social inequality week 1-3

Individual level of analysis

Focuses on a person's choices, behavior, or characteristics.

Organizational level of analysis

Focuses on the rules and practices of specific organizations.

Institutional level of analysis

Focuses on larger social systems, policies, and established patterns.

Privilege (according to Kahn)

Advantages received due to social position rather than individual effort alone.

Visibility of privilege

Privilege can be completely invisible to the people who benefit from it.

The new elite

People holding disproportionate wealth, influence, status, or access to opportunities.

Traditional elites

Aristocrats and landowners whose power came from birth and inherited status.

Industrial elites

Business owners whose power came from factories, capital, and industry.

Modern elites

Executives and leaders whose power comes from financial assets and professional networks.

Democratic inequality

Economic and social disparities that undermine equal political influence in a democracy.

Meritocracy

The belief that people should advance based on ability, effort, and achievement.

Entitlement

Receiving advantages due to inherited status, wealth, connections, or special treatment.

Gender privilege

How gender shapes access to power, income, authority, and opportunities.

Just World Hypothesis

The belief that people generally get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Cultural omnivores

People who consume a broad range of cultural forms across different status levels.

$2.00 a day poverty

Research concept examining extremely low cash incomes in the United States.

plasma donation

A survival strategy where people use their own bodies as an income source.

Limitation of charity

Charity addresses consequences of poverty without changing its underlying structural causes.

TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)

Welfare program emphasizing work requirements, time limits, and state flexibility.

Absolute poverty

Poverty measured against a minimum threshold of resources for basic survival needs.

Relative poverty

Poverty measured in relation to the living standards of the surrounding society.