Social Stratification: Crash Course Sociology #21

How do different societies establish a social hierarchy? Today we’re starting our unit on social stratification, starting with four basic principles of a sociological understanding of stratification. We’ll explain open and closed systems of stratification and explore examples of different kinds of stratification systems, including caste systems and class systems.
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[@talei3508]

10 minutes for my 3 hour paper tomorrow. Bless up

[@bradleywagner2180]

If one 10 minute video is enough for a 3 hour paper you must be in high school.

[@christopherfowler8452]

If 3 hours is enough to write a paper, you must be in high school..

[@Entropicalli]

As a sociology student, I think this video was very well presented and offered a clear explanation of the basics of social stratification. Great to see.

[@shinyduke1791]

Thanks crash course sociology team for all the hard work you do to inform people on the subject but I'm not going to lie the comment section is the most fun part of the series.

[@johnhoward1181]

i would like to see crash course do a segment on Post-Modernism. In this post-truth, post-fact era that we live in many people have turned away from reason and rationalism and have instead turned to emotionalism and tribalism. As one person stated it's now emotion versus the logos. Many have shown a great distrust in science, educators, government and modernism. I would like to know a little more about that.

[@leshleyperez5637]

I will say, i am a Sociology student and your videos have helped me pass a million tests! Thank you!

[@handeljuma1713]

I appreciate the fact that you summarised what we've learnt, very professional.

[@pirate1234567891]

But how does the adjunct professor improve speed and defense?

[@raeroxannerojas7453]

+Mikhail Rezanov

[@raeroxannerojas7453]

+Mikhail Rezanov

[@damienscullytoo]

Boots of mobility and Chain armour i would say.

[@DudeWhoSaysDeez]

run and hide

[@IBtehOmar]

not enough passive traits to help warmogs is better but with less pay they cant get it lmao

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

It would be nice if you could bring this back to Durkheim and talk about how social changes (trending toward class from cast) effects people's feelings of satisfaction and meaning.

[@blessings2024]

Thank you for making my life easier. Your videos assuaged my concerns about all those concepts and terms I should know about the subject. Now, I have a better understanding of them.

[@grackla1384]

"It still maintains a limited caste system of nobility as a legacy of the feudal system of estates," lmao CrashCourse this is the reason I have to have all your videos at 0.75 speed and with the captions on😂 Don't get me wrong though I love the info! Keep up the education!

[@m.f.3469]

just read chapter 8 from macionis & plummer's introduction to sociology and THIS SUMS IT UP PERFECTLY

[@harshvardhansharma1793]

And I'm making through the semester exams because of you ❤️

[@sivawright]

Thank you for taking the Caste System in India as an example. But the thing is, it is nowhere near declining it is becoming more and more rigid every day. So, when you talk about caste, do not use the past tense. And the caste system doesn't only hold sway in rural India but plays an equal or even more significant role in urban India too.

[@danielcruz4960]

For me both deserve the wealth but just the one who work deserve recognition

[@thecookiespartan2823]

The caste system is so f-ed up in almost every way, even though other class systems aren't the best at times too.

[@GeorgeMaier]

This is, as could only be expected from such a short video, a simplification. For instance many scholars argue a clear distinction between stratification (drawn out based on systems of distinction) and classification (how income is generated in unequal ways) - a difference which isn't developed here. This may be in part due to the influence of American sociological traditions upon this course content. Bourdieu influenced the trajectory of European sociology more than that of America, and his work paid a great deal more attention to stratification as a non-economic (but connected) force based on social networks and the propagation of cultural taste, which translate through complex exchanges into economic value. Though Bourdieu's key weaknesses come in his lack of theorisation of capital. Here we can turn to the work of more recent scholars such as Beverly Skeggs who develop more complex models of class that are linked in important ways to stratification but also the economic models which underlie much of the social difference we experience today.

[@Roxor128]

I hate that phrase "pull yourself up by your bootstraps". If you've ever tried it, you'll find it's physically impossible. No matter how much force you exert, the most you'll end up doing is snapping the straps.

