Social stratification can best be described as the division of people into groups that are determined by their power, material possessions and even prestige. That applies to people living within social boundaries such as nations because at least every country stratifies its members. To understand this analogy, two countries, Great Britain and Russia will be used in this essay. The main system of stratification that will be put to focus is class. In early England, wealth was regarded as very important, and it was used to determine a person’s social rank. Their education, family, as well as employment, contributed to a person’s social standing. The English society was and still is highly divided and perpetuates capitalism and there is a class of people that is always higher in ranking than the other. In Russia, on the other hand, the adoption of communism led to the destruction of capitalism, the class structures were destroyed the moment the Communist Manifesto was adopted. To this day, these two countries are different when it comes to social stratification because while the class system still exists in Great Britain, it does not exist in Russia.
Following the breaking up of the Soviet Union, Russia opened up to the outside world and started to adopt an acclaimed capitalist culture whereby a person’s success in life could be determined by their social advancement. More Russians today have access to higher education, and that is used as a prerequisite for social advancement. When a person is highly educated, there are very high chances of them securing well-paying jobs in their fields of study (Giddens & Sutton, 2013, p. 479). The decades after the Cold War saw the economy slow down and the opportunities that were there did not encourage social mobility, and that further widened the gap between the poor and the rich. The desire to better their lives led many people to find an escape route out of poverty. A good education was a guarantee that Russians could secure good jobs. That, in the end, translates to social success that is achievable through the access to capital because the people can afford it. That boils down to success coming from a person’s input into their success that will catapult them into better living conditions. Russians were used to communal life where the state advances the betterment of all citizens and any individual effort was targeted at improving the lives of all. Thus, the selfishness of wanting to accumulate wealth is not very common with many Russians.
The United Kingdom, for the longest time, has had a society that is riddled with class but then after the Second World War, there was a massive change. Initially, the country was divided into two, the nobility and the commons. The nobility owned the means of production and were the determinants of the economy. The commons, on the other hand, were the lesser class and served the interests of the nobility. But in the 20th century, the professional class was developed and started contributing to the country’s economy because they started taking up professional jobs and acquiring properties (Kerbo, 2012, p. 87). Today, these men and women of skill took up the roles of being advisors to the aristocracy and politicians. They transformed the British class system to accommodate all members of society that were willing to work hard and create wealth. The country became ethnically inclusive as the country sought to recover from the war, leading to the development of the middle class that was comprised of all members of the society who were fitting into certain economic class. The class system in the United Kingdom encourages anyone, even the lowly to work their way up to the top. Capital is spread throughout and anybody who has skill, education and experience can become successful.
Russians, have for a very long time, embraced egalitarianism, a social philosophy that scouts for the removal of anything that may lead up to any form of inequality amongst them. That means resources are distributed more equally and that no one is considered to stand a better chance than the other. Traditionally, Russians embraced communalism, and everyone was rewarded irrespective of their effort, but everyone was required to work very hard for the sake of the common good of the wider society (Acemogul, Hassan & Robinson n.d, p. 899). The entrepreneurial spirit is not given too much thought in Russia, and thus, many would rather they lead such simple lives rather than compete for resources and climbing the ladder of their social class using unfair means. That status quo has been maintained for a long time is not surprising. In fact, Russians would rather a country is secure, economically stable while maintaining a social order rather than having classes that will divide them. It is also argued that Russia has had to deal with a lot of social and political problems over the years, and thus are used to their simple lives as long as they enjoy their peace.
The United Kingdom has evolved through the years, and the social structure has seen the emergence of a new social class that is based on education, occupation and income. The three determine where a person lives, the kind of car they drive, the food they eat and even the clothes they wear. Russia too has developed a culture where a person’s class is determined by the material wealth they have, and that comes from the kind of education they have and their professions. These two countries may have had different pasts; Russia was founded on Communism while the United Kingdom was founded on capitalism. Each had a different form of social stratification but today both seem to have converging ideologies when it comes to class. Today their people have to work hard and an education that will propel them into the social class in which they want to belong. But then, the problem of income inequality is leading to a huge social and economic gap between those who have good jobs and earn a lot of money as compared to those who lack proper education and have no professional standing.
Bibliography
Acemogul, D., Hassan, T. A., and Robinson, J. A., n. d., Social Structure and Development: ALegacy of the Holocaust In Russia. [Online] [Accessed on 28th February 2016] Available at http://economics.mit.edu/files/9086
Giddens, A., and Sutton, P. W. 2013. Sociology. (7th Edition). Cambridge: Polity Press
Kerbo, H., 2012. Social Stratification and Inequality. New York: McGraw Hill
