Social Stratification

For as long as man has existed, there has been a division of class determined by sex, race, wealth and even religion. The term stratification is defined as a division of a society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy. Now I don't know about you, but this sounds like a system of INEQUALITY to me. Alright let me elaborate- let's take the caste system, this is a form of social stratification where the status of a person is determined by his/her family history and background and nothing can be done to change it. India is the most closely associated with the caste system. The categories range from Brahman (which consists of scholors and priests) to the Untouchables (which consists of the social outcasts.) I don't know about anyone else but this doesn't sound the least bit fair. Let's move on over to South Africa, here, people are legally classified into 4 groups. 4 RACIAL groups! There are the White S. Africans (usually of English and Dutch heritage), the Black S. Africans, the Indians (from India), and the "Colored" (which usually means of mixed descent. Needless to say, the treatment of these groups are a direct reflection of their race. Fair? No again. Now let's bring it on home to the U.S. In the U.S. we are divided dependent upon our social class. Social class is defined as a system of stratification based on how much money we have, how much land we own and how much presige and power we possess. Social classes are usually divided into upper, upper-middle, middle, working, and working poor. Now here's the thing that's interesting though, LESS than 1% make up the upper class. That's right 1%. Now this 1% owns up to 98% of ALL resources which leaves the rest of us to share the remainding 2% of the resources! Somehow this doesn't add up. Although the lines between the middle and working classes have been moved, the line seperating the upper class is permanantly drawn and has not budged even through these hard economic times.