Sociology: Social Stratification

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering Lecture 6: Social Stratification, including global and domestic inequality, systems of stratification, classical sociological theories, and evolutionary perspectives.

Social Stratification

A system in which groups of people are divided into hierarchical layers according to their relative property, power, and prestige.

Slavery

A form of social stratification characterized by the ownership of human beings by other people, persisting into the industrial era.

Causes of Slavery

The primary historical origins that result in enslavement, identified as debt, crime, war, and labor exploitation.

Permanence (Dimension of Slavery)

A variable condition of slavery determining whether bondage is lifelong or temporary; for instance, Roman slaves could occasionally buy their freedom if they accumulated sufficient capital.

Inheritability (Dimension of Slavery)

A variable condition of slavery determining whether slave status is passed down to offspring; for example, children of slaves in ancient Mexico were born free.

Power (Dimension of Slavery)

A variable condition of slavery concerning legal and economic rights; while most slaves were destitute, exceptions existed (such as in ancient Sparta) where slaves could own property and accumulate money.

Caste System

A rigid system of social stratification in which status is ascribed at birth, social groups are strictly endogamous, boundaries are strictly enforced, and membership is lifelong.

Ascribed Status

A social position that an individual is born into or assigned involuntarily, which cannot be easily altered or abandoned.

Achieved Status

A social position that an individual earns or chooses through personal effort, choices, merit, or direct action.

Endogamy

The practice or legal requirement of marrying strictly within one's own cultural, caste, or social stratum.

Apartheid

A racial caste system in South Africa that legally segregated and classified people into four primary categories: Europeans (whites), Africans (blacks), Coloureds (mixed race), and Asians.

Indian Caste System

A five-tiered social hierarchy in India officially abolished in $1949$ that historically linked spiritual purity and social duties to specific hereditary occupational levels.

Brahman

The highest caste in the traditional Indian hierarchy, traditionally comprised of priests and teachers who hold the highest prestige and social privileges.

Kshatriya

The second-highest caste in the traditional Indian hierarchy, historically composed of rulers, nobility, and soldiers.

Vaishya

The third caste tier in the traditional Indian system, traditionally comprising merchants, traders, and agricultural landowners.

Shudra

The fourth caste tier in the traditional Indian system, historically consisting of manual laborers and peasant agriculturalists.

Dalit (Untouchables)

The group positioned beneath the four official Indian castes; designated as social outcasts performing jobs considered ritualistically polluting and historically avoided by higher castes.

Estate System

A stratification system prevalent in feudal medieval Europe that organized society into three distinct strata: nobility, clergy, and serfs.

Serfs

Peasant agricultural commoners in the medieval European estate system who were bound to work land owned by feudal nobles.

Class System

A relatively fluid system of social stratification based on wealth and material possessions, featuring social mobility and an emphasis on achieved status.

Karl Marx

Nineteenth-century economic philosopher ($1818\text{--}1883$) who argued that modern industrial capitalism establishes a polarized dual-class structure characterized by unavoidable worker exploitation.

Bourgeoisie

In Marxist theory, the capitalist class that owns the factories, land, technology, and economic means of production.

Proletariat

In Marxist theory, the exploited working class who owns no productive capital and must sell their labor time to capitalists in exchange for survival wages.

Labor Theory of Value (Marx)

Marx's economic argument that a commodity's true value corresponds strictly to the duration of human labor time required to produce it, making all capitalist profit an exploitation of unpaid worker time.

Max Weber

Classical German sociologist who conceptualized social stratification as multidimensional, arguing it is determined by the intersection of class, power, and status.

Class (Weberian Component)

In Max Weber's model of stratification, an individual's economic standing based on property, wealth, and commercial market advantage.

Power (Weberian Definition)

The ability of an individual or group to carry out their will and control the actions of others, even in the face of resistance.

Status (Weberian Component)

The relative social honor, prestige, or respect accorded to an individual by others in society, derived from social standing and lifestyle rather than money alone.

