Sociology 153 -- Exam 3

social stratification

The ranking of people based on wealth and other resources a society values. The division of a society into groups based on a social hierarchy.

Major Systems of Social Stratification

1. Slavery

2. estate (did not talk about)

3. Caste

4. Class

on open —- close scale (can leave or have to stay)

Slavery

• the most closed system in social stratification

• over 50 million people still in slavery all around the world

• forced labor is most common type of slavery

Caste Systems

• based on where you’re born into from parents’ status (ascribed status)

• hierarchy

• South Africa — ascribed, based on race, whites on top

  • Apartheid - separateness

• United States — Ascribed, based on race

  • jim crow laws and norms

  • black codes — carrying proof of employment

Class System

Ascribed status or Achieved status, relatively high social mobility (vertical and horizontal) but not always possible

Determinants of Social Class - Marx

• “ones relationships to the means of production”

  • the owners (capitalists), and the workers of the owners (false consciousness, to get out you need class consciousness)

  • economically based

    • factories

    • land

    • investment capital

Determinants of Social Class — Weber

1. wealth

   1. (what you own - your debt) + (your income)

2. power

   1. the ability to carry out your will despite resistance (make others do what you want)

      1. power elites — wealthiest, and strongest political status

3. prestige (how others view you)

   1. level of esteem (associated with position in hierarchy)

      1. accomplishments, attributes, occupations

         1. example: Olympian holds high regard vs a cook

         2. money

meritocracy (Davis and Moore)

a system in which regards ($) are distributed based on merit (qualification)

• issues/ questioning (Tumin)

  • who

  • is a jobs societal importance the only basis for financial rewards?

    • athletes, ceo’s, influencers

  • are there only financial rewards?

    • important jobs with less pay

SI — conspicuous consumption

the acquisition and display by wealthy people of lavish products that show off their wealth

Social Mobility

ability to move up and down the social ladder/social class

• intergenerational — vertical mobility within generations of ones family

• intragenerational — vertical mobility within an individual’s own life

• structural — social change as a whole

  • quintiles — population divided into five sections

Poverty Threshold

government official poverty measure

• based on cost of minimal diet for a family multiplied by three

Individual Characteristics of Poverty in the US

• blaming the victim “they’re lazy, they’re easy, they’re an alcoholic”

• culture of poverty hypothesis ^ living in poverty forces people to develop new values to survive, which people then attribute those values to poverned persons

  • values lead to culture or culture leads to values? (depends on how you perceive things)

Functionalist perspective — you’re looking at the individual

Social Structure of poverty in the US

features of society/institutions

• unequal access to opportunities

• cycle of poverty

Conflict Theory — you’re looking at the social structure

Functions of Poverty (Herbert Gans) — Functionalist Perspective

• provides an accessible pool of cheap labor

• fills undesirable, but necessary jobs (McDonaldization)

• generates job oopportunities for others (psychologists, police men)

• provides market for damaged, irregular goods

• provides a “measuring rod” against which others gauge their status and prestige (“they’re not doing well because they’re not working hard enough”)

• enables mainstream to reaffirm core values

episodic poverty

being poor for at least 2 months in a row

SI — How people perceive the poor

“undeserving” poor — lazy, drug abuse, alcoholic “don’t deserve help”

“deserving” poor — dissability, illness, “hardworkers”

Effects of Poverty

• family life — spouse, divorce rates, child rearing

• health — healthcare/insurance, level of stress, food sources, life expectancy

• education — hungry(unfocused) at school, unhoused/unclean kids, quality of education

• housing — live near factories with high emotions of toxic chemicals, lower public safety

Overall, worse life chances — where you fall on social ladder impacts life chances

American Anthropological Association Statement on Race

Race is a social construct (no biological basis)

Race

visible physical characteristics (skin color, facial features, stature)

Ethnicity

shared social, cultural, and historical experiences stemming from common national or regional backgrounds that make subgroups of a population different from one another

• common religion

• common nationality

• common culture

• common language

Ethnic Group

A subgroup of a population with a set of shared social, cultural and historical experiences; relatively distinct set of values, behaviors and beliefs; and with some sense of identity of belonging to the subgroup

Biracial and Multiracial Identity

Examples: Tiger Woods appears black but identifies with four racial identities. Barack Obama is African and Irish

The Thomas Theorem

Race as a consequence of what you believe to be true

• varies across societies

• varies over time

• arbitrary divisions (random)

• gene sharing

• confusions with race and ethnic groups

W.E.B. Du Bois

focus on the color line (racial dividing in the world) and double consciousness (black people see themselves through the prejudiced eyes of a white society, creating a conflicted “two-ness” of being both African and American)

Prejudice vs Discrimination

Prejudice — attitude

Discrimination — act

Prejudice

A set of negative attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about whole categories of people, and individual members of those categories, because of their perceived race/ethnicity

• reinforced by stereotypes

• once developed hard to eradicate

Model Minority

A stereotype labeling minority groups

Example: Asian Americans are seen as “smart and hardworking”

• fails to factor diversity

• penalize those who can’t fit the stereotype

Racism

The belief that certain racial/ethnic groups are inferior to one’s own

• justify discrimination against inferior groups

Authoritarian Personality

Personality emphasizing obedience to authority, rules, and low acceptance of people unlike them

