THE PROCESS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AMONG AN URBAN SOUTHERN MINORITY POPULATION.

Both the laity and the professional sociologist make frequent reference to social class, but few are precise or consistent about what a social class means in American society. However, it is apparent in the minds of the layman and the sociologist that members of American society make social differentiations among themselves and develop differential clusterings in social participation, values, and mannerisms. This results in varying degrees of social distance among these members so clustering. It will be attempted herein to reveal how the urban Negroes in Southern City, a North Carolina city, socially stratify themselves. It thus appears that the Negro population does socially differentiate itself and that difference in values, behavior, and attitudes tend to be noticeable and recognized by the group itself. There is a continuum apparent in social distance with regard to social intercourse and differentiation in formal associations within the group. It seems to be fairly evident that education is the most important factor, with occupation following, in ascribing status and prestige in the group. Education tends to have a high value, as it serves as a means not only of facilitating movement upward within the group but also affords an expected means of overcoming barriers hampering the group's assimilation into American society.