Conflict theory disagrees with this, they ask how and why a position is valued higher than other positions. In page 35 "Conflict theorists propose, instead that people in powerful positions use their resources to ensure that their own positions remain powerful."
If by functionalist theory we are able become a doctor or any high paying job why is the American Medical Association only allowing a limited amount of doctors in only to have those with lower statuses pushed away to make room for those in higher status. Another example for this is in the case of high society children and poor society children, higher society adults have the money and resources to place their children in positions but the poor society adults do not have access to this.