Sociology 441: Stratification

Status

More immediately for undergraduates, colleges are often ranked on their status levels with more status usually given to elite private schools such as the Ivy League, less to community colleges, and other places ranked high or low in between these two end points. Similarly, within colleges fraternities and sororities are often ranked by status. These status rankings may be contested, but even this conflict acknowledges a ranking that is commonly accepted even if seen as unfair or inaccurate.

Status often reflects styles of life, especially as they are reflected in consumption patterns. George Ritzer (1999) argues that too much of sociology (and this would certainly apply to stratification) ignores consumption patterns at the expense of production (e.g., how we earn income). Ritzer claims that post-modern society has raised consumption over production as the crucial arena of contemporary life. As yet, most stratification research has not yet picked up this emphasis, but it may be a wave of the future.