[@hani5301]

I just love your videos... they are too clear and just so amazing

[@robm6645]

Social Stratification: That thing the trolls feel is threatened by these videos but are unable to articulate how or why.

[@Entropicalli]

Rob McCune most of the trolls on here are threatened by any form of social discourse, especially when initiated by a female. I think MGTOW is more their speed 😂 which says a lot.

[@taylorbrown3893]

Rob McCune, i love you more than you could ever know right now,

[@mr.liquifier8343]

You ever tried shutting up. I wanted to say to some random

[@jaiden5941]

The suggested scenario immediately brought The Great Gatsby to mind...

[@muhammedabdullah2893]

Why so many dislikes for a free, quality, professional, educational course????

[@SpeedlPN]

because it isn't quality and educational

[@FreeTheDonbas]

You answered your own question.

[@robm6645]

Because they feel threatened by knowledge.

[@harrybarker4370]

Because crash course is mainly watched by the white, upper middle class STEM students. Sociology is a social science, not a pure science, that exposes the lie of meritocracy that all these upper middle class geeks rely on for self esteem. I'm not saying you haven't worked hard I'm saying it's seen comparitively easier btw

[@sally-annesinclair8405]

Great video, thanks CrashCourse! I couldn't get good grades without your videos!

[@suchitajoshi9569]

Thank, for such a good lecture on social stratification

[@elee6606]

I like this video. It put a lot of info and explains a lot. Well presented too.

[@RebeccaMumbia]

well explained ,, makes a sociologist student's life more positive and comfortable...

[@RebeccaMumbia]

👍🏿

[@syedsaadirfan]

Tommorow is my paper of sociology , this lecture helps me alot to attempt a good paper Thankyou so much

[@thereisonlyonegodandthatis4510]

The term social inequality is the existence of social stratification , within a community, which refers to the unequal opportunities and benefits for different social roles within the society. These unequal distribution of social, political and economic assets within a social community and social trends include depending on a person's class, ethnicity, location, tradition,level of education, gender and age. Based on the individual's place in the social stratification, this depends on the person's access to resources, money, and source of income, and have a great influence on how they live their lives.

[@peaches_pie6085]

These videos have saved my exam scores. Genuinely thank you so much

[@NilanjanPaul]

i got sociology exam tomorrow n m done. 😶

[@cathyschneider2126]

Trolls are the lowest of the low. The proper way to deal with them is not to deal with them.

[@warpedmind6363]

I wish social class wasn't a 'reason' to treat someone with more or less respect.

[@girlmeetschaos]

This video is going to save my butt for my next quiz 🤩 I was struggling with class/caste so much

[@marinacherry3066]

Can you please mention important authors of the theories? Like Pitirim Sorokin who was the author of the term "social mobility"🌚

[@TheJamesRedwood]

Loving the new lighting!

[@kianacoleman2867]

Thank you so much for this crash course. It was very helpful.

[@ritaprasad7735]

finally understood this chapter. thnx a lot

[@jaz1756]

I really hope you talk about post-structuralism and its critiques on the structure of language and reality

[@cirowatanabe9561]

Thank you so much for these lectures

[@yaumelepire6310]

There was really mostly one way to move in the Feudal system of Medieval Europe: whoever you were, you could join the Clergy, become a Priest, a Monk or a Nun, that is, if you were willing to not have children or property of any kind.

[@studmuffin2261]

Anyone have an idea of where to get her glasses? They're awesome!

[@stinkyboomboom]

Gandalf's granddaughter

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

right in front of my salad!

[@charliebright8027]

yea,missoula,mt.! do net neutrality. so we can all move up or be equal if we want in class. good theory here.

[@Daniel-mf8yn]

To all the people saying this is liberal bias, just look out your window. There are poor people all over the place, just ask them. Oh wait I forgot, you're too scared to leave your bubble of society, and only congregate with people of a similar race, ethnic background, and income.

