Social Stratification

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made between kin who are believed to be in a direct line and those who are ‘off to one side,’ linked to the Ego through a lineal relative (mother and aunt or father and uncle). Bifurcation is a distinction used to refer to the kin on the mother’s side and kin on the father’s side. Relative age refers to relatives of the same category may be distinguished on the basis of whether they are older or younger. Sex linking relatives is similar to collaterality except that it distinguishes between cross relatives and parallel relatives, both referring to cousins. This provides evidence that social organization varies from society to society.
The difference between kinship and stratification is that kinship involves individuals related through blood or marriage. Stratification involves groups of individuals that are related through similar economic, political or racial/ethnic positions. The roles that individuals play in these organizations are different. Kinship ...

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that are valued. One such behavior is the sharing of goods, especially food. Neither prestige nor power can be gained from keeping goods to oneself.
Egalitarian societies still exist, but there are very few. Some of these societies became more complex giving rise to stratified societies. These societies allow some members to have permanent; privileged access to wealth, power, and prestige, which may also be inherited. They may be as small as chiefdoms where the chief has the only access to power, wealth, and prestige or entire countries. Two types of stratified societies are caste and class. In a caste society, members are in ranked groups that are closed; individuals are not allowed ...

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