Sociology question????

[*tiffany*]

I need a little help with this question. Describe the major components of social stratification as they relate to both global and American social class structure, including the issues of poverty, race and gender.
I'm hoping that someone can just help me understand it a little better. I mean just seeing the words social stratification makes me confused, maybe its because I dont have a clear understanding of the meaning. Thanks in advance

[Very Chucky]

I hope this helps:

In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. While these hierarchies are not universal to all societies, they are the norm among state-level cultures (as distinguished from hunter-gatherers or other social arrangements).

According to Peter Saunders,[1] in modern Western societies, stratification depends on social and economic classes consisting of three main layers: Upper class, Middle class, and Lower class. Each of these is further broken into smaller classes relating to profession. The term stratification is derived from the geological concept of strata, or layers of rock created by natural processes. Social strata seem to be more fluid than rock strata, however.