Distinguish egalitarian, rank, and stratified societies in anthropology Essay

There are universally acclaimed structures of society and these can either be beneficial for the individuals or not. One of the many political doctrines that can be beneficial to the individuals of a society is Egalitarianism. Egalitarian is referred to be as a kind of society which gives equal rights and opportunities to the people. Egalitarian societies give equal treatments to their people, equal rights to resources, equal in moral status and equal rights of the laws and church and they don’t have even permanent leadership. The notion of egalitarianism came about because in biblical verses, it was written that God loved His people equally (Arneson). Another kind of political doctrine is the social stratification; it is viewed as the social hierarchy of social classes and strata within a society. Social stratification is universally acclaimed but varies accordingly to the societies that uphold it. There are three major components of social stratification according to the conflict-perspective sociologist Max Weber; the class, status and party. The status of a person in the society plays a big role in the determination of his or her role and his behavioral patterns and changes that he or she will have. There are actually four classes in a stratified society; the propertied class, the property less class, the bourgeoisie, and the working class. An individual’s role in a society is predicted by the class he or she is under. In stratified societies, those who have the capital are the ones who rule and have the greater opportunity to the resources and services and those who have nothing are have the lesser opportunity (Rodriguez). Societies have differences; some give equal rights to the people and others do not. Thus, societies continue to exist because social order is maintained.