Open & Close Society : A Topic Under Social Stratification & Global Inequality

Open & Close Class System

Open System It has few impediments of social mobility.

• Social Positions are awarded on the basis of… • >merit •

>qualifications • >rank • Status depends on individual effort and intelligence. (achieved status) •

Example: • The class system – people are ranked according to possession of economic resources, political power, social honor or prestige.

• People having approximately equal income, education and occupational prestige belong to the same class or strata. • But, it doesn’t mean that an open society is an equal society. •

• It simply provides people with equal chance to succeed or equal opportunity to achieve different standards of living based on their talents, skills and contributions

• The open class system provides for all forms of social mobility. A person may go up or down the social ladder, or may move horizontally , within his or her own social strata based on his

• The system is based on ascribed status, that is, determined by… • •

• • • • •

>Birth >Family origin >Race >Creed >Color >Sex > And other ascribed characteris tics

Closed or Caste System

• Members in the close societies are locked in their parents’ social position. • Individuals’ opportunities are limited accordingly. •

• Legal and religious sanctions are applied to those who attempt to cross them. • It allows for horizontal social mobility, that is, movement within their particular stratum. •

Examples: Caste System & South African Apartheid System • meaning separateness in Afrikaans • was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. • Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times, but apartheid as an •

• New legislation classified inhabitants into racial groups (black, white, colored, and Indian), and residential areas were segregated by means of forced removals.

• Apartheid sparked significant internal resistance. A series of popular uprisings and protests were met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. As unrest spread and became more violent, state organizations