Patterns of unequal access to social resources are commonly called social inequality. Some social inequality reflects innate differences between individuals, for example, their varying abilities and efforts. Someone may be endowed with exceptional intelligence or talent or have worked very hard to achieve their wealth and status. However, by and large, social inequality is not the outcome of innate or ‘natural’ differences between people but is produced by the society in which they live. Sociologists use social stratification to refer to a system by which categories of people in a community are ranked in a hierarchy.

Who challenges the ideology behind a system of social stratification?

People who are oppressed by stratification. People who are enjoying the benefits of social stratification. People who stay outside this system. Government and the civil society

People who are oppressed by stratification.

Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief, or ideology. No system of social stratification is likely to persist over generations unless it is widely viewed as being either fair or inevitable. The caste system, for example, is justified in terms of the opposition of purity and pollution, with the Brahmins designated as the most superior and Dalits as the most inferior by virtue of their birth and occupation. Not everyone, though, thinks of a system of inequality as legitimate. Typically, people with the greatest social privileges express the strongest support for systems of stratification such as caste and race. Those who have experienced the exploitation and humiliation of being at the bottom of the hierarchy are most likely to challenge it.