Stratification is influenced by ascribed statuses (see chapter 3), such as race, ethnic background, gender, and age. We are born with these statuses, and, despite our personal efforts and achievements, they impact our lifestyle and life chances. Prejudices and discrimination based on these ascribed statuses serve to justify and maintain systems of stratification.
Although the terms are often used interchangeably in everyday conver- sations, prejudice and discrimination are different. Prejudice is a preconceived
and irrational attitude toward people based on their group membership. Just as
the term suggests, this is a pre-judgment. It is inflexible and not based on direct evidence or contact. Prejudices can take the form of positive or negative attitudes toward a group, but the term is often used with a negative connotation. Social- ization (see chapter 4) contributes to prejudice and people who hold prejudicial attitudes toward one group tend to be prejudice toward others as well. Eugene Hartley (1946) asked people to express their reactions to various minority groups. He found that people who expressed prejudice against actual racial and ethnic groups also expressed prejudicial attitudes against fictitious groups he had made up for his research.
Common and damaging forms of prejudice are found in the “isms” that exist throughout society (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism). All of these “isms” take the form of a belief that one group is naturally inferior or superior, thus justify-
ing unequal treatment of the group on the basis of their assumed characteristics.
In racism, that belief is based on racial or ethnic group membership. The early sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963), who is profiled below, spent almost a century studying race and racism. Sexism is the belief that one sex is naturally
inferior or superior, thereby justifying unequal treatment. Feminist sociologists
(see chapter 2) focus on sexism. Ageism takes the form of prejudice against the
elderly. Sociologists and others who study aging and ageism are called geron-
tologists. Other “isms” include ableism (prejudice against the disabled) and heterosexism (prejudice toward homosexuals). Examples of each of these
These “isms” reinforce, and are reinforced by, another common and po- tentially destructive form of prejudice, stereotypes. Stereotypes are beliefs that
generalize certain exaggerated traits to an entire category of people. These com-
mon images can assign either positive or negative traits to various groups. They may arise out of observations of behaviors or traits that the observer applied to all people in the actor’s category (sex, ethnicity, club membership, hair color, etc.). Like the “isms,” stereotypical beliefs are used to justify unequal treatment of groups. If stereotypes are accepted by the people to which they refer, they can also become self-fulfilling prophecies (see chapter 6).
Stereotypes abound across society. For example, black professionals have reported troubles hailing cabs (Cose 1993). Research has shown that chil- dren’s picture books tend to depict women in more traditional roles, working in- side the home rather than in an occupation (e.g., Peterson and Lach 1990; Williams et al. 1987). Women are even depicted more negatively than men in college sociology textbooks (Ferree and Hall 1990). The elderly are frequently stereotyped as senile and less capable and competent in many areas of life than younger people (Butler 1975). Images of elderly women may be especially neg- ative (Bazzini et al. 1997). Research on college textbooks used for courses cov- ering issues in marriage and family courses has shown that the elderly tend to be included primarily under “elderly” subjects such as widowhood and retirement. They are not often mentioned in chapters on race/ethnicity, sexuality, and gen- der (Stolley and Hill 1996). Regarding poverty specifically, many of those who are not poor, including policymakers, stereotype the poor as being irresponsible or without ambition when, in reality, most poor do want to work (e.g., Dunbar 1988).
Prejudices may also result in scapegoating, focusing blame on another
person or category of people for one’s own problems. Hitler blamed Jews and
other “enemies of the state” for Germany’s troubles before World War II (Scheff 1994). Modern-day white-supremacist groups blame other races for economic problems.
Discrimination, unequal treatment of people based on their group
membership, also perpetuates stratification. Discrimination differs from preju-
dice. Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is a behavior. Although the two may, and often do, occur together, they can also exist separately (Merton 1976). When
discrimination becomes part of the operation of social institutions, it is known
as institutional discrimination. It perpetuates stratification patterns by sys- tematically disadvantaging certain groups. According to Joe Feagin and Melvin Sikes (1994), racism is still alive and well, although less overt than in the past. However, institutional racism is rampant. It manifests in patterns of residential and educational segregation. The result is a social structure that adversely im- pacts the chances of those subjected to prejudice and discrimination.
These ascribed factors require a multidimensional approach to stratifi- cation. They can have multiple, interrelated effects. Stratification also applies to many more social factors than race, ethnicity, gender, and age. We are also ranked to varying degrees by other factors such as religious affiliation and sex-
ual preference. People are even socially ranked by their physical appearance. These rankings have identifiable outcomes for their lives. The popular 1979 movie 10, starring former model Bo Derek, was built around the idea of rating women on a 1–10 scale of physical attractiveness. Research has shown that highly attractive people receive better grades, jobs, promotions, salaries, and nursing home and medical care. They may fare better when charged in criminal cases. Having a beautiful wife can even improve how men are perceived (see the summary in Katz 2001). There is also a “halo effect” of physical attractiveness. Physically attractive people are perceived as having more positive characteris- tics, such as better classroom behavior, credibility, kindness, and sociability (Dion, Berscheid, and Walster 1972; Katz 2001).
Some sociologists are also starting to explore stratification and oppres- sion regarding animals, just as they have long studied the impact of stratifica- tion and oppression of the poor, women, and minorities. They have added another “ism” to the sociological vocabulary with the term speciesism, a belief
in the superiority of humans over other species of animals. They cite examples
such as food industries that rely on animals bred and raised under poor condi- tions, experimentation on animals, and the use of animals in circuses, rodeos, and shows to argue that “animals are severely oppressed in modern, industrial- ized cultures” (Alger and Alger 2003, 209).