SOC Final Exam

capital

the resources we use to get things we want and need (can be economic, social, cultural)

income

refers to steady sources of money (wages, salary, pensions, alimony, social assistance, or regular interest payments)

wealth

refers to money sitting in bank and ownership of economic assets - debts

economic capital

financial resources that are or can be converted into money

how do income and wealth correlate

positively

median

middle value among set of data arranged from low to high

mean

sum of all values divided by the total number of values

mode

value among a range of values that occurs most often

the distribution is disproportionate when

a resource is distributed unevenly

economic elite

the minority of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth

caste systems

people stayed in the stratified layer of society they were born into

feudal systems

rich and powerful individuals born into nobility reigned over a peasant class

enslavement systems

an economic elite was allowed to legally own a class of humans and exploit them for their labor

social mobility

opportunity to move up or down in the economic hierarchy

what systems allow for little to no movement

caste, feudal, and enslavement

what systems allowed for greater movement

class

class systems

sort people into different positions in an economic hierarchy but also allow them to rise or fall

what did class systems emerge out of

industrialization

wage

cash payments given to workers in exchange for their labor

capitalism

an economic system based on private ownership of the resources used to create wealth and the right of individuals to personally profit

proletariat

a class of working people who are employed by others and work for a wage

bourgeoise

a class of people who employ the workers

means of production

resources that can be used to create wealth

labor

the work people can do with their bodies and minds

alienation

the feeling of dissatisfaction and disconnection from the fruits of one’s labor

crisis of capitalism

a coming catastrophic implosion from which capitalism would never recover

class consciousness

an understanding that members of a social class share economic interests

socialism

an economic system based on shared ownership of the resources used to create wealth that is then distributed by governments for the enrichment of all

free market capitalism

a capitalist system with little or no government regulation

labor unions

associations that organize workers so they can negotiate with their employers as a group instead of individuals

social safety net

a patchwork of programs intended to ensure that the most economically vulnerable do not go without basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter

living wage

an income that allows full-time workers to afford their basic needs

welfare capitalism

a capitalistic economic system with some socialist policy aimed at distributing the profits of capitalism more evenly across the population

contradictory class locations

positions in the economy that are in some ways like the proletariat and in other ways like the bourgeoise

service and information economy

an economy centered on jobs in which workers provide services or work with information

precariat

a new class of workers who live economically precarious lives

working poor

people in the labor force who earn poverty-level wages

protestant work ethic

the idea that one’s character can and should be measured by one’s dedication to paid work

glass ceiling

an invisible barrier that restricts upward mobility

glass floor

an invisible barrier that restricts downward mobility

wealth gaps

differences in the amount of money and economic assets owned by people from different social identity groups

wage gaps

differences between the hourly earning of different social identity groups

colorism

prejudice against and discrimination toward people with dark skin compared to those with light skin, regardless of race

legitimation

a process by which a potentially controversial social fact is made acceptable

many commentators are describing the United States’ current economic condition as the

new gilded age

racism

a term that refers to a society’s production of unjust outcomes for some racial or ethnic groups

residential segregation

the sorting of different types of people into separate neighborhoods

hyper segregation

residential segregation so extreme that many people’s daily lives involve little or no contact with people of other races

white fight

organized white resistance to integration

white flight

a phenomenon in which White people start leaving a neighborhood when minority residents begin to move in

redlining

a practice of refusing loans to or steeply overcharging anyone buying in poor minority neighborhoods

resource deserts

places that lack beneficial or critical amenitites

spatial analysis

a research method in which data are layered onto a landscape divided into finegrained segments

environment racism

the practice of exposing racial and ethnic minorities to more toxins and pollutants than White people

achievement gaps

disparities in the academic accomplishments of different kinds of students

tracking

the practice of placing students in different classrooms according to their perceived ability

adultification

a form of bias in which adult characteristics are attributed to children

school to prison pipeline

a practice of disciplining and punishing children and youth in school that routes them out of education and into the criminal justice system

mass incarceration

an extremely high rate of imprisonment in cross-cultural and historical perspective

mass deportation

an extremely high rate of deportation in cross-cultural and historical perspective

cross-institutional advantage and disadvantage

a phenomenon in which people are positively or negatively served across multiple institutions

cumulative advantage and disadvantage

advantage or disadvantage that builds over the life course

intergenerational advantage and disadvantage

advantage and disadvantage that is passed from parents to children

structural violence

institutional discrimination that injures the body and mind

patriarch/property marriage

a model of marriage in which women and children are owned by men

breadwinner/homemaker marriage

a model of marriage that involves a wage-earning spouse supporting a stay-at-home spouse and children

family wage

an income, paid to a man, that is large enough to support a non-working wife and children

ideology of separate spheres

the idea that the home is a feminine space best tended by women and work is masculine space best suited to men

heteronormative

promoting heterosexuality as the only or preferred sexual identity, making other sexual desires invisible or casting them as inferior

mononormative

promoting monogamy, or the requirement that spouses have sexual relations only with each other

pro-natal

promoting childbearing and stigmatizing choosing to go child-free

partnership unions

a relationship model based on love and companionship between equals

sexism

the production of unjust outcomes for people perceived to be biologically female

androcentrism

the production of unjust outcomes for people who perform femininity

hegemonic masculinity

the form of masculinity that constitutes the most widely admired rewarded kind of person in any given culture

second shift

the unpaid work of housekeeping and childcare that faces family members once they return home from their paid jobs

time-use diary

a research method in which participants are asked to self-report their activities at regular intervals over at least 24 hours

ideal worker norm

the idea that an employee should devote themselves to their jobs wholly and without the distraction of family responsibilities

shared division of labor

an arrangement in which both partners do an equal share of paid and unpaid work

specialized division of labor

an arrangement in which one partner does more paid work than childcare and housework and the other does the inverse

ideology of intensive motherhood

the idea that children require concentrated maternal investment

feminization of poverty

a concentration of women, trans women, and gay, bisexual, and gender-nonconforming men at the bottom of the income scale and a concentration of gender-conforming, heterosexual, cisgender men at the top

glass escalator

an invisible ride to the top offered to men in female-dominated occupations

job segregation

the sorting of people with different social identities into separate occupations

androcentric pay scale

a positive correlation between the number of men in an occupation relative to women and the wages paid to employees

care work

work that involves face-to-face caretaking of the physical, emotional, and educational needs of others

male flight

a phenomenon in which men start abandoning an activity when women start adopting it

stalled revolution

a sweeping change in gender relations that started but has yet to be fully realized

freedom/power paradox

a situation whereby women have more freedom than men but less power, and men have more power than women but less freedom

domestic outsourcing

paying non-family members to do family-related tasks

global care chains

a series of nurturing relationships in which the international work of care is displaced onto increasingly disadvantaged paid or unpaid workers

social reproduction

the process by which society maintains and enduring character from generation to generation

power elite

a relatively small group of interconnected people who occupy top positions in important social institutions

pluralist theory of power

the idea that US politics is characterized by competing groups that work together to achieve their goals

elite theory of power

the idea that a small group of networked individuals controls the most powerful positions in our social institutions

social capital

the number of people we know and the resources they can offer to us

social closure

a process by which advantage groups preserve opportunities for themselves while restricting them from others

cultural capital

symbolic resources that communicate one’s social status

fit

the feeling that our particular mix of cultural capital matches our social context

ethnography

a research method that involves careful observation of naturally occurring social interaction, often as a participant