POSTMODERNISM ON STRATIFICATION

Question 1

What do they argue?

Answer 1

• Social structures, such as systems of stratification, have fragmented, weakened or ceased to exist.
• Social class, gender, ethnicity and age are of declining significance as sources of identity, and have been replaced by growing individualism, consumerism and individual choice.
• PAKULSKI and WATERS argue that group solidarity, established through social class, gender, ethnicity or age has declined. Stratification is now based more on status ranking of freely chosen consumer lifestyles, and people can redefine their position and the image they project to others by changing their consumption patterns and lifestyles.

Question 2

CRITICISMS?

Answer 2

• BOTTERO argue that postmodernism ignores the objective constraints on people’s behaviour caused by inequalities in wealth, income and education.
• Only the most well-off members of society have real consumer choice and the means of freely establishing their position through consumer lifestyles in the consumer based system.
• People are not always able to freely project any images they choose, as their plausability to others is affected and imposed by social expectations and stereotypes surrounding e.g gender and age.
• Many people continue to make choices in accordance with culturally defined norms and values derived from the social structure.

Question 3

STRENGTHS OF POSTMODERNISM

Answer 3

• It highlights the growing importance of consumer society and people’s increasing interest in constructing and changing identity.
• It is useful in highlighting the fragmentation of group identities based on things that used to more clear cut e.g social class and gender.

Question 4

WEAKNESSES OF POST MODERNISM

Answer 4

• Marxists argue that postmodernism ignore objective constraints on people’s behaviour caused by class inequalities in wealth and income.
• Only the mot well-off members of society have real consumer choice and the means of freely establishing their position through consumer lifestyles in the consumer based stratification
• People are not always able to freely project any ideas they choose as their plausability to others is affected by social expectations and stereotypes surrounding e.g gender, ethnicity and age