worked example
A question asks whether education always increases mobility. A strong answer notes that education raises credentials and aspirations, but returns depend on family background, caste, gender, regional labour markets and social capital. Thus education is a channel, not a guarantee; mobility may be blocked structurally.
Traps
Do not equate class with caste. Do not assume all mobility is upward. Do not reduce stratification to income alone; honour and power matter.