[@kapulia4888]

That's false because I do congregate with individuals of different ethnic background, race, and income. Ur a liar because the people outside my window aren't homeless or poor

[@Meeesa]

Well, this *is* liberal bias. Try talking to those who are saying that it is. You might actually hear from a lot of people working to do good for others, and serving their community regardless of race, gender, class, blah, blah, blah. Oh wait...I forgot you're too busy hiding in your propaganda bubble where anyone on "the other side" is an evil bigot.

[@xentiment6581]

oh yeah because you congregate with people of all races, ethnic background and income, meaning i will see you chilling with a homeless dude, in a chinese restaurant with your half black half mexican friend or having business dinner with Bill Ghates.

[@farhananaaz2498]

Mam u did a tremendous job..u help me alot..tmrw is mah sessional..nd m vry stsfied by watching this video...thanks mam..

[@lifeoftalise4390]

Now I can write my discussion board thank you so much

[@SP990]

So much talk of caste vs class and endogamy and the Indian caste system, but no mention of Ambedkar, the man who wrote about it all before anyone else. The western sociologists are quoted, but what about the others 🤔

[@erick-gmz]

"Stratification is a characteristic of society and not a matter of individual differences." Ok that I can understand and agree with, either my teachers aren't doing it right or idk

[@amirelias885]

very nice glasses ma'am

[@anirudhakumar1653]

I think that the next episode should come first followed by examples...

[@s3cr3tpassword]

How do i increase my speed and defense though.....

[@teezb2812]

Great explanation!

[@Unstablegroundz]

I think america has a sort of loophole based caste system. While its true that being apart of the underclass isnt close to being the same as untouchables, but being a felon isnt all that distant.

[@tomrivlin7278]

Class is so weird here in the UK... we have this bizarre 'deference' to people of 'higher class' (often Eton/Oxbridge grads), which explains the success of certain politicians...

[@Pfhorrest]

What really weirds me about about British notions of class is that "upper class" people can be poorer than "lower class" people, and yet still have that class relation.

[@varana]

That's in part a heritage of the earlier stratification into estates (i.e. clergy, nobility, commoners). In that kind of society (usually called "medieval", though it persisted, with modifications, until the early 1800s), social stratification was _not_ congruent or dependent on wealth but on rights and privileges. While the nobility _on average_ had more wealth than commoners, of course, that didn't need to be true on an individual basis. There were very wealthy commoners (like merchants) and rather poor nobles. What distinguished them, were their estate - i.e. the rights and privileges they had inherited from birth. (That's the most frequent misconception about that three estates model. It was not based on wealth, and getting rich didn't necessarily help you into becoming nobility.) The British upper class is a remnant of that era that developed in the 19th century when social stratification became more open, and the more land-based nobility was regularly outperformed by the new businessmen with industrial or commerical enterprises. It's changed quite a bit in the last 100 or so years, but that's where that distinction comes from. In America, there never was a truly hereditary upper class, and socal stratification is _a lot_ more tied to personal wealth and success than in the Old World.

[@notruescotsman777]

Absolutely, The work of Bourdieu is good on this. Class is also about culture and social capital, as well as honours and titles (which we love in the UK for some reason).

[@FanGardinen]

yeee! Pierre Bourdieu! Where is Pierre Bourdieu in those videos? He can explain why students can be poor but still belong the future upper class.

[@adamperryofficial]

Tom Rivlin Things are changing slowly

[@leeoswald668]

In USSR it was possible to move to any position, without a problem Those classes are more like types, how to distinguish people, and what are they specializing for You could be just a villager from a far-far settlement, and you could become the leader of some state, or even USSR if you wanted to Plus, party membership, anyone could assign and become the political power of the country

[@victortellander36]

I believe in meritocracy and the inheritance law is totally inconsistent to the meritocratic idea as whole. I would guess it's the biggest single reasons to injustice and inequality of opportunities, more or less, all over the world.

[@jonkeuviuhc1641]

I totally agree. Though I more radical and I'd say that the instutions of the family is the root cause of inequality and an obstacle to true meritocracy, and we should abolished it.

[@johntindell9591]

thank you so much

[@freedomgirl9990]

Love these!

