Systems of Social Stratification

The caste, the class and the colour-bar are among the systems of social stratification. The main aim of this essay is to compare and contrast these systems as well as indicating their advantages and disadvantages to development. The essay begins with defining the key terms which include comparing, contrasting and development. It further goes on to define as well as explain social stratification itself, the caste, the class and the colour-bar systems respectively. The essay further talks about the advantages and disadvantages of these systems of social stratification and how they affect development. Lastly but not the least comes the conclusion of the essay.
The term “comparing” can be defined as the way of coming up or finding out the similarities between two or more items. On the other hand, the term “contrasting” means finding out some differences between two or more items. However, the term development refers to the act or process of bringing positive change or improvement. It also referred as a multi-dimensional improvement in people’s well-being at all levels. Social stratification on the other hand is defined as a system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. The caste is the system in which people are categorised in a fixed arrangement of strata from the most to the least privileged, with a person 's position determined unalterably at birth. However, class system is a system of categorising people which is based on individual achievement depending on their social and economic statuses. The colour-bar system on the other hand is the system in which involve inequalities between people and they are categorised on account of their skin colour or race (Giddens 2006).
According to Joan Ferranti (1982), there are four fundamental principles of stratification: firstly, Social stratification is a characteristic of society and not just due to individual differences. Secondly, Social stratification persists over generations yet most societies