Social stratification is a " system by which a society ranks categories of people in
             a hierarchy"(p.248). Stratification is society has four basic principles. First social
             stratification is a trait of society and not the differences created by individuals. In
             essence this is saying that people who are wealthy will have a successful and productive
             life, where as people of a lower socioeconomic class will not have the same benefits.
             Second social stratification will continue throughout generations. Most parents will pass
             on their societal status, on to their children. The only time that this is not the case is
             when social mobility occurs. Social mobility is where "ones position in the social
             hierarchy changes"(p.248). Third social stratification is very universal but can vary.
             Social stratification is found globally, but differs from society to society. Many societies
             place different values on different classes. Finally social stratification involves beliefs as
             well as inequality. Beliefs play a big role in some societies on how people are equal or
             unequal. Next is the Caste and class systems. These systems allow very little change in
             social stratification. The caste system is defined as "social stratification based on
             ascription"(p.248). Caste systems are very closed because birth alone determine one's
             future and the caste system offers no opportunities for social mobility to occur. As I
             stated before birth plays a major role in a caste system. The book mentions four ways in
             which it does this, first, generations of families will perform the same type of work. This
             obviously does not promote social mobility. Second, in a caste system people will not
             marry outside of their socioeconomic class. If people did marry outside their class they
             would not know how to rank their children. Third,caste systems encourage people to stay
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