Social stratification refers to the division of a society in certain strata in terms of socioeconomic characteristics such as income, wealth or status derived from those two. For example, in Western societies such stratification is represented by the formation of different social classes.
Strafication was been analyzed by different lines of thought. According to conflict theories those social differentiations may lead to conflicts, such as in the Marxist theories. Marxism, for instance, states how people are differenced in terms of who owns the resources and who does not, the latter work for the first and social mobility is extremely difficult. Working classes are very unlikely to evolve socioeconomically. Those in the disavantaged positions may eventually rise against their situation and those who consider their oppresors.
