How People can be Classified According to Their Social Classes (Essay Sample)

Social Classification Systems
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SOCIAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
Social classification can be described as the process of categorizing a given population of persons under circumstances such the resources they use or how they interact with others. It can also be defined briefly as "people taxonomy”, according to Furner & Tennis (2006). Comparably, social classification can also be referred to as social grades. Most societal settings are grouped with bias to merit in life namely: upper class, middle class and lower class.
Belonging to a social class of sort has some far reaching effects on the people. People from different social classes get services from very different social amenities. They attend different hospitals, different institutions of education and even are employed to different jobs. These opportunities are highly dependent on their financial ability, according to Poulantsaz (1982).
Behaviors of people in their social classifications have interested a couple of scholars. As a result they have come up with theories trying to decipher this mystery of social classification. Most evident of them all is John Urry, a professor at Lancaster University, was one of the proficient scholars, with a lot of expertise with matters relating social theory and philosophy of social sciences. In his book Sociology Beyond Cities: Mobilities for the Twenty-First Century (2000), he argues that, "travel and communication technologies have enabled the proliferation of connections at a distance and that such distant and intermittent connections are crucial in holding social life together." He believes in the power of people interaction despite being different social classes.
Social classification systems have brought with them challenges to the people who belong to them. For instance studies from the University of California suggest that people of an upper social class cannot as properly read emotions as people of lower social class (Kraus & Piff, 2009). As a result, because of their higher acumen in knowledge reception, they use what they learnt in school to solve their problems, which is not always the case for social settings. They like solving problems on their own.
As for people of lower social class, access to basic needs and amenities is difficult. Because of their financial insecurity, they cannot afford to send their children to quality schools, get treated in quality hospitals or get employed in well-paying jobs. Their interaction with people of upper social classes, who can avail such opportunities of a good life is minimal because these people will treat them in a manner suggesting they are persons of low self-esteem, which they are not. Thus most of them choose to wallow in poverty and financial problems.
The situation is the same for middle class individuals in the society, although they are somehow well off than the lower class people. They still struggle to get there basic needs but it is a bit easier on their side. According to Harris & Kearney (2013), "Though not officially poor, these families experience limited economic security; one major setback in income could push them into poverty."
Evidently the middle and lower class groups are the most deprived group in the lot of social classification. A study from University of California data sources of some of the variables used to classify the societal groups include ethnicity, households and families, geography and demography and also mortality rates.
Different ethnic groups claim belonging to different social classes based on cultural operations in early times and most prominent people from the respective communities, according to Dominguez (1993). If leaders and well-known scholars of a particular area jurisdiction trace their root to a certain community, the members of that community find pride in identifying themselves with their ethnic group.
The same goes for families and households that have produced people deemed of high importance to the society. In many countries the families that produce presidents and prime-ministers are viewed with high regard.
Geography and demography also matter in terms of social classification. Population...