Life Chances

1) Describe how one's position in the system of stratification affects one's life chances. Life chances refers to the chances throughout one’s life cycle to live and experience the good things in life. Life chances show how well stabled people have access to a good education, good medical care, a comfortable home, vacations, and a stable occupation. People at the lower end of the stratification hierarchy have inadequate health care, shelter, and diets. People also at this lower end have a more miserable life and die sooner. An example would be India’s old caste system. People in the lowest caste were the “untouchables” and undesirable. In a caste system, the caste you’re born into determines the rest of your life. Those who were in a higher caste system live a simpler life and live longer. The untouchables are ranked in hundreds of categories and live miserably by being scavengers. Doing the dirty work such as cremation, or cleaning sewers. So, a person who lives in a poor position in the system of stratification will not have as much access to medical care, a home, or a safe occupation, compared to those
Some people in the US are systematically disadvantaged, groups such as the poor, non-Whites, and women. People can be poor because of some deficiency: biological inferiority or cultural inferiority. Or because the blame on the structure of society. Some people are poor because society has failed to provide equality in educational support. Most people do believe that poverty is a combination of biological and cultural factors. Biological inferiority is also known as Darwinism. Biological inferiority meant that the poor were poor because they were unfit. Poverty was a way of nature getting rid of the unhealthy, slow, faithless, poor members of society to make room for the ‘fit,’ who had rewards like wealth. This has not gained support from the scientific community because many have different