Social Stratification: A Designed Social Phenomenon

Written by: Adil Badshah (Mansehra)

Society is considered to be the largest group of people living together on a predefined framework of principles derived from a specific philosophy, either based on justice or injustice. There are two kinds of philosophies in the world, one lays the foundation of society on the basis of natural social diversity  and classify the human beings on the basis of capabilities and aptitudes, on other hand, the second  philosophy places the foundations of society on artificial social diversity and  divide society  into different social strata such as elite or the upper  class, middle class and lower class and the gap between lower class and upper class to be large enough to cause misery, social disorder and  poverty in  society thereby further shrinking the middle class. The increase in the lower class would slow or stop the natural process of social evolution in our society.

 Therefore, it becomes indispensable to replace our present social, political and economic institutions that are based on unjust philosophy and are causing exploitation of masses & ultimately hindering the process of social evolution with a philosophy based on justice, equality and transparency. Furthermore, it could streamline social evolution of society.  This process of replacement is called revolution or social change.

Ashley Crossman, a sociologist, defines Social Change as: “Social change is any alteration in the cultural, structural, population, or ecological characteristics of a social system. In a sense, attention to social change is inherent in all sociological work because social systems are always in the process of change.” 

Shah Walliullah Dehalvi R.A considers society as a larger being (جسم کبیر) while an individual as a smaller being(جسم صغیر). He defines the stages of evolution of a society and termed them as IRTAFAQAT (Evolution of Culture and civilization of Society). Under the concept of Irtafaqat, he emphasized the prominent role of economic system in the progress of a society which influences all other social institutions such as politics, education, religion family system etc. Moreover, he considers society as a unified body that requires all of its organs or institutions to work together in synchronization with its predetermined philosophy. He presented the Islamic Philosophy in contemporary form that prohibits dividing society on the basis of class, cast, sect or creed that may cause social stratification or chaos.   

      Social stratification is not a natural phenomenon. As mentioned above, it is a result of the philosophy and principles (either man-made or based on some holy scripture) adopted by a society and on which all its initiations operate. If a society is based on a stratified economic system, then definitely all social institutions must also be stratified accordingly as highlighted by Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent statement about  British stratified education system. A simple analysis of our education system brings forward multi-structural and multi- functional categories of parallel education systems that have been functioning in our country for decades. Madrassahs, Government schools, English-medium schools, Cadet colleges, O- and A- level schools like Beaconhouse School System, Aitcheson College, the Aga Khan University Board, government colleges, public and private sector universities and so on.

There are lots of challenges for designing an educational framework that is based on equality and equity and that provides equal opportunities to all segments of society. Main hurdle in achievement of this target is the colonial mindset of our state institutions and influence of business tycoons who earn billions with the help of this stratified education system.

What type of syllabus needs to be recommended for a uniform education system and how could we ensure the same quality of education in institutions like Aitcheson College that takes one hundred thousand monthly fee and provide quality education and those designed for lower income segments of society is  another challenge facing our intelligentsia and policy makers.  

In short, there is a dire need to change our present economic system tinted with legacy of British Colonialism and that is based on the philosophy of Feudalism and Capitalism so that a just society based on human dignity and equality may be realized.