Abstract

The present chapter formulates and illustrates a generalized approach to the understanding of the institutionalized system by which a society hierarchically ranks individuals and groups, producing structured inequalities in access to valued resources, power, prestige, and life opportunities based on socially recognized criteria such as wealth, occupation, education, gender, or ethnicity, i.e., “social stratification.” The chapter also demonstrates how social stratification shapes class positions through structured inequalities, while access to mobility resources determines the extent to which individuals and groups can navigate, reproduce, or transform these unequal class locations over time. The influence of historical legacies, such as colonization that have divided African societies into classes; higher/lower, superior/inferior, and prestigious/insignificant are also explored. The starting point of the discussion of the preceding issues is to explain the concept of “social stratification,” and then later its dimensions and forms.