A classification of individuals in society based on specific characteristics or criteria, resulting in groups of people who generally share a similar social or economic status, such as profession, income, education, age, or ethnicity.

The concept of overlapping levels in both physical structures, like buildings, and abstract systems, indicating a layered organization that can be applied to social structures, data sets, or hierarchies.

A categorization of societal groups formed by analyzing various factors, where individuals within each group are perceived to hold similar positions in the social or economic spectrum, often referred to in discussions about societal inequality or organization.