In today’s world, three main systems of stratification remain: slavery, a caste
system, and a class system.
Slavery
Slavery still exists today. As many as 400 million people live under conditions that
qualify as slavery, despite laws prohibiting it. In Mauritania, the Sudan, Ghana, and Benin,
slavery exists much as it did 800 years ago. In other parts of the world, including Bangladesh,
India, Nepal, and Pakistan, debt slavery is common. Sex slavery, the forcing of girls into
prostitution, is prevalent in Asia.
Caste System
A caste system is a social system based on ascribed
statuses, which are traits or characteristics that people possess as a result of their
birth. Ascribed statuses can include race, gender, nationality, body type, and age. A caste
system ranks people rigidly. No matter what a person does, he or she cannot change castes.
People often try to compensate for ascribed statuses by changing their nationality,
lying about their age, or undergoing plastic surgery to alter their body type. In some
societies, this strategy works; in others, it does not.
Example: Religion is an ascribed status in some societies. Americans may convert to other
religions, but in other countries, people may not change out of the particular religion into
which they were born.
India’s Caste System
The Indian government officially outlawed the caste system in 1949, but vestiges of
it remain today. The system originated with the Hindu religion, which subscribes to the
concept of reincarnation, the belief that while the physical body dies, the soul
of a person is immortal and goes on to be reborn into another body. People who are good in
their current life will come back to improved circumstances in the next life, but if they are
evil, they will be punished in the next one. Therefore, those who are poor or ill are
suffering punishment for having done something wrong in a past life. One should not interfere
in the life of another person because that individual’s circumstances are the result of what
he or she has done in a previous incarnation.
