Social stratification

1) Configuration and relationship between the generations that constitute a society. One of the instruments of study used in this analysis is the population pyramid. 2) Formation of and relation between the cultural collectivists that make up a society. 3) Formation of a society based on defining strata by the application of criteria of occupation, income and relations of dependency. This type of analysis of the s.s. admits numerous variations. Historically, in periods dominated by the basic extractive activities (agriculture, mining and fishing), the corresponding s.s. revealed a broad base of workers dedicated to those tasks. Following the industrial revolution there was a gradual change in the formation of the social base and the strata emerging from that process. The development of secondary and tertiary industries, and the growth of the service sectors correlatively modified the s.s. and people’s way of life. The factors of rural exodus, urban growth, and disproportionate growth in regional and world population are driving the trend toward the rapid formation of new forms of s.s. There is continuing displacement of large sectors of workers as a result of changing manufacturing technology and mass migrations from less favorable areas to others where, in turn, recession and unemployment are increasing. The present changes in s.s. are leading to the separation or isolation of strata that were previously related through solidarity (*), at the same time that the psychosocial phenomenon of discrimination (*) is on the increase.