C HAPTER 11 Grouping by Gender, Age, Common Interest and Class

W HAT P RINCIPLES DO P EOPLE U SE TO O RGANIZE S OCIETIES ? Besides kinship and marriage, people group themselves by gender, age, common interest, and class or social rank within a society to deal with problems not conveniently handled by marriage, the family and/or household, descent group, or kindred.

W HAT I S A GE G RADING ? The formation of groups on an age basis—is a widely used means of organizing people in societies, including those of Europe and North America. In addition to age grades, some societies feature age sets—formally established groups of people born during a certain time span who move through the series of age-grade categories together.

W HAT A RE C OMMON -I NTEREST A SSOCIATIONS ? Common-interest associations are formed to deal with specific challenges or opportunities. Membership may be voluntary or compulsory. Common-interest associations have been a feature of human societies since the appearance of the first farming villages several thousand years ago.

W HAT I S S OCIAL S TRATIFICATION ? Stratification is the division of society into two or more social classes of people who do not share equally in basic resources, power, or prestige. Such a hierarchical social structure is characteristic of all of the world’s societies having large and heterogeneous populations with centralized political control.

G ROUPING BY G ENDER Separates men and women to varying degrees in different societies. In some societies, they may be together much of the time. In other societies they may spend much time apart, even to the extreme of eating and sleeping separately.

G ROUPING BY A GE Age grade An organized category of people based on age; every individual passes through a series of such categories over his or her lifetime. Age set Groups of persons simultaneously initiated into age grades at the same time and who move through the series of categories together.

A GE G RADES A category of persons, usually of the same sex, organized by age. Some societies divide age grades into sets, which include individuals who move together through a series of life stages. A specific time is often ritually established for moving from a younger to an older age grade.

A GE G ROUPING : T IRIKI Seven named age sets pass through four successive age grades. Each age set embraces a 15-year span and opens to accept new initiates every 105 years. In principle, the system resembles our college classes.

A GE G RADES Maasai subclans of western Kenya at the opening parade of the elaborate eunoto ceremony, marking the coming of age of morans (warriors). At the end of the ceremony, these men will be in the next age grade— junior adults—ready to marry and start families.

C OMMON - INTEREST A SSOCIATIONS Linked with rapid social change and urbanization. Increasingly assumed roles formerly played by kinship or age groups. Membership may range from voluntary to legally compulsory.

G ENDER AND C OMMON - INTEREST A SSOCIATIONS Social scientists used to view women’s associations as less developed than men’s. Still a question of why women are barred from associations in some societies, while in others they participate equally with men. Participation in conventional associations has declined as online associations have grown in popularity.

G ENDER A SSOCIATIONS Since the United Nations Decade for Women (1976– 1985), the number of women’s associations all around the world has grown from the local to the global. Here members of a women’s craft association in Bakingili, Cameroon (Africa), tie-dye fabric together.

O NLINE C OMMON I NTEREST A SSOCIATIONS With computer technology has come the rise of online common interest associations. Here, Inuit students in Canada use a computer to learn the Inuktitut syllabary—a phonetic writing system consisting of symbols representing syllables.

G ROUPINGS IN S OCIETY Stratified society: divided into categories of people who do not share equally in resources, influence, or prestige. Egalitarian society - has as many valued positions as persons capable of filling them.

T YPES OF S OCIAL S TRATIFICATION Gender Age Social class Caste

C ASTE S YSTEMS A social class in which membership is determined by birth and fixed for life. Children automatically belong to their parents’ caste.

I NDIA ’ S C ASTE S YSTEM Dalits, known as “untouchables” in India’s traditional caste system, light 100 “candles of freedom” at the 2004 World Social Forum held in Mumbai.

S TRATIFICATION In the United States 70% of wealth is in the hands of 10% of the population.

W AYS OF E XPRESSING S OCIAL C LASS Verbal evaluation What people say about other people in their society. Patterns of association Who interacts with whom, how, and in what context.

W AYS OF E XPRESSING S OCIAL C LASS Symbolic indicators Activities and possessions indicative of class position. Differences in life chances High-status people generally live longer and in better health than people of low status.

S OCIAL M OBILITY Open-class societies are those with the easiest mobility. Degree of mobility is related to education or type of family organization that prevails in a society. Where the extended family is the norm, mobility tends to be severely limited.

S OCIAL S TRATIFICATION : C RITERIA Wealth Legal status Birth Personal qualities Ideology