According to Haralambus and Holborn, stratification is referred to as a particular form of social inequality. That is, the presence of distinct groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of factors such as prestige and wealth. Functionalism and Marxism are both sociological perspectives that ask and state certain theories about society and the people that live within it. They both explain how society influences people and how people influences society.
According to Marx and Engels,1970, “the driving force of virtually all societies is the conflict between the rich and powerful minority who control the society and the powerless and poor majority who survive only by working for the rich and powerful. In studying Karl Marx’s perspective on stratification, you will clearly recognize that he believed whatever economic system was the norm at any one time in history is what determined the nature of the classes of people in that society. In other words it determined the social stratification of society as a whole. Marx saw that the current economic system of industrialized capitalism had created two major classes of people and one relatively minor one. The upper class he called the Bourgeoisie were the class of people who owned and controlled the means of production of society, The lower class he called the Proletariat were common laborers who owned nothing but the right to sell their own labor and third class which he called the petty Bourgeoisie or small capitalists were people like lawyers, doctors, architects, small business owners and other similarly situated people who were wealthier than the common laborer but did not own or control the means of production.
Functionalist views society as a whole and that any theory that arises has to operate with the society as a whole. There are three main Functionalists that dealt with the stratification theory and these were Talcott Parsons, Kingsley Davis