Stratification is one of the key concepts in sociology, which allows for classifying people into specific groups with similar interests, hobbies, or appearances. Communicating and building networks are important to enable people to decide which group is the closest to their personalities (Grusky, 2019). The data is collected through surveys, analyses, and graph production. The concept has a theoretical representation, and experts usually make accurate calculations through Excel formulas. This paper will show the importance of people’s connections and network building in the production of stratification analysis and explain the importance of collaborating these two concepts. There is a significant difference between social groups and networks, which can be seen in such areas as communication or medicine and they have approximately the same influence on stratification.
One of the most common examples of people’s networks is working places. According to Burris (2004), in sociology, people exchange networks for expanding their variety. The study was conducted based on the experience of the 95 PhD-granting departments that took part in the massive survey oriented toward developing workers’ connections. The results have shown that stratification happens when people are moving from social groups to networks. The difference between these meanings is significant as social groups are usually created due to the fact that they have to work together under a specific task (Burris, 2004). However, networks are built based on the relationships with personal stories between two members of the group. In networks, people are becoming more interconnected, and the level of trust increases, allowing stratification to happen.
Stratification strongly connects different types of networks like culture, appearance, or religion. When people are born, they start interacting with the world through communication. During the early stages of human life, it is possible to create perceptions about other people and become closer to those with the same interests. Children move from communication in social groups to networking quickly, and the stratification process becomes more visible. Friends and relatives can be considered networks as individuals are trying to find people with whom they can share their excitement and not be judged. Observing friendships makes it easier to define specific types of stratification and understand the importance of the process.
The concept of stratification is also revealed in the education in medicine. For instance, the most similar symptoms of cancer in different locations of the body can be found in one specific network as the outcome is the same. Based on the network research, professionals can make stratification of subtypes to distinguish the mutation in cells in further research. According to Le Morvan et al. (2017), the same health problem may cause different symptoms, and the illness cannot be stratified properly in this case. Consequently, professionals decided to make gene-gene networks to define mutated and non-functional cells. Deeper analyses of health issues allowed doctors to make the right diagnoses based on more reliable cell studies.
In conclusion, stratification is a crucial aspect of human life used in diverse areas, from social life to medicine. The process of stratification can happen when the networks are built. People in social groups who are not sharing common interests but work on a common project cannot be stratified properly into cultural or welfare aspects. Observing friends and relatives who spend much time together is important to make the most accurate calculation of stratifications via Excel. By studying the concept in other spheres of life, it might become easier to understand the difference between social groups, networks, and the appearance of the stratification through these groups of people.
References
Burris, V. (2004). The academic caste system: Prestige hierarchies in PhD exchange networks. American Sociological Review, 69(2), 239-264.
Grusky, D. (2019). Social stratification, class, race, and gender in sociological perspective. Cornell University.
Le Morvan, M., Zinovyev, A., & Vert, J. P. (2017). NetNorM: Capturing cancer-relevant information in somatic exome mutation data gene networks for cancer stratification and prognosis.Plos Computational Biology.