Anthony Giddens' Definition of Power

The sociological conceptualization defining power as an actor's transformative capacity to intervene and change the outcome of an event.

Richard Emerson's Definition of Power

A social-exchange perspective asserting that power is determined by the structural degree of dependence that one social actor has on another.

Capitalist Class (U.S.)

The top $1\%$ of the American population, consisting of investors, heirs, and select executives with university backgrounds earning annual incomes of $"\$1{,}000{,}000+"$.

Nouveau Riche

A French term meaning "new money," referring to individuals who have accumulated recent wealth but lack established multigenerational lineage, aristocratic behavioral etiquette, and elite status.

Upper-Middle Class (U.S.)

The social stratum comprising approximately $15\%$ of the U.S. population, consisting of professionals and upper managers earning $"\$125{,}000+"$, heavily defined by advanced university and postgraduate degrees.

Lower-Middle Class (U.S.)

The social stratum comprising $34\%$ of the U.S. population, consisting of lower managers, craftspeople, and foremen with high school or college education earning roughly $"\$60{,}000"$.

Working Class (U.S.)

The social stratum comprising $30\%$ of the U.S. population, consisting of factory workers, clerical staff, and low-paid retail workers earning roughly $"\$36{,}000"$, typically possessing high school educations.

Working Poor (U.S.)

The social stratum comprising $15\%\text{ to }16\%$ of the U.S. population, consisting of unskilled manual laborers and service workers holding temporary jobs and earning about $"\$19{,}000"$.

Underclass (U.S.)

The social stratum comprising $4\%\text{ to }5\%$ of the U.S. population, concentrated in inner cities with minimal workforce attachment, earning under $"\$12{,}000"$ and largely dependent on public welfare.

The Homeless

A population situated below the underclass, described in the lecture as the fallout of postindustrial technological transitions and declining demand for unskilled physical labor.

Social Class Ladder

A demographic model illustrating the six major operational social tiers in the United States, categorized by education, occupation, income level, and population proportion.

Industrial Income Disparity Ratio

The extreme income gap observed in the United States, where the ratio between the highest individual income earners and the lowest earners reaches roughly $100{,}000\text{ to }1$.

Cross-National Household Income Disparity

The phenomenon wherein the lowest-earning households in industrialized nations earn $7\text{ to }28\text{ times}$ more than corresponding households in industrializing developing countries.

U.S. Wealth Concentration (Top 1%)

The wealth disparity whereby the wealthiest $1\%$ of American citizens owns $35\%$ of the total national wealth, while the remaining $99\%$ shares $65\%$.

U.S. Wealth Concentration (Top 10%)

The wealth disparity whereby the wealthiest $10\%$ of American citizens controls $77\%$ of the total national wealth, leaving $23\%$ distributed across the other $90\%$.

Global Wealth Concentration (Top 10%)

The planetary wealth distribution wherein the wealthiest $10\%$ of adults worldwide holds $86\%$ of the total global wealth.

Global Wealth Concentration (Top 1%)

The planetary wealth distribution wherein the wealthiest $1\%$ of adults worldwide possesses $46\%$ of all global wealth.

Geographic Poverty Distribution (U.S.)

The regional pattern in which states in the American South exhibit the highest poverty rates (e.g., Mississippi at $22.6\%$), whereas Northeastern states exhibit the lowest rates (e.g., New Hampshire at $8.8\%$).

Social Mobility

The upward or downward movement of individuals or demographic groups along the social class ladder over time.

Intergenerational Mobility

The change in social class position between generations within a single family lineage, such as working-class parents raising children who enter professional careers.

Structural Mobility

Upward or downward social class movement experienced by large numbers of people as a consequence of broader technological, economic, or industrial shifts.

Exchange Mobility

The simultaneous movement of individuals up and down the class structure in roughly equal numbers, leaving the overall proportion of each class balanced and unchanged.

Property Tax School Funding

The civic financing structure where approximately $50\%$ of local property tax revenues fund public school districts, creating funding advantages for affluent communities over lower-income neighborhoods.