[@kent6262]

Hey no complaints about the video at all,,, just that its actually spelt kshatriya :)

[@danielese3600]

Thanks!

[@crashcourse]

Thank you for supporting our channel!

[@sanmm5378]

Good explaination thanks😊

[@aradhyadeb1656]

God Bless You😭

[@mariuszj3826]

Interestingly enough, social stratification describes core differences between the European mindset and the United States mindset. Europeans, mainly, believe that there are strong outside factors that contribute to a person's status, hence, such vast government social programs are so popular. It is due to a long-standing feudal history that had a very fixed social hierarchy and if you were poor, you were considered the unfortunate one. Furthermore, Europe has a very strong Union tradition that is very much respected in majority of European countries. Also is the place of birth of proto-modern public education and other vast majority of social programs that had/have been in different forms present for centuries in Europe. Americans on the other hand have a very distinct John Locke approach to liberalism that came with the Enlightenment. It is also supplemented with the agrarian ideal of self-sufficiency found in Jefferson and distrust of centralized powers found in Thoreau. It's a very strong tradition of abolishing social distinctions but it is very superficial on many levels if someone cares to read Tocqueville and his thoughts on the American experience. The core underlining factor of success in life is accumulating wealth and that is the basis for majority of American social hierarchy. Europe has a much more vague distinction of social class that is based on birth, education, occupation, and focuses little on accumulated wealth.

[@william41017]

Crash Course, Please do ADMINISTRATION (I don't know if that's how you call it in english) or ENTREPRENEURSHIP

[@blackrainbow1100]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@isaakoatiaesolo]

0:18 no one deserves wealth

[@R04R]

nice explanation

[@electrafroot344]

Thanks for another great video on Sociology. Ignore the dumb, racists in the comments.

[@jackrabbit1704]

Isn't calling people you don't know dumb and racists slightly hypocritical?

[@electrafroot344]

@@jackrabbit1704 I don't have to know someone to see that they've said something dumb or racist.

[@jackrabbit1704]

@@electrafroot344 That sounds very dumb, and racist.

[@MrMattgood14]

Really good content!

[@scoopityboop]

what if instead I just took a relative's wealth when they died and used it to manipulate government to inherit even more massively insane amounts of wealth through reduced government spending going towards huge tax breaks for me? Do i deserve that money?

[@feiwaan]

Am just here because of a test next week,...not so interested in this aspect of life tbh ..I can't wait to graduate. 😧

[@tannersteward1536]

What’s an example of closed system and open system from this video? Please help!

[@priyachawla8720]

Awesome!

[@erindelaney194]

Shirt is adorable :)

[@jerrymuns]

I should have learned more about this at an earlier age. I would have shed my ignorance and frustration long ago lol

[@rockym7135]

India's caste system is worst thing remaining in India. It's black spot on humanity. Prime minister say , "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam" means whole world is one family in global forum and don't do anything to eliminate caste system which is great contradiction!

[@missjokeq]

why do they all talk sooo fast on crash course.

[@christophercanon5152]

Income, education, prestige... speed and defense rofl! Very clever my gamer friends.

[@poppyorangeflower]

Old Money vs New Money. There's still a difference.

[@jessedekruijf]

India has also a 5th catogory witihn the their caste system, the Dalit, wich transelates to “the untouchables”. They are the rock bottom of their society and therefore not even mentioned (or touched).

[@jeme1901]

And what about anarchist Spain?

[@fictionesswtf4240]

I seem to keep not keeping attention intendencies... c How many times multiples properties to trate validity

[@nilloc93]

16 seconds in, it doesn't matter, if I make money and give it to my kids when I die, does that make them bad people?

[@MysticKenji2]

Speed for a adjunct is definitely how fast they talk during lecture... not sure what defense would represent though. Resistance against curving exam grades?

[@Christivich]

Bookmark Ch 6

[@saints146]

I noticed you mentioned how the Soviet Union didn't get rid of stratification. That's because they didn't do socialism correctly. Forgot that part

[@owen3721]

Socialism is supposed to be a government-orchestrated system where the means of production are transferred over the proletariat, in the hope that eventually the need for a government will disappear. The end goal of socialism is communism, which, according to Marxist theory, is defined as a "classless, stateless, society."

