He also said that it is not possible to determine the relative functional importance of various social positions in an objective manner. Melvin Tumin defines social stratification as an arrangement of any social group or society into a hierarchy of positions that are unequal with regards to power, property, social evaluation and psychic gratification.Thus, social stratification is a consequence of inevitability of differentiation of roles and approaches to Social Stratification duties. Values and rewards constituting the social differential and stratification. Iv) Reward on the basis of differential value attached with different functions.

Iii) Differential evaluation of different social positions and duties. Ii) Need for differential intent and ability for different functions. I) Inevitability of social stratification. The functional theory of social stratification formulated by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Parsons acknowledges that there is inequality in society but this is deemed as legitimate as per values and norms. Differential conformity and differential rewards form strata in society.

According to Talcott Parsons, ‘every society is based upon consensus in terms of norms and values’.Davis and Moore argue that the most difficult jobs in any society are the most necessary and require the highest rewards and compensation to sufficiently motivate individuals to fill them. The Davis-Moore thesis states that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society.THINKERS WITH FUNCTIONALIST VIEW ON STRATIFICATION According to structural-functionalists, stratification and inequality are inevitable and beneficial to society.Different strata are created due to differential capacity of actors and their ability to perform different roles.Structural functionalist believe that social stratification in society exists because it serves an important role in the functioning of the society.Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.UPSC MAINS SOCIOLOGY – Paper 1 – Chapter 5 – Stratification and Mobility – Theories of social stratification- Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.

Structural functional theory