I think social stratification is crucial and essential to our standing as of today, because like it or not, it is doing mankind of favor; it forces human beings to evolve and build societies, to find their voice so they could lead a revolution, and to take their step into an even higher rung of civilization.
It is like Confucius’s yin and yang and the Buddhist circle of life. The castes system and feudalism, along with other social inequality based on ascribed status, are the sociological proof of the former idea; there would not be slaves and low-waged servants without rich nobles to hire them and there would not be kings and a monarch if there weren’t any people to rule over; we need people who are oppressed and smothered in poverty, in order to fling away the cloak of deprivation and stand up against the oppressor, which would lead to significant movement, such as demonstration or strike. The social classes and all that achieved status reflect the latter idea; like a water wheel, this type of social hierarchy is ever-changing and mobile; the underprivileged would strive through education to attain a higher position in the society and, at the same time, people who did not put in enough effort to maintain their position would fall back down.
In simpler words, social stratification is a means to balance, as well as to push a society forward.
But what is the force behind it, the battery that works the mechanical wheels of the clock of social stratification? That’s right. Education.
Have you ever not wondered why you need an education, a tertiary one in fact, at this time and age, to survive? Admittedly, most of us take education for granted, hopping from the tree trunk of primary school to the middle branches of university, some even up to sit at the leaves top of doctorate. We never bothered pondering why.
Because of the knowledge we came to possess through this process; with every level of education we ascend into, the scope of our study narrows and eventually pinpoint a specific area, also called specialty; thus, since the acquirement of skill and information in this tiny blob of area requires a certain degree of intellect, determination and effort, one would earn a substantial amount of respect, rewarded by a good job offer and paycheck.
On a sociological standpoint though, education encourages open-mindedness through exposure to different cultures, so that we could adapt fast if we found ourselves in a foreign country and social setting; education ignites our awareness to the social situations in other parts of the world; and education helps in the exchange of cultural views, to enable a society to absorb useful tips from another in solving a problem or overcoming an issue.
So education is unquestioningly important, we enshrine people who obtained doctorates or masters, heck, even our tone and manner change when we address these people, and we are motivated to follow their footsteps. Then why, pray tell, is there a huge chunk of the world’s population who reveres movie stars, most of whom did not even complete high school, much less hold a Degree?
Humans are fascinatingly contradicting, aren’t we?
We scoff road sweepers, garbage collectors, cooks at hawker centers, and others simply because they are not fortunate enough to have higher education, and yet we swoon over, praise and fork out money to be entertained by school drop-outs.
As a musician, I could see where you are coming from. Though, to be honest, I really do not appreciate when people go, “oh, musicians are so lucky, they just fool around and have fun making music all day, and they still get to earn big bucks” or “why bother getting a Degree when you could just go out and make good money with your skills?”
So you don’t see us being squished by mammoth stacks of books, or inhaling and exhaling streams of mathematical formula like air, that doesn’t mean we don’t put effort into our studies or we aren’t intelligent. You say doctors deal with life and death, lawyers justify a case and make or break a company through contracts, and petroleum engineers ensure there is fuel running in our cars; I say musicians bring about change. Hip hop and rap came during the civil rights movement, using speech instead of singing to convey messages of equality and African-American pride; metal rumbled underground in response to the cruelty of the war and oppressive government, among other issues addressed; and psychedelic rock marked a period of experimental music and drugs.
You say pharmacists have to constantly update themselves so as to prescribe the correct medication and police protects citizens, but I say musicians have pressure and expectations upon them as well.
For one, we are expected to meet the bar set by musicians in the industry, whether they are the bling-studded divas in Hollywood or those blues-ing the night away in pubs, and then apply our skills and creativity to raise the notch. Have you ever heard of critiques for any other fields besides entertainment?
We are also taught to make lemonades out of the lemons thrown by life; we often face non idyllic gigs locations, horrendous sound systems, unrealistic demands from clients, or loss of member at the last minute, but we would have to improvise and make the best out of the situation.
I would say the same for actors and actresses and multi-millionaire football stars. They are not college graduates nor are they top-scoring academically, but they are people who have the guts to take on the challenge many of us shun from, side-step critics and disapproval from their own society and to risk failure to do what they are passionate about. And I think this is what we look up to them about.
“Smarts may have the brains, but stupid has the balls.”
