Stratification Systems: Openness

Abstract

The concept of stratification refers to the idea of vertical segmentation in the sense of having more or fewer resources. Degrees of stratification are always relational and express degrees of social inequality. Open stratification systems exist when a society leaves channels for upward or downward mobility, where actors or families can change their position inter‐ or intragenerationally. The classic idea in Marx's categorization was that access to means of production is the pivot point of all sociological and economic analysis. An early contrast to the dominant Marxist view was elaborated by Max Weber, who stressed the fact of differentiation. Bourdieu sees the social world in terms of a metaphor: Consider a multidimensional social sphere in which different groups of actors reflect, on the one hand, the sphere of social position and, on the other hand, the sphere of lifestyles. Other authors emphasize the growing relativity of the class concept due to increasing trends of mobility caused by education, urbanization, and changing demographic patterns, including the declining significance of the institution of the family, which leads more and more to a multicolored puzzle of conditions, lifestyles, attitudes, and behavior.