Global Stratification

If the United States is stratified by wealth, power, and prestige, so is the world. In fact, inequality around the globe is even more striking than inequality within the United States. Our world population has increased significantly during the last 50 years. With the increase of the population the same happened with the problems which usually occur in our world. In this case I speak about the poverty. In my mind, it is one of the most serious problems in our world, since it is global. So undoubtedly we should know what "global stratification" stands for as it helps to understand full dimensions of global poverty.
This essay is an attempt to explain the global system of stratification and how it is perpetuated. It will commence by first defining or rather explain one critical term namely “stratification”. It will further explore the global system of stratification by examining its major dimensions, popular explanations for its existence, how it is perpetuated and also its effects to the lives of people across the world. Finally, a conclusion shall then be made based on the discussion and analysis.
Stratification is the process of stratifying something or the state of being stratified. Therefore we can define social stratification as the dividing of society into layers or strata. When we talk of social stratification, we draw our attention to the unequal positions occupied by individuals in society. In larger traditional societies and industrialized countries today, there is stratification in terms of wealth, property and access to material goods and cultural products. In addition, we can say that social stratification refers to a hierarchy of relative privilege based on power, property, and prestige (Giddens, 2006).
There are four major stratification systems namely slavery, caste, estate, and class. The essential characteristic of slavery is that some people own other people. Initially, slavery was based not on race but on debt, punishment, or defeat in battle....