When thinking about the differences between a homogeneous structure and a stratified structure, we will mainly take the social positions occupied by individuals in relation to each other, that is, referring to the way society is divided and organized. Therefore, in the homogeneous structure, the aspects and factors that differentiate individuals are not in the same number or nature as those present in a stratified structure.
One of the aspects is the way in which the division of labor is presented. In social groupings of periods, such as in the Middle Ages, when feudalism predominated, there was no great division of labor, nor a specialization, as all members of the family group worked together in the production of the crop or in the creation of animals. A society of the estate type predominated, in which there is no social mobility. The product of labor was for everyone, with a simpler division of labor, just a division of tasks. The organization of society was given through strata and not social classes, as in industrial society. In simpler societies, of
homogeneous structure, predominates a type of social solidarity that Èmile Durkheim called mechanics, in which social ties are more intense, with greater proximity and less difference between people. Hence greater homogeneity. Another interesting example would be the indigenous tribes, in which the feelings of belonging and unity are very strong.Already in the societies of stratified structure, a high specialization of work prevails. The industrial society that was born in Europe, the result of the development of capitalism, is the most classic example. In it, a greater division of labor would predominate, which would have an integrating function, as it places in contact with different individuals, specialists in the production of each part that makes up the whole of the product. In this type, a society that Èmile Durkheim would classify as organic solidarity predominates, in which social ties would be looser.
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There would be the formation of a class society, as Karl Marx would say, a society characterized by constitution of a bourgeois class (owner of the means of production) and a proletarian class (which would only give strength to work). The difference between these social strata would not only be due to the position of each one in the production of material life, but also in relation to income and access to products and material goods. Obviously, the difference between social classes would be based on the social inequality generated by the accumulation of wealth and private property, a fact that certainly does not generate a homogeneous society in several aspects (matters, values, expectations, etc.).
Therefore, the contemporary challenge of the rulers of stratified societies would be to manage to reduce the gap that separates the richest from the poorest. If, on the one hand, the same homogeneity of older societies is no longer a reality (and perhaps something utopian), it would be It is important to rescue the values that guarantee a greater social bond, fundamental to cohesion and the existence of a more social life. fair.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
RIBEIRO, Paulo Silvino. "Homogeneous and Stratified Structure"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/estrutura-homogenea-estratificada.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.