scoiale straificatie

Social stratification research examines three broad questions:

• Distribution: Who receives which resources and rewards?

• Allocation: How do people get into different social positions?

• Reproduction and change: Why do inequalities persist, and under what circumstances do they change?

2 ways of aim for explaining social situations

Nomothetic: identifying general patterns

Researchers seek recurring mechanisms or relationships that explain many cases.

Example: Children whose parents have higher educational qualifications tend, on average, to achieve higher educational qualifications themselves. Researchers investigate the mechanisms that produce this association, such as parental resources, school access, and educational expectations.

Idiographic: explaining a particular historical case

Researchers investigate the specific circumstances that explain a particular event or change.

Example: Why did income inequality begin increasing rapidly in the United States during the late twentieth century, despite having previously declined?

Why do rewards differ?

• Professional qualifications: A surgeon earns a high salary partly because the job requires years of specialized training and carries significant responsibility.

• Bargaining power: Nurses who organize a strike may negotiate higher wages because the hospital needs their labor to function.

• Ownership: A supermarket owner can earn profits from the business, while a cashier usually receives a fixed wage.

• Political decisions: If the government raises the minimum wage, cashiers may earn more even though their job responsibilities have not changed.

The main point: Rewards are shaped not only by how hard people work, but also by qualifications, negotiating power, ownership and government rules.

Meritocratic

means that people are rewarded or given positions based on their ability, qualifications and effort, rather than their family background, wealth or social connections.

8 assets in category social inequalty

Asset category	What it means	Examples of advantage and disadvantage
1. Economic	Money, income, wealth, and ownership	A wealthy property owner versus a worker with no savings
2. Power	Ability to make decisions affecting others	A manager versus an employee with little workplace control
3. Cultural	Knowledge, competencies, styles, and culturally valued behavior	Familiarity with elite cultural codes versus unfamiliarity with them
4. Social	Useful relationships and group memberships	Access to influential professional networks versus social isolation
5. Honorific	Recognition, prestige, and distinctions of worth	A respected judge or Nobel laureate versus a stigmatized occupation
6. Civil	Rights and protections granted by institutions	Secure legal rights versus exclusion from certain protections
7. Human	Skills, training, education, and experience	A qualified graduate versus someone denied access to training
8. Physical	Health, bodily capacities, longevity, and well-being	Good health and long life versus illness or premature death

cumulative advantage:

an initial advantage in one area helps generate further advantages in other areas.

The reverse can also happen. Disadvantages can accumulate and reinforce one another.

5 key parameters for measuring stratification

Overall inequality: describes how unequally a particular resource is distributed across a population.

Rigidity=refers to how strongly social positions persist over time or across generations.

social closure =helps explain how this persistence occurs. It refers to processes through which groups restrict access to opportunities, resources, or positions.

Ascription =occurs when a person's social position is shaped by characteristics or circumstances they did not choose, particularly those associated with their family background or birth. (Parental wealth, Sex and gender ascription, Racialized social categorization, Family connections and inherited status)

Crystallization = betekent de mate waarin iemands inkomen, opleiding en status met elkaar overeenkomen.

• High = de verschillende voordelen of nadelen stapelen zich op bij dezelfde mensen.

• Low = iemand heeft een mix van voordelen en nadelen.

Different paths of integration

• Straight-line assimilation: Over generations, a group increasingly adopts the language, customs and institutions of the wider society.

• Ethnic enclaves: People from similar backgrounds live or work in concentrated communities, often sharing businesses, networks and cultural practices.

• Demographic replenishment: New arrivals continually join an established ethnic community, maintaining its language, culture or social networks.

theorys of ruling class/ elite

-Power Elite (C. Wright Mills): A small, connected group of economic, political and military leaders holds major power and influences decisions affecting society.

- Capitalist Dominance (Marx): Wealthy capitalists use their economic power, lobbying and financial support to influence political leaders and protect their interests.

- Knowledge Class (Alvin Gouldner): Intellectuals and experts use their specialized knowledge to gain power. They compete with economic capitalists for influence over institutions and society.

Key difference: Mills focuses on connected elites, Marx on economic ownership, and Gouldner on the power of knowledge and expertise.

How discrimination continues

• Systemic discrimination: Institutional practices produce unequal treatment or opportunities.

• Field audits: Researchers test discrimination by sending otherwise similar job or housing applications that differ in a characteristic, such as a name associated with a particular ethnicity.

• Self-fulfilling stereotypes: A stereotype influences how someone is treated, and that treatment can help produce the outcome people wrongly expected.

• Housing segregation: Groups become separated across neighborhoods, which can affect access to schools, jobs and services.

Example: If equally qualified applicants receive different responses because one name is perceived as belonging to an ethnic minority, this provides evidence of possible hiring discrimination.

Main point: Ethnic inequality can persist through institutions, everyday interactions and unequal access to resources.

Different frameworks for understanding change

• Sociologists study how inequality may change as economies and societies change.

  • Postindustrial society: The economy shifts from manufacturing to service and knowledge-based jobs.

  • Postsocialist transitions: Countries moving from socialism to capitalism create new winners and losers.

