Men have long dreamed of an egalitarian society, a society in which all members are equal. But egalitarian society remains a dream. All human societies from the simplest to the most complex have some, form of social inequality.
All men are created equal but the fact is that inequalities are inherent in the nature of human beings. Everywhere individuals and societies differ.
Differentiation is the key note of human society. Differences are inherent in the very nature of the society. In all societies, there is social differentiation of the population by age, sex, occupation and personal characteristics. Inspite of natural differences people also differ from each other in respect of enjoyment of social rewards, such as wealth, income, status, power etc.
All societies arrange their members in terms of superiority, inferiority and equality. The vertical scale of evaluation, this placing of people in strata, or layers, is called stratification. Those in top stratum have more power, privilege and prestige than those below.
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From the above discussion, it is very clear that differences exist in human society. As a result of which inequality found in every society. Inspite of natural inequality there are social inequality prevail in human society. But stratification refers to ranking of individuals into lower and higher positions. That means in each strata people have equal status. For example in economic terms, the poor class occupies one strata, one layer and have same status. Similarly, the rich classes have equal status among themselves social stratification is one of the forces of social inequality.