Social Differentiation, Stratification and Class ~ CSO 103, CSO 501

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY:

LECTURE NOTES

By Prof. Mauri Yambo

TOPIC 4:  SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION, STRATIFICATION AND CLASS

-     Introduction: Conceptualizing Social Differentiation

-     Patterns and Sources of Social Differentiation

-     Evolutionary Universals

-     Social Stratification

-     The Nature of Social Class and the African Experience

-     Conclusion.

4.1. Introduction: Conceptualizing Social Differentiation

Differentiation and evolution are conceptual twins in many conversations about growth, structure and change, over time. Since Darwin, the two processes have been acknowledged as conjoined features or happenings, in the course of time, of all biological organisms. In turn, both social structure and societal change have been treated by influential sociologists (as we see in the next paragraph) as analogous to those observed in biology; hence the widely used phrase: organismic analogy. In this analogy, differentiation is an all-encompassing process: it pertains to and features in all forms of structuration. But not everyone is in agreement with this perceived correspondence or analogy of differentiation and evolution in long-term social change, on the one hand, and biological change, on the other.

For example, Steward (1976: 11-15), focusing on cultural evolution, points out that:

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CSO 103 ~ Introduction to Comparative Sociology, Partial Course Outline and Reading List

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[The old Reading List is no longer available]

 I co-teach this course, and cover two broad topics, namely:

Topic 3: Social Control, Socialization and Deviance:

Here, we interrogate the need for social control and, additionally, cover the following subtopics:

-        Definition and Context of ‘Control’ in Society

-        Levels of control: Self and Social Control

o   Aspects of Self Control

o   Aspects of Social Control

o   Interfaces between Self Control and Social Control

-        Explaining Deviance: Sources, Patterns and Consequences

-        Social Engineering.

Topic 4: Social Differentiation, Social Stratification and Social Class:

The subtopics covered here are:

-        Conceptualizing Social Differentiation

-        Changing Social Differentiation Patterns in Africa

-        Social Stratification and Structuration

-        Social Class and the Rise of the African Middle Class.

NOTE: The old Reading List is no longer available. Click here to get the latest list.

Prof. Mauri Yambo

September-December 2013

So Living in an Area with a Large Middle Class Boosts a Poor Child's Prospects of Rising to Middle Class Status?

In a celebrated US study of income mobility, economist Raj Chetty and three colleagues have found that location -- the area or city in which one lives -- is highly correlated with one's social mobility chances. More specifically, living in a predominantly middle class area boosts a poor child's chances for intergenerational mobility into middle class status. Conversely, policy measures aimed directly at growing the middle class today have the consequence of giving an upward mobility push to children now living in poverty or the lower class.

Whether a location has the 'nourishment' which directly confer middle class status to the next generation, or is instead merely the reflection and 'effect' of middle class living, remains an unresolved question -- but one which does not hold back the enthusiasm patently displayed by Chetty and his colleagues. The full study is not readily available online, as far as I can see, but you will find a useful summary and equally valuable links here>>>

Africa's Emergent Middle Class

In April 2011, AfDB published an interesting new research report on Africa's class structure, with particular reference to a burgeoning Middle Class. All key observers of the African continent -- which, suddenly, is no longer 'Dark' but resource-rich -- are, it seems, captivated by this rapidly visible class, and intrigued by what it all means for the future prosperity of a troubled Global Village.

The typical model of a class structure is a pyramid. Only in developed countries such as the US is it a diamond. Trends in Africa suggest that the diamond motif is soon to reveal itself. Not only that: the size of Africa's Middle Class, as defined, threatens to surpass in the near future, if it has not done so already, the entire population of Western Europe (or EU) -- not to mention the US itself. And it is practically neck-and-neck with China's.

There'll still be debate, of course, about real purchasing power and relative baskets of goods, but when did all that social change sneak in? How is it even possible? [Click here to read the report]

Kenya: Going Home Early Today To Be Counted

It's national census day in Kenya today. And I'm going home early to be counted. Me and my family. We will answer all the questions: including the vexed one of ethnic background -- still called tribe in official circles here.

We are all proud of our ethnic diversity, I believe -- even as we try to build a larger country, Kenya. We shouldn't be afraid of what the politicians might do with the numbers that come up. They cannot do any worse than they already have. And I suspect some are pertified of the figures that will come out -- as petrified as they were ten years ago (and, even more so, twenty years ago). Remember, the census figures of 1999 were never fully released. The 1989 figures were doctored, as many people in the know claimed to know. And whose respective dockets were those then, pray tell? Hypocrisy -- hypocrisy -- is the name of the game for the politicians. But it shouldn't appear to be sonfor ordinary citizens, or for the leaderships of our civil society. Hypocrisy and contradition. The 2009 figures might not be fully released either -- till after the 2012 elections.

I can think of several ways in which the new census numbers that will come will represent an opportunity we can creatively leverage for a stronger, more prosperous, more assertive, more changeful Kenya; a Kenya more attuned to and more ready for critical mass of all sorts. For one, the new numbers are certain to sharpen the equity debate across the country -- and that will be a good thing. Emergent changes in the social structure will be more sharply in focus. There will be new narratives about the nation's changing use of technology, about its innovativeness, about its world of work -- and, mor broadly, about changes in its culture. Much more will be known about the evolution of our physical, technical and intellectual assets at the household level, across different strata or segments of our changing social structure. A clearer picture should emerge about the distribution of absolute and relative poverty across the country. And likewise about the consumerist middle class.

In one of this morning's daily papers it was boldly estimated that we Kenyans now number 40 million. So be it! A watershed of sorts this. Worth taking a note of. And I can't deny I was abstractly sort of pleased by the numbers!