Social differentiation

                                      

In all societies there is differentiation of the population by age, sex and personal characteristics. According to P.A. Sorokin “Un-Stratified society with real equality of its members, is a myth that has never been realized in the history of mankind. All societies exhibit some system of hierarchy whereby its members are placed in positions that are higher or lower, superior or inferior, in relation to each other.

Definition: Everywhere individual and societies differ. In no society people are absolutely equal in all respects. Differentiation is the keynote of human society. Society rests on the principle of difference. Differences are inherent in the very nature of the society. In all societies there is social differentiation of the population by age, sex, occupation and personal characteristics. There are the major factors of social differentiation. Men & women, teenagers & adults, Children & old men, masters & servants, managers & attendants, rulers & ruled, teachers & the taught, rich & poor, literate & the illiterate, engineers & doctors, teacher & advocates, shopkeepers & hotel owners are not always adjudged by equal. There are no equalitarian societies in the world. Societies are marked by differentiation. Society may only differ in the degree of differentiation and nature of stratification.

Causes of Differentiation: Talcott Parsons mentions three causal factors of social differentiation – Possession, Qualities and Performances. These three are however interrelated.

1. Possession: possession refers to mainly material possession, such as money, wealth, equal access to these possession. The unequal distribution of these material possession has contributed to inequality and differentiation.
2. Qualities: qualities refers to the intrinsic capacities or abilities of people to undertake or to do a task. These qualities are also not equally distributed. For example physical strength, intelligence, beauty, courage, loyalty to a cause, moral courage, industriousness, sacrifice and other internal qualities are not equally distributed. People are ranked differently depending upon the degree of possession of these qualities.
3. Performance: performance refers to the execution of a task in a given time under a given situation. Performance are always judged firstly according to their products or results. Secondly, they are judged according to the manner and style the performing. Performances are always subject to regulatory norms.

Differences in society on the basis of Age, Sex & Occupation:

1. Age differentiation:

All societies differentiate their members on the ground of age also. In no society the same norms govern the behavior of the very young, the very old and the adult’s members in the same way. Age as a biological factor contributes to social differentiation. It distributes privileges and responsibilities, rights & duties, in terms of separate statuses, age statuses, like sex statuses are ascribed and not achieved. In almost all the societies the following age groups are recognized: a) Infancy   b) Childhood   c) Adolescence   d) Adulthood and e) Old age.  In some societies the unborn and the dead individuals are also given some importance.

a)      Age Grading: Age stratification or age grading is here in all the societies. Thus one has to attain a certain age in order to school, to join a church, to be considered responsible in a court of law, to sign a valid contract, to be guilty of a crime, to vote, to marry, to earn a commission in the armed services to sit in the parliament and so on through an entire roster of abilities and disabilities.

b)     Age and social Expectation: Our social expectations are also woven around different age. In a university final year student, a senior student may not like to have close friendship with the fresh students. Later on, differences in age of ten years or more may seem very little. Outsides of families, intimacies rarely develop among people of different generations.

2. Sex differentiation:

 Differentiation based on sex is one of the most fundamental features of human society. There are only two sexes – male and female; not one, not three and this is one of the brute facts of the universe. The existence two sexes, a biological differentiation, results in what is also one of the most important kinds of social differentiation. In no society, male and female do the same things, occupy the same statuses, share identical interests, conform of the same norms or aspire of the same kinds of achievement. Some writers have even spoken of “male culture” and “female culture” to denote their diverse way of life.

3. Occupational differentiation:

Age and sex differentiation are no doubt obvious foundation of specialization everywhere. So too different occupations create conditions for variation in roles and status. An occupation is more than simply a way of earning money. It is an index and symbol of the style that people live and the level of prestige that is accordable to them by others. The concept of occupation is more or less appropriate for most modern industrialized societies. But it is less appropriate in many primitive & traditionalistic societies. In every society there is some degree for role differentiation according to function, whether this differentiation is occupational or not. It is significant to note that occupation is the most used measure of class system.

a)      Occupational ranking: one of the best known attempts to rank occupations in U.S.A. was made by P.K. Hatt and C.C. North

b)      Occupation and prestige: Occupation are related to social status in advanced industrial societies. Two factors seem to account for greater prestige of some occupations: 1) The functional importance of an occupation to the social system in which it is related, 2) The scarcity of personal for the occupation relative to demand.

c)      Income: It is found that factors such as responsibility for public welfare & highly specialized training influences the prestige of an occupational to a great extent.

d)     Costumes: Policeman, priests and soldiers are for example, easily distinguishable by differences in dress. In hospitals the white Uniforms of the doctors and nurses prevent them from being mistaken for patients and visitors. Briefcases are status symbols for sales representative’s diplomats, professors and attorneys.