Cultural Capital

The accumulated knowledge of prestigious cultural behaviors, tastes, manners, and behavioral codes that distinguish high-status individuals from lower-status groups.

Social Capital

The collective network of social relationships, influential connections, and institutional ties an individual can mobilize to obtain socioeconomic advantages.

Voluntary vs. Involuntary Migration

A sociological distinction noting that immigrant groups arriving voluntarily often retain transferable cultural and financial assets, whereas involuntarily relocated groups endure systemic historical barriers.

Model Minority Myth

A monolithic characterization applied to Asian Americans that obscures substantial internal economic and historical disparities among distinct ethnic subcategories.

Elite Prep Schools

Exclusive boarding schools (such as Choate, Exeter, and Groton) that transmit high levels of cultural and social capital to students, facilitating subsequent admission to Ivy League universities.

Unqualified Teachers Ratio

The documented educational disparity in predominantly impoverished, nonwhite schools where as many as $1\text{ in }5$ classroom teachers lacks full professional credentials.

Standardized Testing Disparity Ratio

The institutional testing gap where schools serving wealthy white students have a $1\text{ in }4$ chance of consistently high test scores, compared to a $1\text{ in }300$ chance for schools serving low-income nonwhite students.

Tracking

The institutional practice in secondary education of sorting students into segregated academic programs (such as general, college prep, or honors/AP) based on their perceived ability.

Davis-Moore Hypothesis

A functionalist theory asserting that social stratification is universal and necessary because unequal rewards motivate qualified individuals to train for functionally important positions.

Kingsley Davis

Prominent mid-twentieth-century functionalist sociologist and ASA president who co-developed the Davis-Moore hypothesis and conducted classic sociological research on feral children.

Wilbert Moore

American functionalist sociologist who partnered with Kingsley Davis in $1953$ to formalize the theory explaining social stratification as a functional necessity for societal order.

Functionalist Theory of Stratification

A sociological perspective asserting that social inequality is beneficial for society because it guarantees that critical social positions receive the highest compensation and attract the most qualified individuals.

Melvin Tumin

Sociologist who challenged the Davis-Moore hypothesis in $1953$, demonstrating that stratification functions as an impediment that conceals potential talent and generates social dysfunctions.

Meritocracy

A theoretical social system in which social positions, financial wealth, and power are distributed purely according to personal effort, ability, and demonstrated achievement.

Dysfunctional Stratification

Melvin Tumin's concept asserting that social inequality, rather than functioning smoothly for all members of society, imposes active harm, barriers, and structural failure upon lower strata.

Gaetano Mosca

Italian political sociologist who argued that every organized society is inevitably stratified according to power dynamics due to the functional requirements of top-down leadership.

Mosca's Organizational Imperative

Mosca's first tenet stating that human societies cannot function without cooperative organization, which requires a hierarchy of leaders coordinating collective actions.

Mosca's Principle of Power Inequality

Mosca's second tenet asserting that political and administrative leadership by definition requires an unequal distribution of authority between rulers and followers.

Mosca's Self-Centered Human Nature Tenet

Mosca's third tenet stating that because humans are inherently self-interested, individuals who obtain positions of political power inevitably seize superior social rewards for themselves.

Cynicism

A philosophical perspective originating in ancient Greece asserting that human actions are primarily driven by self-interest and personal gain rather than altruism.

Derek J. de Solla Price

British historian of science and physicist who established Price's Law to describe productivity concentrations in academic publication and professional fields.

Price's Law

The mathematical principle stating that the square root of the total number of individuals active in a domain produces $50\%$ of its overall output ($\sqrt{N}\text{ produces }50\%$").

Jordan B. Peterson

Canadian psychologist who argues that dominance hierarchies are ancient evolutionary adaptations shared across animal species, making social inequality biological rather than purely economic.

Serotonin-to-Octopamine Ratio

The neurochemical mechanism regulating dominance in lobsters, where winning physical encounters elevates serotonin and induces confident posturing, while losing depresses it and causes submissive posturing.