Why is Social Stratification Universal?
A. According to the functionalist view expressed by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore, stratification is inevitable. • Society must make certain that its important positions are filled; to guarantee that the more important positions are filled by the more qualified people, society must offer them greater rewards. • Davis and Moore argued that society offers greater rewards for its more responsible, demanding, and accountable positions. B. Melvin Tumin was the first to present a number of criticisms to the Davis and Moore thesis. • He asked how the importance of a position is measured (e.g., Is a surgeon really more important to society than a garbage collector? ). Rewards cannot be used to measure the importance of a job; there must be some independent measure of importance. • He noted that if stratification worked as Davis and Moore describe it, society would be a meritocracy a form of social stratification in which all positions are awarded on the basis of merit but it does not work t
