Culture & Social Life Final Vocab

class

system of power based on wealth, income, and status that creates an unequal distribution of a society’s resources (usually moving wealth steadily upwards into the hands of the elite)

stratification

the uneven distribution of resources and privileges among members of a group or culture

egalitarian society

a group based on the sharing of resources to ensure success with a relative absence of hierarchy and violence

reciprocity

exchange of resources, goods, and services among people of relatively equal status; meant to create and reinforce social ties

ranked society

a group in which wealth is not stratified nut prestige and status are

redistribution

a form of exchange in which accumulated wealth is collected from the members of the group and reallocated in a different pattern

Potlatch

elaborate redistribution ceremony practiced among the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest

bourgeoisie

Marxian term for the capitalist class that owns the means of production

means of production

the factories, machines, tools, raw materials, land, and financial capital needed to make things

capital

any asset employed or capable of being deployed to produce wealth

proletariat

Marxian term for the class of laborers who only own their own labor

prestige

the reputation, influence, and deference bestowed on certain people because of their membership in certain groups

life chances

an individual’s opportunities to improve their quality of life and realize life goals

social mobility

the movement of one’s class position upward or downward in stratified societies

social reproduction

phenomenon whereby social and class relations of prestige or lack thereof are passed from one generation to the next

habitus

Bourdieu’s term to describe the self-perceptions, sensibilities, and tastes developed in response to external influences over a lifetime that shape one’s conceptions of the world and where one fits in it

cultural capital

knowledge, habits, and tastes learned from parents and family that individuals can use to gain access to scarce and valuable resources in society

intersectionality

an analytic framework for assessing how factors such as race, gender, and class interact to shape individual life chances and societal patterns of stratification

income

what people earn from work plus dividends and interest on investments along with earnings from rents and royalties

wealth

= total value of what someone owns — any debts

caste

a system of stratification most prominently found in South Asia in which status is determined by birth

dalits

members of India’s lowest caste; literally “broken people,” also referred to as “Untouchables”

ascribed status

a status assigned; usually at birth

achieved status

a status acquired during one’s lifetime