In a short essay, describe the various affiliations upon which a person's status can be based and discuss how social stratification affects such business functions as marketing and employment practices.
Answer:
a. A person's status is partly determined by individual factors and partly by the person's affiliation or membership in a given group. Affiliations determined by birth—known as ascribed group memberships—include those based on gender, family, age, caste, and ethnic, racial, or national origin. Affiliations not determined by birth are called acquired group memberships and include those based on religion, political affiliation, and professional and other associations.
b. Social stratification affects marketing as companies choose to use people in their advertisements whom their target market admires or associates with. Further, stratification affects employment practices such as hiring, promotion, compensation, and staff-reduction. Employers in different countries are differently influenced by social stratification as they make employment decisions.