Social stratification is a system that:
ranks society members into categories
destroys competition between society members
allows society members to choose their social standing
reflects personal choices of society members

ranks society members into categories

Explanation:

The system known as social stratification reflects society ranks, categorizing people according to hierarchy. Traditionally the purchasing power is the main factor leading to this. As some groups have status, power over the rest. These lead to social strafication. An other factors can be included as geographical, cultural factors, but, stratification is often defined in upper, middle and low class.

The social classes often turn to conflict as they  clash in the marxist theories.

However not all the time in history the classes were counscious , and thus, the relationships between them were perceibe differntly.

Other ways for this to occur happen to relate to religion: the case of India.

The ancient world saw this : as slaves and citizens in the Roman states.