sociology 202 unit 10 terms

Absolute Poverty

Inability to afford minimal requirements for sustaining a reasonably healthy existence

Authority

Possession of some status or quality that compels others to obey one’s directives or commands

Caste System

Stratification system based on heredity, with little movement allowed across strata

Colonization

Process of expanding economic markets by invading and establishing control over a weaker country and its people

Competitive Individualism

Cultural belief that those who succeed in society are those who work hardest and have the best abilities and that those who suffer don’t work hardest enough or lack the necessary traits or abilities

Contradictory Class Locations

Individuals, such as middle managers and supervisors, whose positions place them between two major classes, making it difficult to identify with one side or the other

Estate System

Stratification system in which high-status groups own land and have power based on noble birth

False Consciousness

Situation in which people in the lower classes come to accept a belief system that harms them; the primary means by which powerful classes in society prevent protest and revolution

Means of Production

Land, commercial enterprises, factories, and wealth that form the economic basis of class societies

Middle Class

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have an intermediate level of wealth, income, and prestige

Poor

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who work for minimum wage or are chronically unemployed

Poverty Line

Amount of yearly income a family requires to meet its basic needs, according to the federal government

Poverty Rate

Percentage of people whose income falls below the poverty line

Power

Ability to affect decisions in ways that benefit a person or protected interests

Prestige

Respect and honor given to some people in society

Relative Poverty

Individuals economic position compared with the living standards of the majority in the society

Slavery

Economic form of inequality in which some people are legally the property of others

Social Class

Group of people who share a similar economic position in a society, based on their wealth and income

Social Mobility

Movement of people or groups from one class to another

Socioeconomic Status

Prestige, honor, respect, and lifestyle associated with different positions or groups in society

Stratification

Ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society

Structural Adjustments

Conditions that global financial organizations attach to some to which they provide development aid

Upper Class

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have high income and prestige and who own vast amounts of property and other forms of wealth, such as owners of large corporations, top financiers, rich celebrities, politicians, etc.

Working Class

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have a low level of wealth, income, and prestige, such as factory workers, officers workers, clerks, manual laborers, etc.

Working Poor

Employed people who consistently earn wages but do not make enough to survive