The Sinking of the Titanic Oceanliner
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1912
The Sinking of the Titanic |
On her maiden voyage from Southhampton, England to New York, the World's Largest luxury Oceanliner, The Titanic,
strikes an iceberg about 400 miles south of Newfoundland and sinks. There are too few
lifeboats and, of the 2,224 people on board, 1,515 lose their lives.
Most of the people who died when the Titanic sank were men, since women and
children were saved first. Yet, even among the women passengers,
there is a clear pattern of survival rates that heavily favored first-
class passengers (Lord, 1955) and illustrates that, even in this unusual
circumstance, social stratification is related to life chances.
| 143 first-class women passengers |
4 perished* |
| 93 second-class women passengers |
15 perished |
| 179 third-class women passengers |
81 perished |
* Three of these four chose to remain with their husbands or loved ones.
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