Lecture Fifteen: Basics of Social Stratification

I. Social Stratification Defined

Four key principles of stratification

II. Caste versus Class Stratification Systems

Caste system

Class System

Meritocracies

III. Functions of Stratification

Davis-Moore thesis

Problems with the Functionalist perspective on Stratification

IV. Class and Social Conflict

Marx's Classes

Marx's ideas in the US today