Sociology: Stratification, Inequality, Race, and Global Mobility

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering social stratification theories, measures of poverty, racialization, mobility concepts, and global inequality from sociology lecture and reading materials.

Absolute Poverty

A condition characterized by a severe lack of basic human necessities, such as adequate food, clean water, and shelter.

Relative Poverty

Economic inadequacy measured in comparison to the average living standards of the surrounding society.

Market Basket Measure (MBM)

A measure of poverty that estimates the cost of basic goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living.

Social Stratification

A hierarchical system of inequality structured around class, status, and power, combined with other dimensions of differentiation such as gender and ethnicity.

Social Class

An individual's or group's position within the economic hierarchy, typically classified as upper, middle, or lower class.

Social Mobility

The movement of individuals or groups between different social classes, which can occur intergenerationally or intragenerationally.

Vertical Mobility

Movement upward or downward between different social strata or classes.

Davis-Moore Thesis

A functionalist perspective arguing that social inequality is universal and necessary because it ensures societies efficiently place individuals into important roles by rewarding them with money, prestige, power, and leisure.

Superfluous Labour

Surplus or excess labor under capitalism that enables capitalists to keep worker wages low.

Weber's Dimensions of Stratification

Max Weber's tripartite model of inequality based on Class (economic position and property ownership), Status (prestige and social honor), and Power (the capacity to carry out one's will despite resistance).

The Protestant Ethic

Max Weber's concept that Calvinist beliefs regarding predestination, worldly calling, hard work, and modest living fostered wealth accumulation and propelled modern capitalism.

Power Elite

C. Wright Mills' term for the three interlocked leadership hierarchies controlling modern society: the military elite, corporate elite, and political elite.

Neoliberalism

A political and economic philosophy dominant since the 1970s that promotes privatization, deregulation, lowering taxes, and reducing the welfare state.

Conspicuous Consumption

Thorstein Veblen's concept describing the ostentatious display of wealth through status symbols to communicate social position.

Social Capital

Pierre Bourdieu's concept referring to the social network and relationships that an individual can mobilize to access resources, emphasizing both the quantity and quality of contacts.

Cultural Capital

Pierre Bourdieu's concept referring to the cultural knowledge, skills, competencies, and mannerisms that confer social status and allow one to navigate elite environments comfortably.

Race

A classification based on assumed, socially significant physical or genetic characteristics.

Ethnicity

Social distinctions and relationships between individuals or groups rooted in shared cultural characteristics, including language, religion, customs, and history.

Visible Minority

A Canadian government category defined as persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.

1967 Points System

A Canadian immigration selection framework designed to eliminate racial preference by evaluating applicants objectively on criteria such as education, language skills, age, and employment experience.

Racialization

The processes and practices through which biological characteristics are given social significance to categorize groups and structure social hierarchies.

Xenophobia

An intense fear, hatred, or mistrust of individuals from other countries.

Ethnocentrism

The belief or assumption that one's own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.

Prejudice

Negative attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes held about members of specific minority groups.

Discrimination

Actions, practices, and institutional policies that reproduce racial stereotypes and generate political, social, or economic disadvantages for minority groups.

Democratic Racism

A framework developed by Henry and Tator asserting that commitments to democratic ideals like fairness and 'colour blindness' are used to deny the existence of systemic racism and preserve racial inequality in Canada.

Double Consciousness

W.E.B. Du Bois's concept of the psychological split experienced by African Americans from viewing oneself both from one's own perspective and through the critical eyes of an oppressive society.

Systemic Racism

As characterized by Murray Sinclair, the institutional racism that remains embedded in structures, policies, and practices even after individual racists are eliminated.

Exchange Mobility

Upward movement in social status that occurs strictly when an existing position opens, which displaces another individual due to a fixed number of available spots.

Structural Mobility

Upward movement that occurs when economic or organizational expansion generates newly created positions, without displacing others.

Microaggression

A subtle, everyday verbal, behavioural, or environmental slight that communicates hostile, derogatory, or negative bias toward a marginalized group.

Behavioural Health Model

Ronald Andersen's framework explaining health service utilization through three sets of variables: predisposing characteristics, enabling resources, and perceived or evaluated needs.

Safety Net

A network of state and nonprofit programs—such as social assistance, universal healthcare, and shelters—designed to prevent individuals from falling into poverty.

Diaspora

A dispersed population defined by three core dimensions: dispersion across borders, orientation toward an original homeland, and ongoing boundary maintenance from host societies.

Ethnic Enclave

A geographic district with a high concentration of a particular ethnic group that provides institutionally complete social, cultural, and economic networks.

Postcolonialism

A theoretical and political framework examining and critiquing the enduring impacts of colonial rule and imperial power dynamics on modern economics, culture, and politics.

Model Minority

A stereotype depicting a specific minority group as hard-working, obedient, academically successful, and self-sufficient, which is often internalized as a survival strategy.

Digital Divide

The unequal global or domestic access to information and communication technologies across different socioeconomic and geographic populations.

Cultural Imperialism

The dominance or infiltration of one society over another via the pervasive global distribution of its cultural products, media, and values.

Anti-Globalization Movement

A broad coalition spanning left- and right-wing groups that opposes the concentrated power of multinational corporations and argues that globalization prioritizes capital over human rights and ethics.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

A US nonprofit initiative aimed at empowering disadvantaged youth by providing rugged, low-cost, connected laptops to children in impoverished communities worldwide.