Social Class

A social class system is a way of stratifying the members of a society. It can be defined as a hierarchical division of the members of a society into different distinct and homogeneous groups with respect to attitudes, values, and lifestyle. According to social comparison theory, people assess their social standing by comparing their own material possession with those of others around them. Thus, a key indicator of a person’s social class is the quantity and quality of his or her possessions. People from a lower social class often aspire to move up to the upper social class. Doing so is more difficult than most people believe. According to the sociologists Richard Breen and Jan Jonsson, in some countries there is little relationship between merit ...