Chapter 9. Social Inequality in Canada

Based on notes

Habitus

The deeply seated schemas, habits, feelings, dispositions, and forms of know-how that people hold due to their specific social backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences

Social inequality

Describes the unequal distribution of valued resources, rewards, and positions in a society

Social differentiation

systemic social characteristics - differences, identities, and roles - are used to differentiate people and divide them into different categories

Social stratification

refers to an institutionalized system of social inequality

Equality of opportunity

Everyone has an equal chance at success

Equality of condition

Situation in which everyone in a society has a similar level of wealth, status, and power

Meritocracy

Where individual merit determines social standing

Wealth

the net value of money and assets a person has

Income

a person’s wages, salary, or investment dividends

Power

how many people a person must take orders from versus how many people a person can give orders to

Status

the degree of honour or prestige one has in the eyes of others

Status consistency

describe the consistency of an individual’s rank across these factors

Two types of systems of stratification

Closed systems and Open systems

Closed systems

accommodate little change in social position - do not allow people to shift levels and do not permit social relations between levels

Open systems

which are based on achievement - allow movement and interaction between layers and classes

Caste system

one in which people are born into their social standing and remain in it their whole lives - based on fixed status

Ascribed status

a status one receives by virtue of being born into a category or group (e.g. hereditary position, gender, race, etc)

Achieved status

a status one receives through individual effort or merits (e.g. occupation, educational level, moral character, etc)

Endogamous marriage

meaning that marriage between castes is forbidden

Exogamous marriage

a union of people from different social categories

Class system

based on both social factors and individual achievement

A class

consists of a set of people who have the same relationship to the means of production

Means of production

the things used to produce the goods and services needed for survival: tools, technologies, resources, land, workplaces, etc

Primogeniture

a law stating that all property would be inherited by the firstborn son

Social class

as a grouping based on similar social factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation

Standard of living

the level of wealth available to acquire the material necessities and comforts to maintain one’s lifestyle

Absolute poverty

“a severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information”

Relative poverty

refers to the minimum amount of income or resources needed to be able to participate in the “ordinary living patterns, customs, and activities” of a society

Gini Index

is a measure of income inequality in which zero is absolute equality and one is absolute inequality

Socio-economic status (SES)

their social position relative to others based on income, education, and occupation

Social mobility

refers to the ability to change positions within a social stratification system

Upward mobility

refers to an increase - or upward shift - in social class

Downward mobility

indicates a lowering of one’s social class

Intergenerational mobility

explains a difference in social class between different generations of a family

Intragenerational mobility

describes a difference in social class between different members of the same generation

Structural mobility

happens when societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder

Class traits

called class markers, are the typical behaviours, customs, and norms that define each class

Global stratification

compares the wealth, economic stability, status, and power of countries across the world

Neoliberalism

used to define the new rationality of government, which abandons the interventionist model of the welfare state to emphasize the use of “free market” mechanisms to regulate society

The changing configuration of global capitalism and politics has been described

reemergence of empire

Empire

form of imperialism like that which dominated in the era of colonialism, is a new political form that has emerged in response to the dynamics of global capitalism

Davis-Moore thesis

which argued that the greater the functional importance of a social role, the greater must be the reward

Proletarianized

meaning that in terms of income, property, control over working conditions, and overall life chances, the middle class is becoming more and more indistinguishable from the wage-earning working class

Cultural capital

suggests that cultural “assets” such as education and taste are accumulated and passed down between generations in the same manner as financial capital or wealth

Conspicuous consumption

as the tendency of people to buy things as a display of status rather than out of need