Race, sex, age, class at birth, religion, ethnicity, species, and residence are all good examples of these qualities.
He also proposed that in all societies the actual ascription of statuses to the individual is controlled by a series of reference points.
In 1950 sociologist Kingsley Davis proposed that status is ascribed to an infant as a consequence of the position of the socializing agents (usually the parents).
Statuses of the agent that can define the infant include kinship, race, citizenship, religious affiliation, community membership, and legitimacy.
However, age and sex are two of the most prominent criteria of ascription and they are applicable to the child without being based on the statues of the socializing agent.
He thought that there were certain individuals who were designed for a task, but that others could use competition as motivation to move up the social hierarchy based on their achievements.
Parsons also claims that “ascription is a crucial point of convergence and marks the intergenerational transformation of power into status”.
When examining ascriptive inequality using the conflict theory, it appears as though dominant groups use their control over resources to uphold their privileges and therefore exemplify motive-based explanations.
"Theories that attempt to explain why inequality occurs often say it is the result of separate individuals acting to advance their own interests".
Because employers "tastes" can explain why they are willing to pay higher wages to for one group as opposed to another, many acts of discrimination that lead to inequality occur frequently.
[disputed – discuss] Working-class students may be denied the chance to go to college because they grew up in a school system that did not have the resources to adequately prepare them.
An African American man may not be able to buy a house in a white neighborhood because a realtor is afraid his family will make the property value go down.