Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender

Interview 1. 

The first interview involved Mr. Smith, a 48-year-old New York City economist, and businessman. Mr. Smith was born of white parents who were middle-class family and lived in New York City. Mr. Smith believes that he belongs to the high-class earners because he is the CEO of a well-established firm where he earns a good amount of money. Also, he has many businesses within the New York City as well as California estate. Mr. Smith attained his master’s degree from Harvard school of business and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in the same institution. Mr. Smith states that he chose to study economics because of the passion he had and his dream to become a businessman. His parents also motivated him to do business and economics so that he could continue managing the family business. Compared to his parents, Mr. Smith notes that he has experienced social mobility upward because he is richer than his parents were. While he believes that he grew up in a middle-class family, he currently sees himself to belong to the high-class individuals. 

Interview 2. 

The second interview involved Mrs. Jane, an elementary school teacher who lives in Ohio. The 33-year-old lady is from African American origin, having been born in Ohio by a black father and a white mother. Mrs. Jane believes that she belongs to the working class. She obtained a four-year college degree where she qualified to be an elementary school teacher. She was born of a working class family where the father was a factory employee and the mother a primary school teacher. Mrs. Jane believes that she has not experienced any upward social mobility because she remains in the same class since she started working. Her passion for becoming a teacher developed when she was 18 years old after she realized that she could not achieve her initial goal of becoming a surgeon. She says that although she wanted to become a surgeon, her family could not afford to take her to the best schools to pursue her dream. 

Role of Class, Race, and Gender 

Social class plays a vital role in the life chances of an individual in contemporary society. The ability to realize specific life opportunities heavily depends on the social class of individuals. High-class families have high chances of getting a better education, better healthcare and thus better job opportunities for the children. People who belong to the high-class strata have more power and opportunities to acquire what they want and to determine the future of their children. For instance, Mr. Smith was born in a middle-class business family, and this determined his current class. He was able to receive a better education and to get his dream job. Currently, he belongs to the high-class group and can afford the kind of life he wants and also provide his children with the best education that will guarantee them a better future. This is contrary to Mrs. Jane who belongs to the working class, and her life has been limited within this group. She is unable to get higher dream opportunities that are available to the high-class individuals. Even as a child grows, she was unable to realize her dreams of becoming a surgeon because of the family social class. 

The race also plays a significant role in the way people live. In a society that is relatively racial-based, race determines many factors of life for an individual. The first impact of race is on income and economic opportunity. Whites in the United States tend to have better income and high economic opportunity than the blacks thus affecting the way each racial group lives. The ability to receive better income and better education depend on the race of an individual. Jane, who is an elementary teacher may be limited within her working class category because due to her race. On the other hand, Mr. Smith who is a white could be at his high-class category as a result of the favorable race. Similarly, gender plays some role in specific life achievements. Despite the call for gender equality, this has not been realized 100% as men continue to dominate more well-paying professions. Gender can, therefore, determine the way people live, their income and opportunities available. 

Sociological Perspective 

Social Conflict Theory 

Social conflict views society as an arena of inequality that creates conflict and social change as people compete for scarce resources. The society is mainly structured in a way that seems to benefit a few people and aspects such as race, gender and class play a role in the development of inequality ( Carter, 2014 ). Inequality exists between the high and low-class groups, and their relationship is based on the need of each group to acquire more resources. Race, gender, and class create inequality amongst members of the community thus leading to conflict. This applies to the case of Mrs. Jane and Mr. Smith. The two are separated by the boundary of class, gender, and race. While Smith is a high-class individual, Jane belongs to the working class. This creates class inequality between the two individuals thus resulting in social conflict as each strives to improve the social class. 

At the same time, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jane are separated by their race and gender which as a result leads to inequality. Mr. Smith being white, he seems to have more opportunities for income and economic growth compared to Mrs. Jane who is a black living in a white-dominated land thus fewer opportunities. As a result, race creates inequality by limiting the economic and life chances the minority groups resulting in social conflict. At the same time, gender plays a key role in the development of inequality and the creation of social conflict. The existence of gender inequality comes to play in the economic achievements and opportunities available for both Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jane. The gender inequality places men at high chances of economic achievements compared to women. 

Benefits and Limitation of Interview 

The interview is a useful method for obtaining detailed information about the feelings, perceptions, and opinions of individuals. As it involves verbal conversation, it provides an opportunity for the interviewer to ask for clarification from the interviewee. The use of interview also allows for a more detailed question to be asked by the interviewer and provides a high response rate from the interviewee ( Alshenqeeti, 2014 ). It further minimizes the chances of ambiguity and unclear answers being provides by the interviewee because there is room to seek clarification of every point made. Chances of bias are also minimized because there is less influence from an external group thus leading to accurate answers. However, certain limitations may arise from using interviews. First, the method of data collection is time-consuming as a lot of time is required to make the whole process work. It involves setting up for the interview, interviewing, analyzing the response and feedback and then giving a report ( Alshenqeeti, 2014 ). All these activities consume a lot of time. Sometimes, interviews can involve traveling to meet the respondent and this can come with costs. Even if done through phone, costs are still incurred by the interviewer. There is also a variation in the way different interviewers understand and transcribe interviews. This variation can lead to different interpretation of the results by different interviewers thus lack standardization. 

Components of Culture 

Mr. Smith tends to give responses as more direct and without the need to provide clarification. The language and responses in some instances seem quite rude or uncaring. As he responds during the interview, he looks at his golden watch as if he is getting late for some important function. He is dressed all in an expensive black suit, red tie, and black shoes. He is continuously involved in certain gestures such as doodling, grooming, and fidgeting. The way he provides answers to the interview question seems like he is a withdrawn person, only throwing answers without getting in-depth analysis into the question. He seems to get rude when pressed to clarify on certain points which are not clear. The relationship between the culture of Mr. Smith and his social class reveals the behavior of high-class people. High-class individuals sometimes tend to appear rude in conversation and could display certain impolite gestures such as doodling. 

Mrs. Jane, on the other hand, shows a lot of politeness and care during the conversation, she uses words such as pardon when she fails to get some question clear. She makes efforts to provide a convincing answer and even asks to ascertain if the interviewer is satisfied with the answer she has provided. Dressed in a simple, neat dress, she uses polite gestures such as laughter and smile during the conversation. She appears so friendly and welcoming in her responses as she maintains a composed position throughout the interview. This culture relates to the working class group. These are people who are usually caring, polite at others and demonstrate a lot of efforts to ensure that the interviewer is satisfied. 

References 

Carter, B. (2014).  Capitalism, Class Conflict and the New Middle Class (RLE Social Theory) . Routledge. 

Alshenqeeti, H. (2014). Interviewing as a data collection method: A critical review.  English Linguistics Research ,  3 (1), 39.