  • Postmodern perspectives: Traditional class identities become less important, even though inequality may remain.

  • Globalization: Jobs and money move across countries, changing wages and opportunities.

phases in history of understanding social class

Phase	Focus	Key question
🏗 Structuralism	Social position	Where do you stand in society?
🎭 Culturalism	Culture and behaviour	How does class shape how you think and act?
🛍 Postmodernism	Identity and lifestyle	Does class still define who you are?

What are the five class groups and their main characteristics? - scottt

• Large Property Owners: Own major assets; live off investment returns; maximum control.

• Service Class (Salariat): Professionals/managers; long-term contracts; high autonomy and responsibility.

• Intermediate Class: Routine office workers/supervisors; moderate security; limited authority.

• Self-Employed / Small Business: Own small businesses or work independently; freedom but market risks.

• Working Class (Labour-Contract): Manual or routine workers; hourly/piece-rate pay; direct supervision and low autonomy.

Key idea: Class differences reflect ownership, employment contracts, job security, and control over work.

2 pricipes voor upperclass for social disclose - weber

• Commensality (Shared Dining): Explicitly restricting social dining to equals. Youth Analogy: Deciding who is allowed to sit at the "popular kids'" table in the school cafeteria.

• Conubium (Marriage Rules): Strictly limiting marriage to individuals within the approved social circle (endogamy). Youth Analogy: Exclusive social clubs enforcing strict rules about who members are allowed to date or invite to private parties.

weber 3 layer

class= economic work position → life oppurtinities

status = social prestige/ honor /respect

party = poltical power

division of labor inside the ruling class itself - marx

• The Idea-Makers (Active Ideologists): The thinkers and concept-writers within the ruling class who spend their time crafting theories, laws, and philosophies to make the ruling class's power look natural, moral, and fair.

• The Action-Takers (Property Managers): The busy business owners and managers who run the enterprises and have less time to write theories, but eagerly adopt the ideas crafted by the idea-makers.

Marx’s Four Types of Alienation

1. From the Product: Workers do not own what they produce; the owner controls it.

2. From the Act of Production: Work feels forced, repetitive, and controlled by others rather than fulfilling.

3. From Species-Being: Workers lose the freedom to express their human creativity and potential.

4. From Other Humans: Workers see others as competitors rather than collaborators.

Key idea: Capitalist work separates workers from their products, their work, their human potential, and other people.

micro class/ big class theory

• Big-Class Theory: Studies broad social classes (e.g., working, middle, and upper class) and inequalities between them.

• Micro-Class Theory: Studies specific occupations (e.g., doctors, teachers, and lawyers) and inequalities between them.

Key idea: Big classes focus on broad economic groups; micro-classes focus on occupations, which have different rewards, opportunities, and barriers to entry

What are Weber’s three class types based on social postiion, in layer one of 3 layer puzzle ?

1. Property Class: Based on ownership or lack of property; determines positive or negative market opportunities.

2. Acquisition Class: Based on skills, talents, and services that can be exchanged in the market; creates positive or negative opportunities.

3. Social Class: A group of people sharing similar class situations, with opportunities for individual mobility between them.

Key idea: Class is determined by a person’s market position and the life chances it creates.

geeft een indeling in concrete sociale groepen op basis van die positie.

kind of relationship in EGP/ NS-sec model

• Service relationship: Typically emphasizes long-term employment and career rewards.

• Labour relationship: Typically emphasizes wages in exchange for specific work.

• Unordered categories: Classes represent different employment situations; they are not simply steps on a single income ladder.

The EGP class categories

Class	Typical occupations
I–II	Professionals and managers
IIIa–IIIb	Office and administrative workers
IVa–IVb	Small employers and self-employed workers
V	Supervisors and technicians
VI–VII	Skilled and less-skilled manual workers

Weber identified four primary social classes under capitalism:

• Dominant Entrepreneurial & Propertied Groups: Own property, capital, and businesses.

• Petty Bourgeoisie: Own small businesses or work independently.

• Middle Class: Have formal qualifications, degrees, or specialized skills.

• Working Class: Lack property and formal credentials; depend on selling their labour.

legt uit hoe Weber klasse begrijpt: je marktpositie bepaalt je kansen in het leven (life chances).

ranking goldtrhope - chan

Main idea: Occupations are ranked by social status and prestige, measured using friendship networks.

• 31 status groups: From higher professionals (highest status) to general labourers (lowest status).

• 4 broad status bands:

  1. Ranks 1–7: Highest status

  2. Ranks 8–18: Middle-high status

  3. Ranks 19–25: Middle-low status

  4. Ranks 26–31: Lowest status

Key idea: Occupations differ in social prestige. Professional and symbolic work tends to rank higher than manual work involving material objects.

Social closure, 2 types

when a group protects its advantages by limiting other people's access to opportunities.

. Drie modellen van maatschappelijke ongelijkheid

Model	Hoe werkt ongelijkheid?
Class regime	Mensen zijn verdeeld in sociale klassen.
Gradational regime	Mensen staan op een schaal van laag naar hoog.
Postmodern model	Ongelijkheid en identiteit zijn meer versnipperd en minder duidelijk gekoppeld aan klasse.