SYG2000 Chapter 9 Study Guide

Social Stratification

A system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.

Caste System

A closed stratification system where people are born into their social standing and remain in it throughout their lives.

Class System

An open stratification system based on both social factors and individual achievement.

Meritocracy

A system in which personal effort—or merit—determines social standing.

Status Consistency

The consistency of an individual’s rank across social categories like income, education, and occupation.

Standard of Living

The level of wealth available to acquire material goods and comforts to maintain a particular socioeconomic lifestyle.

Social Mobility

The ability to change positions within a social stratification system.

Global Stratification

The unequal distribution of resources among nations.

Income Inequality

The unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy.

Poverty Line

The minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country.

Feminization of Poverty

A trend in which women constitute an increasing proportion of the poor.

Davis-Moore Thesis

A thesis that argues some social stratification is a social necessity.

Conflict Theory on Stratification

Views social stratification as benefiting the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor.

Symbolic Interactionism on Stratification

Examines how social standing affects people’s everyday interactions and how the concept of 'social class' is constructed and maintained.

Class

Group who shares a common social status based on factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation

Class system

Social standing based on social factors and individual accomplishments

Class traits

The typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class AKA class markers

Conspicuous consumption

The act of buying and using products to make a statement about one’s social standing

Downward mobility

The lowering of one’s social class

Endogamous marriages

Marriages of people within the same social category

Exogamous unions

Unions of spouses from different social categories

Ideology

The cultural belief system that justifies a society’s system of stratification

Income

The money a person makes from work or investments

Intergenerational mobility

A difference in social class between different generations of family

Intragenerational mobility

Changes in a person’s social mobility over the course of their lifetime

Primogeniture

A law stating that all property passes to the firstborn son

Socioeconomic status (SES)

An individual’s level of wealth, power, and prestige

Structural mobility

A societal change that enables a whole group of people to move up or down the class ladder

Wealth

The value of money and assets a person has from ; inheritance or salary.

Closed system

A system of stratification that accommodates little change in social position

Open system

A system of stratification, based on achievement, allowing some movement and interaction between layers and classes