RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRATIFICATION AND EDUCATION IN INDIA

EDUCATION AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION:

In Sociology and Anthropology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into social classes, castes and divisions within a society. These hierarchies, which may be overtly or covertly preset, or not present at all in some societies, are quite common in state-level societies. 

In our society we rank people according to the scarce resources they control. Money and property are scarce resources in our society and those who own a great deal of money and property, wealthy people, can use this resource to gain power. It has been said that very respected people also control another scarce resource – public respect and that they can use this resource to gain power. 

MEANING OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

The term stratification is derived from the geological concept of   ‘Strata’ which means rock layers created by natural processes. Stratification is a hierarchy of positions with regard to economic production which influences the social rewards to those in the positions.

DEFINITION:-

According Raymond W. Murray; “Social Stratification is horizontal division of society into ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ social units.” Every society is divided into more or less distinct groups. Even the most primitive societies had some form of social stratification.

Lies the key to our future

Most people believe that schooling is directly linked to occupational and financial success

Schools should produced individuals who can function in society.

Equality of educational opportunity.

Public or private schools

Ability grouping

Home and community environments

Teacher and student expectations

STRATIFICATION

• It refers to our position in the society. - Upper class - Middle class - Lower class
• According to Max Weber Class – described as a multidimensional concept which is determined by three major variable: wealth, power, and prestige.
• Wealth – refers to one’s property, capital, and income. Power – implies the ability to make major decisions or to influence others to act in one’s benefit.
• Occupation is a main factor in one’s prestige.
• Esucation affects occupational status, and income is closely associated with it.
• It refers to our position in the society. - Upper class - Middle class - Lower class
• According to Max Weber Class – described as a multidimensional concept which is determined by three major variable: wealth, power, and prestige.
• Wealth – refers to one’s property, capital, and income. Power – implies the ability to make major decisions or to influence others to act in one’s benefit.
• Occupation is a main factor in one’s prestige.
• Esucation affects occupational status, and income is closely associated with it.

Inequality

Two opposing theories of stratification are most often used to explain the unequal class system in our society: Functionalist (consensus) theory Conflict Theory

Functionalist Theory According to this perspective, each part of society is related to each other part in the total society. In order to maintain a working balance between the parts, the system has certain requirements and agreed-upon rules.

People are induced to do what society needs done, motivated to fullfill roles by extrinsic rewards (money, prestige) The importance of a particular role and scarcity of qualified persons to fill the role determine the prestige ranking of position. For instance, doctors are seen as more important than bartenders, and have more prestige and higher pay.

Those positions which are most complex and important require the most talent and training—that is, education---are the most highly rewarded.

Conflict Theory They believe that problems in the educational system stem from the conflicts in the society as a whole. Education is but one part of a system which is based on ―have and have-not.

Reproductionists, revisionists, and neo- Marxists

Reproductionists, revisionists, and neo- Marxists – stemming from the idea that the upper-middle class ―conspires‖ to perpetuate their own class interests by limiting access to educational opportunities for other groups.

Cultural Capital - Parents provide their children with cultural capital by transmitting the attitudes and knowledge needed to succeed in the current educational system.

Social class

Race

Sex

Equal opportunity exists when all people, even those without status, wealth, or membership in a privileged group , have an equal chance of achieving a high socioeconomic status in society regardless of their sex, minority status, or social class.

Equal opportunity (James Coleman) Providing free education Provide common curriculum Provide that children from diverse backgrounds attend the same school

Concept of equality of educational opportunity means providing equal facilities, finances for schools and availability of schooling.

Public vs Private Schools

Tracking and Ability grouping

Teacher expectations (self-fulfilling prophecy)

Home Environment Effects on Educational Achievement and Stratification.

Characteristics:-

Social class: Class is a status of group, and in any society the social class of one group always differs from that of other. In the word of MacIver, “A social class is any proportion of community marked of from rest by the status.” Higher educated people belongs to upper class and comparatively lower educated people belongs to lower class or middle class. So, in this sense education creates many social classes and those social class create stratification in  society.

Economic difficulties: Compared to the condition existing in ancient and medieval period, there is a far greater unemployment today. This has a direct impact upon the minds of education. Besides, economic difficulties make it easy to achieve the ideal of universal education. v Politicization: After independence, political influences have penetrated every sphere of life. Even in education, political interest can be found at practically every level. This again is functioning as a very serious obstacle to all progress and creates many stratification in all sphere of life.

Disorganization of values: The present day society in our country has lost all its faith in the traditional Bangladeshi values under the impact of westernization, secularization and urbanization. In our modern educational system we lost most of our tradition values and accept the values of other culture. This is acting as a serious impediment of spiritual and moral values.

Social disorganization: Bangladesh society has been rapidly fragmented into small units because of the influence of regionalism, linguism, casteism, untouchability etc. As a consequences this have a detrimental effects on the development on children. Individual disorganization: For the last few years, the tendency of indulge a various kinds of intoxicants is growing upon the younger generation, particularly among the students. Those are serious problems for the educational planners.

Effects on cultural development: In old days education sought first of all make the child culture and civilized, but in present day educational institutions are concerned merely with acquiring the child with the various subject but put the syllabus. Society in general provides a model only for such disruptive tendencies as classism, individualism all of which promote selfishness, absolute liberty and disregard of laws. Our new educational system teach the student about western culture and make a new mixed culture which creates stratification in our society.

Effect on moral development: The situation in towns is much worse than in rural areas because children see so many scenes of violence and crime, in morality and cruelty, that they can’t avoid them. Apart from any other influence, the cinema alone is responsible for a great degree of moral depravity and degradation, and it is next to impossible to shield young boys and girl from its influence. The moral level of villagers are lower by lack of education, lack of sanitation and hygiene, insecurity, communal ism and untouchability.

Social mobility is basically the movement of individual or groups of individuals from one social position to other. Sudden appreciation of a property or power accrued to certain families, development of skill or success and achievement may lead to upward mobility. The important question arises concerning the relationship between education and social mobility. A controversy obviously exists as to whether education acts as a sort of agent for social mobility. (Srinibas Bhattacharya).

Major sociological perspective on education and stratification

Ballantine, J. H., & Hammack, F. M. (2012) in their book “ The sociology of education: A systematic analysis”(7th ed.) they described how sociological perspective related with education and stratification . Functionalism: Education serves several functions for society. These include (a) socialization, (b) social integration, (c) social placement, and (d) social and cultural innovation. Latent functions include child care, the establishment of peer relationships, and lowering unemployment by keeping high school students out of the full-time labor force. Problems in the educational institution harm society because all these functions cannot be completely fulfilled.

Conflict theory: Education promotes social stratification through the use of tracking and standardized testing and the impact of its “hidden curriculum.” Schools differ widely in their funding and learning conditions, and this type of inequality leads to learning disparities that reinforce social stratification

Symbolic Interactionism: This perspective focuses on social interaction in the classroom, on the playground, and in other school venues. Specific research finds that social interaction in schools affects the development of gender roles and that teachers’ expectations of pupils’ intellectual abilities affect how much pupils learn. Certain educational problems have their basis in social in social interaction and expectation.

Conclusion

Education consists of all those experiences, which affect the individual from birth till death. Proper education creates in an individual the faculty of reasoning to distinguish between right and wrong and to place responsibilities before rights. Some sociologist say where there is a lack of education the people suffer from many inequalities and stratification which cause serious problems in society but some other sociologist think that in many context education creates social stratification in society.

share&follow the Blog

Admission counselor (any queries regarding admission & notes)

Assit. Prof . Tejinder Singh

9041117318 (whatsup)