Social stratification
AQA GCSE Sociology revision on Social stratification. Aligned to the AQA GCSE Sociology 8192 specification. This bank has 50 practice questions on this topic.
Sample questions (3 of 50)
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Question 1
Social stratification is...
- A) How tall people are
- B) The division of society into layers (strata) - typically by wealth, status, power
- C) Geological layers
- D) Random sorting
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Answer: The division of society into layers (strata) - typically by wealth, status, power
Society is organised into UNEQUAL layers. KEY DIMENSIONS: CLASS (economic - based on income, wealth, occupation), GENDER (men + women treated unequally), RACE/ETHNICITY (racial groups have different access to resources), AGE (younger + older may be disadvantaged), DISABILITY. WEBER: stratification = class + status + party (power).
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Question 2
The Registrar General's social class scale categorises by...
- A) Personality
- B) Occupation (e.g. professional, intermediate, skilled, etc.)
- C) Hair colour
- D) Postcode only
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Answer: Occupation (e.g. professional, intermediate, skilled, etc.)
Registrar General's 6-class scheme: I (professional, e.g. doctor, lawyer), II (managerial/technical, e.g. teacher), III non-manual (clerical), III manual (skilled manual e.g. plumber), IV (semi-skilled), V (unskilled, labourer). Replaced 2001 by NS-SEC (more nuanced 8 classes). Helps measure income, health, education inequalities by class.
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Question 3
Income vs wealth - the difference is...
- A) Same thing
- B) Income = money earned (salary). Wealth = assets owned (property, savings, shares).
- C) Income is bigger
- D) Wealth is from work
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Answer: Income = money earned (salary). Wealth = assets owned (property, savings, shares).
INCOME: regular flow - wages, salaries, benefits. WEALTH: accumulated assets - house equity, savings, investments, inheritance. Wealth gap > income gap in UK. Top 10% own ~50% of wealth. Bottom 50% own ~10%. Wealth is inherited (Thomas Piketty's argument) - persists across generations. Inequality of WEALTH growing faster than inequality of INCOME.
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47 more questions on Social stratification — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole Sociology spec.