[@owen3721]

@Kathy Sharp Venezuela has a mixed-market economy. Its problems are corruption and authoritarianism, not "socialism."

[@mikderoost9261]

Its funny how the idea of the american dream was great but it ended up being a race to the top of the pyramid and a game of king of the hill ever since the first one got there.

[@therealquade]

The soviet union was stratified, apparatchiks above the intelligentsia above the industrial workers above the peasantry. if the crops failed, or the machines broke down, it was the industrial workers and the peasantry who died, and not the intelligentsia, until the intelligentsia where eventually accused of being wreckers, accused by either other members of the intelligentsia, or by the apparatchiks, at which point the intelligentsia died. This directly resulted in eventually, the surviving intelligentsia fleeing the soviet union, in what was called soviet brain-drain. the apparatchiks, where never labelled as 'wreckers'. this is an identical stratification to the indian caste system, the shudras are the peasantry, the farmers, the industrial laborers are the vaishyas, who produce the goods and services, the intelligentsia are the khsatriyas, administrators, project planners, and the middlemen of power, and the apparatchiks are the brahmins, the top class who rule everything by decree and are beyond reproach. TL;DR, the soviet union class organization is identical to the indian caste system.

[@lindseyshupee]

I love her teeth :)

[@ashish5675]

Vary from society to society

[@danielmillner4501]

Really doesnt matter who deserves it. If you are born into it then you inherit it by luck, but assuming that they do not deserve it is kinda odd. If you work hard and have a lot of money and your kind inherits it its the same situation. If someone has money its not through magic.. Someone worked hard at some point and made the smart decision to set up a family dynasty.

[@jonkeuviuhc1641]

I think the point is that the kid doesn't deserves the money just because he won the lottery of birth. Yes, somebody deserves it, the person who earned it. Now, you might ask what is to be done after the person who earned the whealt dies. In my oppinion, it should be either distributed to all members of society or used in social programs to help the less fortunate, the dissable and other people who got a bad start for no fault of their own. This also stops gread since no one would what to make more money than they can use.

[@Colonies_Dev]

chimpanzees also get mad at unfairness, i think chimpanzees generally share equally or something but maybe its a bit similar to how we think one person deserves wealth only if they work for it

[@imdumbso...6107]

Who deserves wealth while others starve? Do people deserve to starve in order for some to be wealthy?

[@mr.liquifier8343]

I so know Assfication

[@dankmemes-su5fk]

Veterinary

[@storycontinues3514]

You are so sweet mam.... Love from India

[@electrictoxic80]

Working hard for success is acceptable most of the time, but this notion failed to acknowledge that there are things that you cannot get via hard working. ie. coming out from a billionaire's ball or something. These people automatically gets a head-start in their life. If a billionaire's son and a poor man's son work as hard as they could possibly get and they are equally talented, the billionaire's son will always end-up winning. In fact, most of the time, a poor man's son won simply because the billionaire's son gets too comfy with his environment and does not work hard. Then, the question is, are we going to do something with individuals that have a natural advantages? People may disagree and list a bunch of example who their success built on hard working. I understand, but never forget survivor bias; the unsuccessful ones are rarely mentioned and documented. All we see most of times are the successful ones, but they are actually not representative toward the whole picture. There are always more people failing rather than succeeding.

[@milkshake7752]

i miss hank green

[@roseisabelle1061]

I’d like to use this for my paper but unfortunately u guys don’t put the links to the sources at the description :(

[@piaggio]

Why does Crash Course always pass up on the Untouchables as a caste whenever it comes up? It's still a part of the system albeit a rather awful one.

[@piaggio]

Well, I see it's mentioned at 6:15 but it isn't explained still ...

[@johnmcculloch2975]

Everybody I’d like to bring your attention to a typo in the divisions of the caste system. The second division is called Kshatriyas, NOT Khsatriyas. You’re welcome