Main Body
Chapter 9. Social Stratification in Canada
Learning Objectives
9.1. What Is Social Stratification?
- Differentiate between open and closed stratification systems
- Distinguish between caste and class systems
- Understand meritocracy as an ideal system of stratification
9.2. Social Stratification and Mobility in Canada
- Understand Canada’s class structure
- Describe several types of social mobility
- Recognize characteristics that define and identify class
9.3. Global Stratification and Inequality
- Define global stratification
- Describe different sociological models for understanding global stratification
- Understand how studies of global stratification identify worldwide inequalities
9.4. Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification
- Understand and apply functionalist, conflict theory, feminist, and interactionist perspectives on social stratification
Introduction to Social Stratification in Canada
When he died in 2008, Ted Rogers, CEO of Rogers Communications, was the fifth-wealthiest individual in Canada, holding assets worth $5.7 billion. In his autobiography (2008) he credited his success to a willingness to take risks, work hard, bend rules, be on the constant look out for opportunities, and be dedicated to building business. In many respects, he saw himself as a self-made billionaire, starting from scratch, seizing opportunities, and creating business through his own initiative.
The story of Ted Rogers is not exactly a rags to riches one, however. His grandfather, Albert Rogers, was a director of Imperial Oil (Esso) and his father, Ted Sr., became wealthy when he invented an alternating current vacuum tube for radios in 1925. Ted Rogers Sr. went from there to manufacturing radios, owning a radio station, and acquiring a licence for TV.
However, Ted Sr. died when Ted Jr. was five years old, and the family businesses were sold. His mother took him aside when he was eight and told him, “Ted, your business is to get the family name back.” The family was still wealthy enough to send him to Upper Canada College, the famous private school that also educated children from the Black, Eaton, Thompson, and Weston families. Ted seized the opportunity at Upper Canada to make money as a bookie, taking bets on horse racing from the other students. Then he attended Osgoode Hall Law School, where reportedly his secretary went to classes and took notes for him. He bought an early FM radio station when he was still in university and started in cable TV in the mid-1960s. By the time of his death, Rogers Communications was worth $25 billion. At that time, just three families, the Rogers, Shaws, and Péladeaus, owned much of the cable service in Canada.
At the other end of the spectrum are the aboriginal gang members in the Saskatchewan Correctional Centre we discussed in Chapter 1 (CBC 2010). The CBC program noted that 85 percent of the inmates in the prison were of aboriginal descent, half of whom were involved in aboriginal gangs. Moreover