Social Stratification

Definition Social Stratification is a term used to describe the way we separate our society into levels. We have people of low and high status. We separate people into classes, socially identifying them and giving them either privileges or restrictions for their life.

Social Stratification Social stratification is nearly synonymous with social injustice. By stratifying our society we treat different people with a different level of respect and most are treated unfairly.

Social Stratification Categories for stratification include: Race Ethnicity Wealth Education Background Celebrity Status

Social Stratification Class separation is usually based on wealth and income. Different types of employment demand different levels of income. The higher the income, the higher the status in society.

Social Stratification For centuries we have been dividing our population into classes It started with nobility and serfs and continued with the bourgeois and working poor Slowly but surely the stratification levels changed and grew in number but the system remained the same. Different levels of status set up for different access to power

Social Stratification More recently we have divided our population into five main categories Poor and Homeless Lower class Lower middle class Upper middle class Upper class

http://www. huffingtonpost http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11/18/most-unequal-provinces-canada_n_6180186.html

Social Stratification The search for upward mobility, or a chance to raise you status level is a goal we are surrounded by. Lotto tickets, being models, actors and actresses, professional athletes, any number of ways in which you can win big and strike it rich. Often these seem as the only method of upward mobility

Growing Income Disparity A pattern in almost every society of today is that there is a growing difference between the rich and poor. Those who are rich are able to use their advantages to exploit the poor and increase their wealth. While those who are poor remain poor, unable to gain advantage or exercise upward mobility.

Rich Poor Gap Between 1981 and 2012, the top 1% of the population captured about 37% of all overall growth in pre-tax incomes over the period. Alberta’s top 10 per cent of earners took home 50.4 per cent of all income in 2012 In PEI, the top 10 per cent take home only 18.6 per cent of all income. This is second only to the United States, with 47%.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says the average income of the top 10 per cent of Canadians in 2008 was $103,500 — 10 times higher than those by the bottom 10 per cent, who had an average income of $10,260. In the early 1990s, that ratio was at 8-1. The gap is 10-1 in Italy, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom, and higher still, at 14-1 in Israel, Turkey and the United States.

Canada's top marginal tax rate dropped from 43 per cent in 1981 to 29 per cent in 2010, the OECD noted in the report. Meanwhile, tax benefits now only offset less than 40 per cent of wage inequality in Canada, compared with more than 70 per cent before. Tax Credits for kids, extra curriculars, benefits (dental)

Points of discussion What are some methods of upward mobility? What benefits do the wealthy in society have in comparison to those without How do we unfairly treat the wealthy in our society?

Bibliography http://www.biv.com/article/2014/4/the-gap-between-rich-and-poor-is-widening-in-canad/ http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wealth-gap-widens-to-30-year-high-1.1094074 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11/18/most-unequal-provinces-canada_n_6180186.html