Tuesday, December 15, 2020

summary: some principles of stratification - Davis and Moore

background:

Davis and Moore write from the functionalist paradigm, demonstrating social inequality.

The study claims that there is a scale of talents and a scale of positions, and in order to push the talented people to high positions they must be rewarded - rewards for ego, money, prestige, spiritual, economic and social.

 

Inequality stems according to Davis and Moore from the reward of different positions in different forms and is therefore functional as it has a role and purpose in society. The article “some principles of stratification” refers to the system of positions and not to the details that perceive these positions. The central question is why certain individuals come to different positions of prestige.

 

Key Assumption: No society is neither without class nor without stratification

 

Methods of analysis:

Understanding the universal features of social stratification

The changing features of social stratification

The functional need for social stratification

 

The functional need that explains the universal reality of stratification is the requirement facing every society to place and motivate individuals within the social structure. Society must instill in the appropriate details in Society the desire to serve in certain positions and when they are placed in these positions to instill in them the desire to fulfill the duties involved in those positions.

There is a constant process of turnover, new people are constantly joining the world and their absorption must be regulated and motivated within the positions.

 

The functional need for social stratification:

The functional need that explains the universal reality of stratification is the requirement facing every society to place and motivate individuals within the social structure. Society must instill in the appropriate individuals in society the desire to serve in certain positions and when they are placed in these positions to instill in them the desire to fulfill the duties involved in those positions.

There is a constant process of turnover, new people are constantly joining the world and their absorption must be regulated and motivated within the positions.

There are two types of propulsion - in any system both of these types of propulsion are needed

In a competitive system - motivation to reach certain positions

In a non-competitive system - motivation to fulfill the obligations involved in positions

Different positions require different levels of special skills and special training and some are more important than others functionally.

Society needs some rewards that it can use as incentives and a way of dividing these incentives differentially according to positions.

 

Rewards and their distribution become part of the social order and thus lead to the formation of social stratification.

 

Types of rewards according to Davis and Moore:

 

1.Rewards that contribute to livelihood and comfort

2.Rewards that affect mood and entertainment

3.Rewards that add to self-esteem and the spread of the self - a function of the opinion of others

 

These types of rewards should be divided into a differential division according to positions.

The rewards are built into the position, they are the rights associated with it - the side / side benefits of the position, these additions are sometimes related to a functional connection to the obligations involved in the position.

 

The meaning of stratification: through social inequality, societies guarantee that the most qualified people will serve in the most important positions, the people must be differentiated in terms of prestige and appreciation, and for that a certain degree of inequality is needed.

The positions that deserve the most reward are usually positions that are of the utmost importance to society and that require the most degree of training or talent. Society should reward positions in a way that is sufficient to ensure that they are staffed by the right people.

The very idea of ​​a position implies that the subject needs to do certain things as a result of the ability inherent in it from birth or as a result of training - it is possible that one or the other will be rare.

There are positions that claim such natural talents that necessarily only a few people can serve in them. The population is often full of potential but the training is so long and so expensive that few can train themselves.

When the position is of functional importance it needs gravity that will allow it to compete with other positions on those with the necessary skills i.e. it must be of high rank on the social scale, confer great prestige, high salary etc.

A difference between one stratification system and another can be explained by the factors influencing the two determinants of differential compensation - job importance and manpower scarcity, important positions in one company may be less important in another, there may be differences in the conditions companies face or their degree of internal development.

Summary of the principles of social stratification:

 

1.The stratified system is influenced by the values ​​of the society in question.

2.There is a difference between different societies and sometimes even within the same position

3. mobility - is the basic premise of this whole model and says that the system is sophisticated enough to allow people born in the lower classes to climb higher, to allow the discovery of the talented people born to the lower classes - not to allow only the upper classes to be in better positions. More and more equal opportunities will be created and there will be more mobility. If the system is not sophisticated then people in the lower classes will not have the opportunity to reach higher positions. Most studies show that in the end the model is more normative of what should be than an analytical of what is happening. The theory succeeds in showing that whoever reaches the top, for the high positions is the one who is talented.



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