Final answer:
Social stratification is a true characteristic of all complex societies, organizing people into hierarchies based on factors like wealth and power and affecting their social standing and interactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Social stratification is a reality in all complex societies. It refers to the way a society is organized into different layers or ranks based on various factors such as wealth, power, race, education, and other forms of social differentiation. This system results in a hierarchy that influences people's status and opportunities in society. Societies like the Inca Empire and the contemporary United States both have displayed complex systems of hierarchy and social inequality, which are indicative of state-level societies with varying degrees of stratification.
Stratification is pivotal as it ensures that people often interact with others of similar social standing, leading to patterns of association and community composition based on one's place in the social hierarchy. This process is reinforced by global stratification, which compares different nations' wealth, economic stability, and social resources.
Different sociological perspectives like functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism provide insight into the causes and implications of social stratification. While functionalists view stratification as having a purpose, such as rewarding skill and hard work, conflict theorists argue that it deepens societal inequalities. Symbolic interactionists, on the other hand, focus on the micro-level impacts of social stratification on everyday interactions.
The answer to the student's question is: a. True. Social stratification exists in all complex societies and is a reflection of differential access to resources and power structures within those societies.