Social stratification
Edexcel GCSE Sociology revision on Social stratification. Aligned to the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Sociology specification. This bank has 7 practice questions on this topic.
Sample questions (3 of 7)
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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.
Want to test yourself on the remaining cards for this topic?
4 more questions on Social stratification — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole Sociology spec.