Stratification in Human Societies and Women

IV. The micro and macro perspectives

X. The theories applied to the abortion issue

This paper will address a controversy in contemporary social theory. Specifically, the paper will consider the stratification of women in modern society and will seek to determine why women are accorded lower status than men are in the social hierarchy. The paper will consider the viewpoints of various schools of social theory in regard to this issue, with special emphasis on the views of contemporary feminist theorists. The issue of abortion rights will be utilized in order to demonstrate the applied nature of this controversy in relation to the role it plays in the stratification of women in society.

It is generally agreed that stratification in one form or another is inherent in all human societies. Karl Marx was one of the first sociological theorists to identify stratification as a result of class or economic inequalities. Max Weber took this idea a step further by indicating that social stratification may also result from inequalities in status or power (Ritzer, 1988, p. 24). The conflict theorist Ralf Dahrendorf commented on the role of power in social stra

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o take an extremely micro viewpoint on the issue of women and their status in society. In this regard, the microscopic perspective of the conflict theory has also proven inadequate in explaining all of the various forces which have contributed to the current system of sexual inequality. The conflict model and its position on gender stratification can be seen in the writings of Ralf Dahrendorf. Just as the structural functionalists believed that stratification is a necessary and inevitable part of all societies, Dahrendorf believed that conflict and change are necessary and inevitable in all societies. In fact, Dahrendorf claimed that the true structure of a society could be found in the "constraints" which hold it together. According to Dahrendorf, these constraints represent the values of those in power and the methods of coercion used by those leaders in maintaining the order of society as a whole (Dahrendorf, 1968, p. 127). This system of coercion and constraint provides the means for those in power to continue maintaining the system of stratification which serves their needs so well. Another conflict theorist, Randall Collins, worked specifically on the role of stratification within the conflict model. In opposition to
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Approximate Word count = 4443
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)

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