• unquestioning respect for/submission to authority (who may be feeding racist ideals)

Frustration Theory

scapegoating, project/blame other person/group for their own problems

Unconscious (implicit) bias

bias against a group without awareness ( we all have)

Discrimination

The arbitrary(random) denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities to people of subordinate racial/ethnic groups

• act on beliefs

Individual Discrimination

Negative treatment of one person by another

• in group (virtue) vs out group (vice)

• you can’t have an “in”-group w/o someone left out of it

Microaggressions

regarding racial/ethnic discrimination, the indignities and slights that people of color suffer in their daily lives

• brief

• daily verbal, behavior, or environmental

• intentional or unintentional

• communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racism

• “Diet racism”

Institutional Discrimination

Discrimination that pervades the practices of whole institutions, whether intentional or not

• negative treatment of a minority group is built into the ongoing operations of society’s institutions

• medical care, law enforcement, housing (discriminatory practices and programs)

• Structural + systematic racism is built into systems of society

Blaming the Victim vs System

Victim — change the person (personal)

System — change the way human activity has been organized (public)

• need to understand that racism exists in society to tackle it

Affirmative Action

Deliberate efforts to improve minority representation, as well as their economic and educational opportunities

• social policy, targeted efforts for equality

• is it really equal though?

Immigration

prejudice and discrimination

• scapegoating, xenophobia (fear of others [outgroup]), hate crimes

• economic concerns: “immigrants are taking jobs.”

• crime (even though immigrants have lower crime rates)

• undocumented immigrants

Different acts liek DREAM and seperation policies to keep families together

Sex

A medical term referring to the biological differences leading most people to be assigned a female or male designation at birth

• female and male

• genetic traits

• biology (anatomical and non-physical essential traits)

Gender

The social and cultural differences a society expects of people based on the sex they were assigned at birth

• femininity and masculinity

• learned traits

• social factors

  • gender socialization

  • gender roles

  • “doing gender” (scripts)

primary sex characteristics

biological differences in the form of the genitalia that develop in the womb and lead people to be designated male or female at birth

secondary sex characteristics

biological differences between males and females that emerge during puberty

Gender Roles

A societies expectations of people's behaviors and attitudes based on whether they are considered females or males

• gender scale

• a continuity (not a fixed point)

gender identity

whether someone considers themselves male, female or both or neither

Transgender vs Cisgender(ed)

transgender — different identity than assigned at birth

cisgender(ed) — same identity as assigned at birth (dominant group in society)

Sexual Orientation according to the APA

An enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes

• heterosexual

• homosexual

• bisexual

sexual orientation does not equal gender identity (can be trans and attracted to same/opp sex)

• we “do gender” — play our roles how society tells us (if we go outside roles we get questioned)

Biology and Gender

evolutionary basis of gender roles

• men hunted (outside the home)

• women stayed home with kids

  • but some hunters and gatherers were women too?

hormonal differences

• males have higher levels of testosterone

• males have higher levels of aggression

  • implies that they are stronger and more assertive

Agents of gender socialization

• family

• school

• peers

• sports

• mass media

• religion

Gender Stratification

“males’ and females unequal access to property, power, and prestige”

• gender ranking

• master status — our gender is the first thing many see

  • sexism + patriarchy = (contribute to

Sexism

The belief that women are inferior to men — “belief that one sex is superior to the other and discrimination based on that belief.”

• story of Katherin Switzer who was the first woman who ran Boston Marathon

Patriarchy

• men have authority over/dominate women and children

• father serves as “the head of the family”

Feminism

belief that women and men should be equal and the social movements organized around that belief

sex segregation

concentration of women in low-paying occupations

• “women jobs” (teacher) vs “male jobs” (engineer)

• work is devalued when predominately women

• horizontal segregation (example in class of more feminine or masculine scale)

comparable worth

The idea that women’s and men’s jobs may be roughly equal in value and thus deserve the same pay, even though women’s jobs typically pay less than mens jobs

devaluation of “women’s work”

lower pay for jobs with higher concentration of women

glass ceiling

the invisible barrier facing women as they try to advance in the workplace

• men dominate patriarchy and don’t let women rise

glass escalator

smooth path afforded men in the workplace, especially in occupations primarily filled by women

• fast track path for men

glass cliff

women are disproportionately promoted in leadership roles during organizational crises and thus face higher risks for failure

• set women up to fail, scapegoat them to be seen as the cause for failure

• vertical segregation (hierarchy of positions)

• conflict theory

  • a male-dominant society does not allow women to hold upper-tier jobs

Functionalism with Gender Stratification

• men and women bring different (natural) skills to the workplace

• women choose the kinds of careers that pay less (nurturing nature for teachers)

• the jobs in society need to be filled somehow

(individual person)

Conflict Theory with Gender Stratification (slide after this about gender tracking be sure to take notes on)

male dominant society does not allow women to hold upper-tier jobs

• competition over resources —> conflict

• resources = power

  • education, jobs, income

Motherhood Penalty vs Fatherhood Bonus

Motherhood penalty — less money because “they will need time away for their child.”

Fatherhood Bonus — more money because “they’re committed and stable”