Discuss the symbolic interactionists' perspectives on social stratification.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Symbolic interactionists focus on how people create, change, and reproduce social classes. They address micro-level issues such as how people learn their social positions in everyday life and how such learning affects their attitudes, behavior, and lifestyles.People across social classes interact with and socialize their children differently. By age 2, children from higher-income homes know 30 percent more words than those from low-income homes. Early vocabularies increase reading comprehension and proficiency as early as kindergarten. Social contexts also affect mobility. The social classes into which children are born affect their aspirations, the skills they value and to which they have access, and the networks and resources on which they can draw.U.S. income inequality is at its highest level since the 1930s, yet many Americans are relatively unconcerned. The average American knows very little about economic inequality (whether it's increasing or decreasing) or about where she or he is on the income spectrum, and believes (incorrectly) that there's more upward than downward mobility. Also, what people think they know is often wrong. Thus, and because popular culture reinforces the idea that inequality is normal and inevitable, many people don't see the connection between structural inequality and their personal situation.Symbolic interaction theories help us understand the everyday processes that underlie social stratification, but there are several weaknesses. First, interactionism, unlike the other perspectives, does not help in understanding why stratification exists. Second, the theories do not explain why-despite the same family background, resources, and socialization-some siblings are considerably more upwardly mobile than their brothers and sisters. Third, conflict theorists, especially, fault symbolic interactionists for ignoring structural factors-like the economy, government policies, and educational institutions-that create and reinforce inequality.